SUB four-minute mile hero Sir Roger Bannister has been honoured by Guinness World Records to mark 60 years of the organisation.

The 85-year-old Oxford resident has been presented with a certificate and medal alongside other sporting legends from the last six decades.

He was the first person to run a mile in less than four minutes, clocking a time of three minutes and 59.4 seconds at Iffley Road running track on May 6, 1954.

Guinness has also commissioned a short film about his achievement which includes a tribute from Olympic gold medallist Lord Coe.

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Sir Roger – later a neurologist – said: “To be a record breaker I think you have to have determination and you have to be prepared for upsets and reverses which I certainly had in my career. The other factor is luck.

“There have to be features that come together on the day you attempt to break the record.”

Others to be honoured include Usain Bolt for the fastest 100m sprint in 9.58 seconds in Berlin, 2009, and Joe Calzaghe for the first boxer to win all four major super middleweight titles.

Lord Coe recalled Guinness co-founder Norris McWhirter recounting at a 2004 dinner how he first announced Sir Roger’s record.

He said: “Sadly, but for us I guess fortunately, we were the last people to ever hear that, because he died the following day.”

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