James Henry Peters was a long-distance runner from England. He broke the world record for the men's marathon four times during the 1950s. He was the first runner to complete a marathon in under 2 hours 20 minutes; the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races has compared the significance of that barrier to the four-minute mile. Jim Peters (United Kingdom) set the men's marathon world record of 2:18:40.4 in Polytechnic Marathon on June 13, 1953. It stood 4 months, until Jim Peters's 2:18:34.8 on October 4, 1953. Wiki link