FORMER Olympian Sir Roger Bannister has called for more competitive sport in schools.

The 85-year-old, who lives in North Oxford, was speaking to an audience at Chipping Norton Methodist Church Hall on Saturday as part of the Chipping Norton Literary Festival.

He said: “Children like competing. They don’t suffer an emotional crippling for life if they come second or third in the egg and spoon race. In some schools, PE can easily be got out of.”

Sir Roger was promoting his new memoir Twin Tracks, published ahead of the 60th anniversary of him breaking the four-minute mile barrier at Iffley Road running track in Oxford.