Sir Roger Bannister, an exceptional human being passed away peacefully in Oxford on 3 March 2018, aged 88.
There are wonderful tributes to him in the media but none of them does justice. That iconic image of the young Roger breaking the four-minute mile is etched upon the minds and optimism of my generation.
An unforgettable ‘Roger event’ for me was in 1971. My brother Michael returned from Australia after 10 years as a ‘£10 Pom.’ When he left in 1961 my mother and I believed we would never see him again. My husband and I had recently moved to Oxford and Michael had never visited the city before. When he visited us, I asked him where he would like to go – thinking he would say the colleges – but ‘No’. He wanted to go on a pilgrimage to the Iffley Road running track where Roger achieved his international fame! My eldest son Justin was 18 months old. Together Michael and Justin jogged a lap on the cinder track.
My first encounter with the man himself was through words. With the ambition of writing fiction, I enrolled in a novel writing course at the University of Oxford. I sat next to a lady who was introduced to me as Moyra. I noticed that during the session she often sketched and they were not doodles! Looking at her brilliant artwork I commented, ‘Moyra, you are an artist.’
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