If I Faltered, There Would

I Trained For Less Than Three-quarters Of An Hour, Maybe Five Days A Week - I Didn't Have Time To Do More. But It Was All About Quality, Not Quantity - So I Didn't Waste Time Jogging, Ever.

Mothers, Unless They Were Very Poor, Didn't Work. Both Of My Parents Had To Leave Education. My Mother Had To Work In A Cotton Mill Until 18 Or 19, When She Took Some Training In Domestic Science.

When I Was About To Break A World Record And Become Well Known, My Mother Used To Say That For Her The Important Thing Was For Me To Become A Doctor - A Career Which Had Not Been Possible In Her Generation And In Her Society. Sport Was Something To Be Set Aside.

If There Was The Opportunity To Climb A Mountain, Or To Go Ballooning, Or Some Adventurous Activity, I Would Always Be Keen To Do It. I Loved The Countryside.

I've Always Been Very Impatient. At Age 10 I Frankly Found Life Boring, And I Can Remember Age 9 Having The Awful Thought, As It Seems Now Looking Back On It, A War! That Should Liven Things Up A Bit!