George William Nankeville (24 March 1925 – 8 January 2021) was a British middle distance athlete who won the

AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...

mile title four times in five years between 1948 and 1952 and ran a best recorded time of 4:08.8 in 1949. He was born in

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

Biography

Nankeville was born on 24 March 1925 to a working-class background and his father was a milkman.Best & Worst: Bill Nankeville
/ref> Nankeville was a natural runner and early on didn't have any coaching but he still raced before joining an athletics club. In 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he joined the army having made

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

containers and petrol tanks in

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

for three years prior. He served in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, Belgium,

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, Germany and took part in the liberation of

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...

. Following the war, Nankeville won the first of four

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

mile titles at the 1948 AAA Championships and he later represented Great Britain at the

1948 Summer Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and officially branded as London 1948, were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus cau ...

in London, United Kingdom. He competed in the

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

event and finished sixth. Two years later, he finished third in the

event at the

1950 European Athletics Championships The 4th European Athletics Championships were held from 23 August to 27 August 1950 in the Heysel Stadium of the Belgium, Belgian capital Brussels. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results Complet ...

in Brussels. On 26 September 1951 he set a world record as part of a 4 x 800 metres relay team, that consisted of Albert Webster, Frank Evans, and John Parlett. The quartet recorded 7:30.6 at the

White City Stadium White City Stadium in London, England, was built for the 1908 Summer Olympics. It hosted the finish of the first modern marathon and swimming, speedway, boxing, show jumping, athletics, stock car racing, concerts and a match at the 1966 FIFA W ...

. At the 1952 AAA Championships, Nankeville won another British AAA mile title at the

in London in front of a crowd of 46,000 including Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

. Nankeville, Don Seaman,

Roger Bannister Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister (23 March 1929 – 3 March 2018) was an English neurologist and middle-distance athlete who ran the first sub- 4-minute mile. At the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Bannister set a British record in the 1500 metres and ...

and Chris Chataway set a world record time of 16 minutes 41 seconds for the 4x1 mile on 1 August 1953, as well as the world record 15:27.2 for the 4x1500 metres on 23 September 1953 running with Ralph Dunkley, David Law and Gordon Pirie. Bannister ultimately broke the Four-minute mile barrier but Nankeville always got on well with him, continuing to speak until Bannister's death in 2018. Alongside his athletic endeavours, Nankeville worked for a sports equipment manufacturer, as well as being a wholesaler and owner of three discount stores. Nankeville recorded the events leading to

's historic sub-four-minute mile in his book ''The Miracle of the Mile'', published in 1956. He was married to Janet (d. 2010) for 63 years, and was the father of television impressionist

Bobby Davro Robert Christopher Nankeville, known professionally as Bobby Davro (born 13 September 1958), is an English actor and comedian. He made his television debut in 1981 followed by breakthrough in ''Live from Her Majesty's'' (1983); this was follo ...

. He died in January 2021 at the age of 95.Bobby Davro's father has died
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nankeville, Bill 1925 births 2021 deaths Athletes (track and field) at the 1948 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics English male middle-distance runners British male middle-distance runners European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic athletes for Great Britain Sportspeople from Guildford English sportswriters British Army personnel of World War II Military personnel from Guildford British Army soldiers