'The time is three...' Lost in the roar of the crowd were the remaining words, '...minutes, fifty-nine point four seconds.' Roger Bannister's time in 1954 did not just break the world record for the mile; it broke the long-standing four-minute barrier that had defeated many top runners including Nurmi, Wooderson and Hagg. Yet it was a time that should have been run many years before. Athletes tried and failed until Bannister's legendary run. Since then, the barrier has been broken by others, including Coe, Ovett and Cram. But is a 3:40 mile, or even a 3:30 mile, possible? From Walter George to Hicham El Guerrouj, this is the authoritative statistical history of miling and more than 500 runners who have tried to break the most famous time in athletics history."