Benjamin Basil Heatley was a British competitive long-distance runner, who was an Olympic marathon silver medallist and former world marathon record-holder. Although he favoured cross country running, he was also a skilled marathon runner and, despite running shoe technology being in its infancy, he was able to adapt easily to the change of conditions underfoot. Basil Heatley (United Kingdom) set the men's marathon world record of 2:13:55 in Polytechnic Marathon on June 13, 1964. It stood 4 months, until Abebe Bikila's 2:12:11.2 on October 21, 1964. Wiki link