View along Iffley Road.

House on Iffley Road.

Blue plaque recording the first ever sub-four minute mile on Iffley Road.

Iffley Road is a major arterial road in Oxford, England. It leads from The Plain, near Magdalen Bridge, south-east towards the village of Iffley. While it becomes Henley Avenue at Iffley Turn, and then Rose Hill, many people will refer to the whole stretch from the ring road to The Plain as Iffley Road. This whole route (including all of Iffley Road) is designated the A4158.

The road is famous for the Oxford University athletics venue, the Iffley Road Track, now known as the Roger Bannister running track, where Sir Roger Bannister ran a mile in under four minutes for the first time ever on 6 May 1954. A blue plaque now records the event for passers by on the road. Also in Iffley Road is Greyfriars, a Capucin priory that was formerly a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford.

Iffley Road used to be known as the Henley Road in the 19th century since it leads towards Henley-on-Thames, the historic centre of the sport of rowing in the United Kingdom, with its famous Henley Royal Regatta further down the River Thames. Now only the few hundred metres before Rose Hill carry any mention of Henley, as Henley Avenue.

There are a number of historic public houses including the Cape of Good Hope at the Plain and 1 Iffley Road,^[1] the Cricketers' Arms, and the Fir Tree Tavern.^[2][3]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Oxford University Track

Coordinates: 51°44′49″N 1°14′31″W / 51.747°N 1.242°W / 51.747; -1.242

Coordinates: 51°43′52″N 1°13′37″W / 51.731°N 1.227°W / 51.731; -1.227

Iffley
240px St. Mary's parish church
Iffley  Iffley shown within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SP535037
District	City of Oxford
Shire county	Oxfordshire
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Oxford
Postcode district	OX4
Dialling code	01865
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Oxford East
List of places: UK • England • Oxfordshire

Iffley is a village in Oxfordshire, England, within the boundaries of the city of Oxford, between Cowley and the estates of Rose Hill and Donnington, and in proximity to the River Thames (Isis). Its most notable feature is its original and largely unchanged Norman church, St Mary the Virgin,^[1] which has a modern stained glass Nativity window designed by John Piper. The church is listed Grade I.

History[link]

"In the chronicles of Abingdon Abbey (AD 941 – 946) the place is called Gifteleia. The Domesday Book of 1086 it is Givetelei. Merton College records in the 1290s call it Iftele and Yiftele; it is Yeftley to the civil servants^{[clarification needed]} writing up the Domesday of Inclosures, in Latin, in 1517 – 18; Lincoln College accounts, written less formally and in English, have Ifley by 1543, and it is Iffley or Iflie during the Civil War 1642 – 46. Clearly, the sound of the name — at a time when spoken forms were dominant — was fixed by then. Afterwards the Y survived in occasional use, but only lawyers bothered with the T..."^[2]

The ending of the name of this village near Oxford, means "cleared ground": the Old English term for that was "ley" — just up the road from modern Iffley, the town of Cowley also preserves the Old English ending and meaning in its name.

No records of the foundation of Iffley have been found: an estimate of the date is about AD 1000–1050. The reason for the founding is clear from the location: Iffley has a little hill, and so is the first place downriver from Oxford from which traffic on the Thames might be surveyed, and controlled — and where people might be safe from floods:

"It is likely that the hill, running to 295 ft, now known as Rose Hill and Iffley, was a desirable place to live, safe from any floods. Many other villages, above and below, are set back from the river to cater for floods."^[2]

Map of Iffley Village

During the 12th century Oxford townsmen built a watermill at Iffley, which was bought by Lincoln College, Oxford in 1445: the mill burned in 1908, having survived for nearly 800 years. Products ground at the Iffley mill included malt, barley, corn, and other cereals — for a brief time during the 15th century it was a fulling mill. The mill,

"…was notorious for its arguments between bargees and millers, who being in possession of the lock, whether it was a flash or pound lock, could preserve their head of water, and not let it flow down river, by opening the gates, as long as they wished."^[2]

In 1156 Iffley was among the holdings of the Norman family of St. Remy, until about 1200. They established Iffley as a parish, and built the parish church, "in size and decorative splendour out of all proportion to the place".^[2] The manor was owned by many, thereafter. The Archdeacons of Oxford were given the right to appoint the parish priest in 1279: they held this until 1965, when the power was given to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford.

Domesday Book entry[link]

People mentioned: Abbey of St Mary of Winchcombe; Aelfgifu; Alnoth; Alric; Alwine; Azur; Bondi; Brian; Cynewig; Earl Tosti; Earl Aubrey de Coucy of Northumbria; Edwin the sheriff; Henry de Ferrers; Hugh; Hugh d'Ivry; Hugh de Bolbec; Queen Edith; Ralph; Robert; Roger; Rolf; Swein; Turold; Walter; Walter Giffard; William Peverel; William de Warenne; William fitzAnsculf. Date: 1086^[3]

Notable people[link]

• Frank Bickerton (1889–1954) Antarctic explorer and First World War aviator was born in Iffley.^[4]

See also[link]

The village of Iffley has given its name to:

• Iffley College, the original name of Wolfson College
• Iffley Halt, a former station on the Wycombe Railway
• Iffley Lock on the River Isis
• Iffley Mill, locally famous for the spectacular fire that burnt it down in 1908
• Iffley Road in east Oxford

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Lobel, Mary D, ed. (1957). Victoria County History: A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 5: Bullingdon Hundred. pp. 189–206. 
• Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). The Buildings of England: Oxfordshire. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. pp. 658–662. ISBN 0-14-071045-0. 

v t e The City of Oxford Oxfordshire • County Council elections • City Council elections • Oxford East Borough Constituency • Oxford West and Abingdon County Constituency Wards, suburbs, neighbourhoods and districts Barton • Binsey • Cowley (Florence Park, Temple Cowley) • Cutteslowe • Donnington • Godstow • Grandpont • Headington (Headington Hill, New Headington, Old Headington) • Holywell • Iffley • Jericho • New Botley • New Hinksey • New Marston • Norham Manor • North Oxford (Central North Oxford, Park Town) • Northway • Osney • Port Meadow • St Clement's • St. Ebbes • St John Street area • St. Thomas' (Oxpens) •Science Area • Summertown • Sunnymead • Walton Manor • Wolvercote • Waterways Civil parishes Blackbird Leys (Greater Leys) • Littlemore (Rose Hill) • Old Marston • Risinghurst and Sandhills (Risinghurst, Sandhills, Barton, Headington Quarry, Wood Farm) Former district and borough County Borough of Oxford • Headington Rural District Former constituencies Oxford Borough Constituency • Oxfordshire County Constituency • Oxford University Constituency List of Parliamentary constituencies in Oxfordshire • List of places in Oxfordshire • List of civil parishes in Oxfordshire

External links[link]

Media related to Iffley at Wikimedia Commons

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Sir Roger Bannister

Sir Roger Bannister in 2009
Personal information
Born	(1929-03-23) 23 March 1929 (age 83) Harrow, England, United Kingdom
Height	6'2" (187 cm)
Weight	154 lbs (70 kg)
Sport
Sport	Running
Event(s)	800m,1500m,1 mile.
Medal record Competitor for  England and  Great Britain British Empire and Commonwealth Games Gold 1954 Vancouver 1 mile European Championships Bronze 1950 Brussels 800 m Gold 1954 Bern 1.500 metres

Sir Roger Gilbert Bannister, CBE (born 23 March 1929) is an English former athlete best known for running the first mile in less than 4 minutes. Bannister became a distinguished neurologist and Master of Pembroke College, Oxford, before retiring in 2001.

Sir Roger was the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award in January 1955 (1954 Sportsman of the Year).

Early life[link]

Roger Bannister was born in Harrow, England. He went to Vaughan Primary school in Harrow before going on to be educated at Beechen Cliff School Bath, University College School, London, Exeter College and Merton College, Oxford, and at St Mary's Hospital Medical School (now part of Imperial College London).

Early running career[link]

Bannister was inspired by miler Sydney Wooderson's remarkable comeback in 1945. Eight years after setting the mile record and seeing it surpassed during the war years by the great Swedish runners Arne Andersson and Gunder Hägg, Wooderson regained his old form and challenged Andersson over the distance in several races. Wooderson lost to Andersson but set a British record of 4:04.2 in Göteborg on 9 September.

Like Wooderson, Bannister would ultimately set a mile record, see it broken, and then set a new personal best slower than the new record.

Bannister started his running career at Oxford in the autumn of 1946 at the age of 17. He had never worn running spikes previously or run on a track. His training was light, even compared to the standards of the day, but he showed promise in running a mile in 1947 in 4:24.6 on only three weekly half-hour training sessions.

He was selected as an Olympic "possible" in 1948 but declined as he felt he was not ready to compete at that level. However, he was further inspired to become a great miler by watching the 1948 Olympics. He set his training goals on the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.

In 1949, he improved in the 880 yards to 1:52.7 and won several mile races in 4:11. Then, after a period of six weeks with no training, he came in third at White City in 4:14.2.

The year 1950 saw more improvements as he finished a relatively slow 4:13 mile on 1 July with an impressive 57.5 last quarter. Then, he ran the AAA 880 in 1:52.1, losing to Arthur Wint, and then ran 1:50.7 for the 800 m at the European Championships on 26 August, placing third. Chastened by this lack of success, Bannister started to train harder and more seriously.

His increased attention to training paid quick dividends, as he won a mile race in 4:09.9 on 30 December. Then in 1951 at the Penn Relays, Bannister broke away from the pack with a 56.7 final lap, finishing in 4:08.3. Then, in his biggest test to date, he won a mile race on 14 July in 4:07.8 at the AAA Championships at White City before 47,000 people. The time set a meet record and he defeated defending champion Bill Nankeville in the process.

Bannister suffered defeat, however, when Yugoslavia's Andrija Otenhajmer, aware of Bannister's final-lap kick, took a 1500 m race in Belgrade 25 August out at near-record pace, forcing Bannister to close the gap by the bell lap. Otenhajmer won in 3:47.0, though Bannister set a personal best finishing second in 3:48.4. Bannister was no longer seen as invincible.

The 1952 Olympics[link]

Bannister avoided racing after the 1951 season until late in the spring of 1952, saving his energy for Helsinki and the Olympics. He ran an 880 on 28 May in 1:53.00, then a 4:10.6 mile time-trial on 7 June, proclaiming himself satisfied with the results. At the AAA championships, he skipped the mile and won the 880 in 1:51.5. Then, 10 days before the Olympic final, he ran a 3/4 mile time trial in 2:52.9, which gave him confidence that he was ready for the Olympics as he considered the time to be the equivalent of a four-minute mile.

His confidence soon dissipated as it was announced there would be semifinals for the 1500 m at the Olympics, and he knew that this favoured runners who had much deeper training regimens than he did. When he ran his semifinal, Bannister finished fifth and thereby qualified for the final, but he felt "blown and unhappy."

The 1500 m final on 26 July would prove to be one of the more dramatic in Olympic history. The race was not decided until the final metres, Josy Barthel of Luxembourg prevailing in an Olympic-record 3:45.28 (3:45.1 by official hand-timing) with the next seven runners all under the old record. Bannister finished fourth, out of the medals, but set a British record of 3:46.30 (3:46.0) in the process.

Bannister sets a new goal[link]

After his failure at the 1952 Olympics, Bannister spent two months deciding whether to give up running. He set himself on a new goal: to be the first man to run a mile in under four minutes. Accordingly, he intensified his training and did hard intervals.

On 2 May 1953, he made an attempt on the British record at Oxford. Paced by Chris Chataway, Bannister ran 4:03.6, shattering Wooderson's 1945 standard. "This race made me realize that the four-minute mile was not out of reach," said Bannister.

On 27 June, a mile race was inserted onto the programme of the Surrey schools athletic meeting. Australian runner Don Macmillan, ninth in the 1500 m at the 1952 Olympics, set a strong pace with 59.6 and 1:59.7 for two laps. He gave up after 2¹⁄₂ laps, but Chris Brasher took up the pace. Brasher had jogged the race, allowing Bannister to lap him so he could be a fresh pace-setter. At 3/4 mile, Bannister was at 3:01.8, the record—and first sub-four-minute mile—in reach. But the effort fell short with a finish in 4:02.0, a time bettered by only Andersson and Hägg. British officials would not allow this performance to stand as a British record, which, Bannister felt in retrospect, was a good decision. "My feeling as I look back is one of great relief that I did not run a four-minute mile under such artificial circumstances," he said.

But other runners were making attempts at the four-minute barrier and coming close as well. American Wes Santee ran 4:02.4 on 5 June, the fourth-fastest mile ever. And at the end of the year, Australian John Landy ran 4:02.0.

Then early in 1954, Landy made some more attempts at the distance. On 21 January, he ran 4:02.4 in Melbourne, then 4:02.6 on 23 February, and at the end of the Australian season on 19 April he ran 4:02.6 again.

Bannister had been following Landy's attempts and was certain his Australian rival would succeed with each one. But knowing that Landy's season-closing attempt on 19 April would be his last until he travelled to Finland for another attempt, Bannister knew he had to make his attempt soon.

The sub-4-minute mile[link]

Blue plaque recording the first sub-4-minute mile run by Roger Bannister on 6 May 1954 at Oxford University's Iffley Road Track.

This historic event took place on 6 May 1954 during a meet between British AAA and Oxford University at Iffley Road Track in Oxford. It was watched by about 3,000 spectators. With winds up to 25 miles per hour (40 km/h) prior to the event, Bannister had said twice that he favoured not running, to conserve his energy and efforts to break the 4-minute barrier; he would try again at another meet. However, the winds dropped just before the race was scheduled to begin, and Bannister did run. Two other runners, Brasher and Chataway, provided pacing while completing the race. Both went on to establish their own track careers. The race^[1] was broadcast live by BBC Radio and commented on by Harold Abrahams, of Chariots of Fire fame.

The stadium announcer for the race was Norris McWhirter, who went on to co-publish and co-edit the Guinness Book of Records. He excited the crowd by delaying the announcement of the time Bannister ran as long as possible:^[2]

"Ladies and gentlemen, here is the result of event 9, the one mile: 1st, No. 41, R.G. Bannister, Amateur Athletic Association and formerly of Exeter and Merton Colleges, Oxford, with a time which is a new meeting and track record, and which—subject to ratification—will be a new English Native, British National, All-Comers, European, British Empire and World Record. The time was 3..."

The roar of the crowd drowned out the rest of the announcement. Bannister's time was 3 min 59.4 sec.

The claim that a 4-minute mile was once thought to be impossible by informed observers was and is a widely propagated myth created by sportswriters and debunked by Bannister himself in his memoir, The Four Minute Mile (1955). The reason the myth took hold was that four minutes was a nice round number which was slightly better (1.4 seconds) than the world record for nine years, longer than it probably otherwise would have been because of the effect of World War II in interrupting athletic progress in the combatant countries. The Swedish runners Gunder Hägg and Arne Andersson, in a series of head-to-head races in the period 1942-45, had already lowered the world mile record by 5 seconds to the pre-Bannister record. (See Mile run world record progression.) What is still impressive to knowledgeable track fans is that Bannister ran a four-minute mile on very low-mileage training by modern standards.

Just 46 days later on 21 June in Turku, Finland, Bannister's record was broken by his rival Landy with a time of 3 min 57.9 s, which the IAAF ratified as 3 min 58.0 s due to the rounding rules then in effect.

Statue of Bannister and Landy in Vancouver

On 7 August, at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, B.C., Bannister, running for England, competed against Landy for the first time in a race billed as "The Miracle Mile". They were the only two men in the world to have broken the 4-minute barrier, with Landy still holding the world record. Landy led for most of the race, building a lead of 10 yards in the third lap (of four), but was overtaken on the last bend, and Bannister won in 3 min 58.8 s, with Landy 0.8 s behind in 3 min 59.6 s. Bannister and Landy have both pointed out that the crucial moment of the race was that at the moment when Bannister decided to try to pass Landy, Landy looked over his left shoulder to gauge Bannister's position and Bannister burst past him on the right, never relinquishing the lead. A larger-than-life bronze sculpture of the two men at this moment was created by Vancouver sculptor Jack Harman in 1967 from a photograph by Vancouver Sun photographer Charlie Warner and stood for many years at the entrance to Empire Stadium; after the stadium was demolished the sculpture was moved a short distance away to the Hastings and Renfrew entrance of the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds. Regarding this sculpture, Landy quipped: "While Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back, I am probably the only one ever turned into bronze for looking back."

Bannister went on that season to win the "metric mile", the 1,500 m, at the European Championships in Bern on 29 August, with a championship record in a time of 3 min 43.8 s. He then retired from athletics to concentrate on his work as a junior doctor and to pursue a career in neurology.

Sports Council and knighthood[link]

He later became the first Chairman of the Sports Council (now called Sport England) and was knighted for this service in 1975.^[3] Under his aegis, central and local government funding of sports centres and other sports facilities was rapidly increased, and he also initiated the first testing for use of anabolic steroids in sport.^[4]

Legacy[link]

On the 50th anniversary of running the sub-4-minute mile, Bannister was interviewed by the BBC's sports correspondent Rob Bonnet. At the conclusion of the interview, Bannister was asked whether he looked back on the sub-4-minute mile as the most important achievement of his life. Bannister replied to the effect that no, he rather saw his subsequent forty years of practising as a neurologist and some of the new procedures he introduced as being more significant. His major contribution in academic medicine was in the field of autonomic failure, an area of neurology focusing on illnesses characterised by certain automatic responses of the nervous system (for example, elevated heart rate when standing up) not occurring.

For his efforts, Sir Roger Bannister was also made the inaugural recipient of the Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year award in 1955 (he was given the award as the 1954 Sportsman of the Year, but it was awarded in January 1955) and is one of the few non-Americans recognised by the American-published magazine as such.

In 1984, he was awarded an Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) by the University of Bath.^[5]

In a UK poll conducted by Channel 4 in 2002, the British public voted Bannister's historic sub-4-minute mile #13 in the list of the 100 Greatest Sporting Moments.^[6]

Sir Roger Bannister is the subject of the ESPN movie "Four Minutes" (2005). This film is a dramatisation, its major departures from the factual record being the creation of a fictional character as Bannister's coach, who was actually Franz Stampfl, an Austrian, and secondly his meeting his wife, Moyra Jacobsson, in the early 1950s when in fact they met in London only a few months before the Miracle Mile itself took place.

The 50th anniversary of Sir Roger's achievement was marked by a commemorative British 50-pence coin. The reverse of the coin shows the legs of a runner and a stopwatch (stopped at 3:59.4).

Bannister, arguably the most famous record-setter in the mile, is also the man who held the record for the shortest period of time, at least since the IAAF started to ratify records.

Display of memorabilia[link]

In the gallery of Pembroke College dining hall there are three cabinets containing approximately 100 exhibits covering Bannister's athletic career and including some academic highlights.^[7]

At St Mary's Hospital (London), Imperial College School of Medicine have named a lecture theatre after Dr Bannister, with the stopwatch used to time the race on display, stopped at 3:59. Sir Roger has also given his name to both the trophy presented to the winning team in the annual Imperial College School of Medicine vs Imperial College London athletics Varsity match, as well as the award giving to the graduating doctor of Imperial College School of Medicine who has achieved most in the sporting community.

Quotations[link]

• The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.^[8]
• Roger Bannister on breaking the 4-minute mile (Cameron, 1993: 185): "No longer conscious of my movement, I discovered a new unity with nature. I had found a new source of power and beauty, a source I never dreamt existed."
• "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle, or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."^[9]

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (March 2009)

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Roger Bannister

• The First Four Minutes: ESPN Classic Television Programme.
• The Four Minute Mile TV mini-series (1988), available on DVD.
• Bannister, Roger (1955), The Four-Minute Mile. Revised and enlarged 50th anniversary (of the race) edition, 2004, The Lyons Press.
• Bascomb, Neal (2004), The Perfect Mile: Three Athletes, One Goal, and Less Than Four Minutes to Achieve It. ISBN 0-618-39112-6.
• Cameron, Julia (1993), The Artist's Way. Oxford, London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-34358-0.
• Nelson, Cordner and Quercetani, Roberto (1985), The Milers, Tafnews Press, 1985, ISBN 0-911521-15-1, pp. 181–215
• Quercetani, R. L. (1964), A World History of Track and Field Athletics, 1864–1964, Oxford University Press. (A history of the mile/1500 m. event.)

External links[link]

• Roger Bannister and the Four-Minute Mile, original reports from The Times.
• Sir Roger Bannister is Patron of the Multiple System Atrophy Trust.
• Freeman of London Borough of Harrow
• Documents relating to Bannister in the Queen Square Archive

Records
Preceded by Gunder Hägg	Men's Mile World Record Holder 6 May – 21 June 1954	Succeeded by John Landy

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (September 2011)

Paula Hamilton (born 23 January 1961) is an English model, best known for her appearance in the classic 1987 Mk II Volkswagen Golf TV advert "Changes". In 2006, she returned to public recognition as a judge on Living TV's Britain's Next Top Model, for two cycles.

Early life[link]

Hamilton was brought up in South Africa by her mother and stepfather but moved to Hertfordshire when she was eight years old.^[1] She is dyslexic and didn't learn to read and write until she was 11.^[1] Paula attended the Licensed Victuallers School in Slough along with Simon Cowell and Nicholas Cowell who both attended for 1 year. She left school at 16. Hamilton has four half-siblings.^[1]

Career[link]

At the age of 17, after several rejections as a model, Paula moved to Tokyo and worked for 18 months. She then established herself in Australia and Germany before moving to Italy.^{[2][dead link]} After being discovered by photographer David Bailey, she became the main model of the Queen's couturier Sir Hardy Amies. Her successful modelling career was, however, hampered by her battles against alcohol and cocaine. During a tough interview with top Italian photographer Fabrizio Ferrei, Paula was told her hair was too long for the job. She promptly cut her hair, got the job, and went on to learn the tricks of the trade at Ferrei's side.

Hamilton reached the zenith of her modelling career at the age of 27, when she appeared in an iconic 1987 television advert for the Volkswagen Golf. "Changes" starred Hamilton, made up to resemble Diana, Princess of Wales.^{[citation needed]} She is seen leaving her husband, posting her wedding ring back through the letterbox, ditching her fur coat, and throwing the house keys at the cat - but keeping the car keys. "If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen" ran the tagline. The advert began a new era in car advertising.^[3]

In 1996, Hamilton featured in the music video accompanying hugely successful British boyband Take That's last single "How Deep Is Your Love" in the 1990s. The single reached number one on the UK singles chart.

In 2000 she went to New Zealand to study Business.^[1]

In 2006, it was announced that Hamilton, at the age of 45, had been re-signed by the leading agency Models 1, who hoped to capitalise on the popularity of more mature models, led by Twiggy and her successful advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer.^[4]

Hamilton was also a mentor and judge on the second and third series of Britain's Next Top Model on Living TV, presented by model Lisa Snowdon. It was revealed in late December 2007 that Hamilton was to be replaced by Icelandic model Huggy Ragnarsson for cycle 4.^[5] In addition to modelling, Paula turned her hand to presenting and acting, appearing in feature films Mad Dogs & Englishmen and the Life of a Serial Killer. Hamilton released her autobiography entitled Instructions Not Included in 1996.

Hamilton is now signed to London-based Mandpmodels.

In May 2011 Hamilton starred in the second series of Channel 4s Celebrity Five Go To in which the celebrities visited South Africa.^[6]

Personal life[link]

She went into rehab in her twenties having become addicted to cocaine. She was introduced to the drug by her agent.^[1] She was sober for 7 years before becoming an alcoholic.^[1]

Hamilton had a relationship with Army Officer Sebastian Rhodes-Stampa in her twenties. After they broke up, Hamilton attempted suicide trying to hang herself from a chandelier.^[1]

She married a cameraman in 1987 but the marriage did not last long. She was later linked to Lord Ashcroft and was once engaged to film-maker Henry Cole.^[1]

Hamilton received therapy in 2006 and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.^[1] It was revealed in 2007 that Hamilton was in fact suffering from dyspraxia.^[1] She has been sober since 2006.

Hamilton recently dated former English cricketer, Ed Giddins.^[1]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• Paula Hamilton at the Internet Movie Database
• Paula Hamilton at the Fashion Model Directory
• Telegraph interview - March 2006
• VW Advert