John Landy talks about becoming a world record runner, 2008

This is an edited sound recording of former champion runner John Landy recalling how he became a world record holder. He says that in the early 1950s, the possibility of running 1 mile (1.6 km) in under 1 minute was 'a great talking point'. He says Roger Bannister became the first to achieve the goal in May 1954. Landy then broke Bannister's record in a race in Finland six weeks later. He reflects on the nature of world records, saying that although there must eventually be a limit to human performance, we can expect all records to be broken. The recording was made in July 2008.