First person to run a mile in less than four minutes

On 6 May 1954, the English athlete Roger Bannister became the first man ever to achieve a sub-four-minute mile. Running in front of a 3,000-strong crowd at Oxford University’s Iffley Road track, the 25-year-old recorded a time of 3 min 59.4 sec, achieving what was then believed by many to be an impossible feat.