Roger Bannister himself, as well as cultural commentators and contemporaries reflecting upon the significance of the four-minute mile, have claimed that the achievement was welcomed by a British public ground down by the post-war years of austerity. The feat was also hailed as a statement of British quality, in rivalry with runners from the United States and Australia in particular. In this article, the context of austerity is explored, and local press responses to the Bannister record are evaluated, as a way of exploring the premises of these claims. The notion of the trope is employed to demonstrate how sporting actions and moments can be the vehicle for the expression and the perpetuation of social and cultural values that contribute to modern forms of myth-making.