Olympic flame arrives in Britain for 2012 London GamesReported by Deccan Herald on Saturday, 19 May 2012 (on May 19, 2012)
|
 * The Olympic flame arrived in Britain from Greece today to start a 70-day relay culminating in the opening ceremony of the London Games on July 27.*
Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, carried the flame down the steps of a British Airways jet after it touched down from Greece at Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose in Cornwall, southwest England.
"It comes home to you just how important people regard the torch as the lead-up to the Games," said the princess, who herself competed in the 1976 Olympics in an equestrian event.
She was accompanied by football star David Beckham, who had the honour of lighting the torch that will be used for the 12,875-kilometre relay, from a cauldron at the airbase.
Sailor Ben Ainslie, who has won gold in three Olympics, will be the first of some 8,000 torchbearers when the relay starts in Land's End, the southwesterly tip of England, tomorrow.
The flame was handed over to the London delegation in Athens yesterday and was transported from the Greek capital in a British Airways jet painted gold and renamed The Firefly for the occasion.
Organisers gained special permission from aviation authorities for the flame to be carried in the plane in a special lantern.
The weather in Athens had been decidedly British, with heavy rain, but it was dry and breezy in Cornwall when the plane touched down.
Links:  Full news story
|
|
|
| Recent related news |
| |
guardian.co.uk
32 minutes ago | • Briton wins the T43/44 100m convincingly in 11.46sec
• A temporary four-lane track was made in... |
guardian.co.uk
35 minutes ago | As inequality and segregation start to rise, the spread of youth disorder has shaken ethnic Swedes... |
guardian.co.uk
9 hours ago | For Philip Larkin, DH Lawrence was 'England's greatest writer', but his critical standing has... |
This is
10 hours ago | This is Staffordshire --
NEXT month's Derby marks the centenary of Emily Davison's fatal leap into... |
guardian.co.uk
11 hours ago | Picnic Cinema | Selected III | The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone + Q&A | Tyneside Cinema... |
| |
guardian.co.uk
1 day ago | Bringing London landmarks to life for blind people inspired funders and celebrities alike, says *Judy... |
guardian.co.uk
1 day ago | Tens of thousands of fans expected in capital for final between Bundesliga sides Bayern Munich and... |
This is
5 days ago | This is Dorset -- Cash-strapped councils have defended spending hundreds of thousands of pounds of... |
Independent
1 week ago | As Britain's leading athletes were preparing at their pre-Olympic training camp in Portugal and the... |
guardian.co.uk
1 week ago | Alan Oliveira spurred on by London Paralympics dispute with Oscar Pistorius but Brazilian insists it... |
| |
|
|
Facebook
E-mail
Twitter
Mixx
StumbleUpon
FriendFeed