Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Happy Birthday, Roger


Happy 80th Birthday Roger Bannister! I actually spoke by phone with Sir Roger many years ago while in Podiatry School. We called him out of the blue to ask him for any of his shoes for our shoe museum. He unfortunately had given away his last pair of spikes the week before!

Mr. Bannister has just started running again recently, (or shuffling as he calls it). He had been unable to do so since a traffic accident in his 40's which fractured his heel. Recently, he discovered some shoes from Kenya made from automobile tyres (as the Brits love to call them) that have allowed him to resume twice weekly runs. You pansies have no excuses!

2 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I'm a writer for a supplement in the Independent newspaper in the UK. I need to track down a pair of Roger Bannister's running shoes to photograph. Can you let me know of any resources I could try? Like museums? Or maybe even Roger himself?
    Thanks,

    Tom

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  2. Unfortunately, when we talked to Sir Roger he had given away his last pair of running shoes. It is possible I can hook you up with someone who runs with his son in Manhattan and may know where some of them are. Send me an email to dfbaskwill@cs.com and I'll see what I can do.

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