Olympics: London 2012 torch relay starts in Britain - Channel NewsAsia
Olympics: London 2012 torch relay starts in Britain
Posted: 19 May 2012 1450 hrs
LAND'S END, United Kingdom: Sailor Ben Ainslie was the first torchbearer as the Olympic flame began its 70-day journey around Britain and Ireland on Saturday ahead of the 2012 London Games.
The flame arrived in Britain from Greece on Friday and was flown to Land's End, the southwesterly tip of England, on Saturday by a Royal Navy helicopter before it was used to light the torch for the start of the 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometre) relay.
Ainslie, who has won gold medals in sailing at the last three Olympics, then walked just 300 metres, allowing some of the hundreds of spectators lining the route in the morning sunshine to touch the gold-coloured torch.
The yachtsman, wearing the number 001 on his T-shirt as the first torchbearer, then passed on the torch to 18-year-old Anastassia Swallow, a surfer who is hoping that her sport will one day become an Olympic discipline.
The torch will be carried by 8,000 people as it makes its way around the United Kingdom, with its final destination the Olympic Stadium in east London for the opening ceremony on July 27.
From June 3-7, it will visit Northern Ireland and then the Republic of Ireland -- the only country outside the United Kingdom on the torch route.
- AFP/ck
London 2012 Olympic torch relay starts in Britain - YAHOO!
Sailor Ben Ainslie was the first torchbearer as the Olympic flame began its 70-day journey around Britain and Ireland on Saturday ahead of the 2012 London Games.
The flame arrived in Britain from Greece on Friday and was flown to Land's End, the southwesterly tip of England, on Saturday by a Royal Navy helicopter before it was used to light the torch for the start of the 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometre) relay.
Ainslie, who has won gold medals in sailing at the last three Olympics, then walked just 300 metres, allowing some of the hundreds of spectators lining the route in the morning sunshine to touch the gold-coloured torch.
The yachtsman, wearing the number 001 on his T-shirt as the first torchbearer, then passed on the torch to 18-year-old Anastassia Swallow, a surfer who is hoping that her sport will one day become an Olympic discipline.
The torch will be carried by 8,000 people as it makes its way around the United Kingdom, with its final destination the Olympic Stadium in east London for the opening ceremony on July 27.
From June 3-7, it will visit Northern Ireland and then the Republic of Ireland -- the only country outside the United Kingdom on the torch route.
ECHO letters - Liverpool Echo
We’re second to none
THE ANNOUNCEMENT by General Motors to save the Ellesmere Port Vauxhall plant at a cost of potentially mothballing an Opel factory in Germany is good news not only for the town, but for Cheshire as a whole.
With traditional manufacturing jobs being squeezed, it is reassuring that the UK car sector in the North West is able to defy the economic trend by not only saving over 2,000 jobs until at least 2020, but create as many as 700 new permanent posts in the process.
Our North West car plants, including the nearby JLR factory in Halewood, go to show that given the right level of investment, our automotive manufacturing industry is second to none, capable of producing not only the quality, but the quantity of cars being demanded either in Europe or in the emerging markets.
Paul Nuttall, UKIP North West MEP
Disgraceful treatment
I SHOULD like to ask the Government, in particular the Secretary of State for Health, why there appears to be such marked difference in the provision of funding for end of life care throughout England and Wales.
Is this yet another example of the NHS postcode lottery? My elderly mum is in need of such funding and resides in Wirral.
She is having to pay towards her end of life care because, it seems, Wirral social services have cut the amount they pay nursing homes by 14%.
That cannot be right! Over here in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire there appears to be no cap on the amount available.
People who are terminally ill should not be faced with the indignity of having to find extra funds – it is a disgrace.
Ian Munn, via email
A Giant thank-you
A BELATED thank you for the coverage of the Sea Odyssey.
The photos were really good, and although I was unable to get down to see it as my wife and I are in our 80s, it was nice to see that the ECHO did us proud. Well done.
Joe Ludgate, via email
Edge Lane mystery
I HAVE followed with interest the eventual completion of the Edge Lane corridor into the city. It has indeed taken years and the road from the M62 at the Rocket to the city is now very much improved.
However, why is it that the two-lane road has regular bus stops in lane one and holds up the traffic constantly, when (and in particular the city bound Edge Lane) has such wide footpaths which are mostly unused by the many pedestrians they have been designed for?
Why did the planners not allow for lay-bys at bus stops and therefore allow the traffic to continue without hold-up and constant merging into lane two?
The job has taken so long to complete, the quality of the road surface between McDonalds and the new section in Kensington is now looking the worse for wear and will shortly need further attention - this combined with the bus stop policy spoils a much-improved approach to Liverpool.
A.P. Armstrong, Huyton
Time to keep promises
FOR better or worse, we now have a Mayor. And considering the pre-election saturation of photo opportunities, PR stunts and the constant level of ‘favourite’ by the papers, it’s no surprise it’s Joe Anderson.
As only 33% of voters turned out of which 57% voted for Joe, which equates to less than 2 out of 10 eligible voters. Hardly a mandate.
All but one of the other cities voted for no mayor. They will still get the government cash as the millions in payout was NOT dependent on having a mayor, which was used as an excuse for cancelling our referendum.
Joe has made some big promises and given himself a four-year deadline. Let’s hope he lives up to them.
M.T., West Derby.
Policing priorities
RE: ‘Two thugs take boy’s bike at knife point’ (ECHO, May 15), it’s appalling that this has happened before. Good luck to the victim and his excellent mother.
Despite the good efforts of our police force, gun crime, gangsters, burglars and so on are on the increase.
All the decent citizens in the city are very worried about this, many are too afraid to speak up.
Chief constable Murphy needs to get his priorities right, so much very serious crime goes undetected.
The easy options should be put on the shelf until all serious crime is halved. Bring back real law and order to our city.
Name and address supplied
Stick with Lodge Lane
IT’S GREAT news that our current council has recognised the effort put into Lodge Lane by local people.
It contrasts greatly with the treatment of a family produce business that used to exist in Bold Street and area for many generations.
I’ve no doubt the thinking in building the FACT centre together with the conversion of so many warehouses into bijou apartments was a planned regeneration of a then-vibrant part of the city. But look at it today: Jacaranda closed, Slater Street in decline and as for Renshaw Street, well let’s not go there.
Let’s hope Lodge Lane doesn’t become another vehicle for the council’s bandwagon jumpers, who have at best a poor track record.
Bernie Hunt, Kensington Fields
Olympic flame begins trip to London - The Australian
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London 2012 Olympics: torch relay begins at Land's End, live updates - Daily Telegraph
08.22: Huge crowds in what I believe is Penzance. Lots of Union Flags being waved. And lots of work for the security to do as they try and keep excitement levels down from FRANTIC WAVE to sensible grin.
08.20: DRAMA! BBC say there has already been a hedgerow incident:
08.16: We have a torchbearer with very pink hair. The first sign of anti-establishment behaviour on the torch relay?
08.13: The current torchbearer is a real waver. Stopping short of blowing kisses. But only just.
08.08: And she's off! NO! SLEEP!.......'TILL PENZANCE!
08.07: The convoy has ended and the next torchbearer, surrounded by the aforementioned security hulks, is ready and waiting to light her torch from the lantern.
08.06: Security on the torch relay is a big concern. The Met have 70 officers on duty to make sure no protests or assaults disrupt the relay. "If anybody is thinking of protesting they should come and talk to us, but you don’t have the right to stop the torchbearer carrying the torch," says National Olympic Security Coordinator Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison. Read more...
07.59: Here's another nice shot of Ainslie with the torch. He looks happy and the flame looks bright:
07.57: Some children are being interviewed on BBC Breakfast. Not really talkative.
Did you get to touch the torch? Nooooo.
Do you have Olympics tickets? Noooo.
Right, well that's that then.
07.54: The flame is now in "convoy mode", which means it has been transported to a lantern and put in a van on the way to Newlyn when it will start again. Throughout the relay the torch will be transported a number of ways, including a zip wire from the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle and a chairlift at the Needles on the Isle of Wight.
07.51: Every torchbearer seems to have handled their nerves pretty well so far. But what happens if they drop the torch, I hear you ask. Well, Locog and the torch's designers say it has been tested to keep the flame burning even if it is dropped from up to a height of 3m. That said, the damage to the body of the torch would probably merit a replacement one being lit.
07.48: Locog chairman Seb Coe has spoken:
07.42: The BBC video feed appears to be encountering some difficulties (understandable given the remote location) but if you want to follow the whereabouts of the torch you can do so with our nifty interactive map.
07.39: The torch is now somewhere between Sennen and Newlyn, before it hits Penzance at 8.20am.
07.34: Our man Ben Ainslie with his reaction after beginning the torch relay earlier this morning.
07.31: A serious question from Jacquelin Magnay:
07.28: We're on to torchbearer No 4.
07.27: British triple jump legend and ever-present London 2012 cheerleader Jonathan Edwards says Ainslie taking the torch was his best moment so far in the never-ending Olympic build-up. "I had a proper tear," he says.
07.24: A Locog torch official talking on BBC News is tip-toeing gently around the fact that the torch's origins stem from Nazi Germany. He just references "a 1930s German professor".
07.23: In today's Daily Telegraph there is a fantastic torch relay supplement. I'll feed through some of the best bits throughout this morning's live coverage. To start with Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby explain how they designed the London 2012 Olympic torch.
07.20: Swallow is handy on a wave, but she's not a bad jogger either. I think she was on 9-minute mile pace for her leg of the relay. Now the flame is being 'kissed' between the two torches and the third torchbearer is off.
07.17: Ainslie has handed the flame over to the second torchbearer, Tassy Swallow, a local surf champion who yearns for the sport to be adopted by the IOC for future Games.
07.15: Ainslie is playing up to the crowd, letting them all touch the torch. Showman. Oh, now he's broken into a jog in what is a more familliar torch relay pace.
07.12: There's a fair amount of wind but that flame is still burning brightly. Organisers are confident it will stay alight in winds of 35mph and even gusts of up to 50mph. Tests have shown it to handle 50mm an hour of rain or snow and temperatures from -5C and up to 40C.
07.10: Richard Full, who handed over the torch to Ainslie:
I was shaking a bit. It was a real honour to hand it over.
07.09: Ainslie is off! Still a slow walk, with much waving, at the moment, but I trust he'll break into a jog shortly.
07.07: It's lit! Ainslie is just so damn good at everything, isn't he?
07.05: Ainslie, torchbearer 001, is posing for a few pictures before the lantern is used to light his torch.
07.03: The flame is being transported in a lantern towards Ainslie who is standing underneath the famous Land's End sign.
07.01: The chopper has landed! The Duke of Cambridge Prince William will not be involved in the torch relay this morning. Sources say he didn't want to take focus off his Royal Navy colleagues involved in the Sea King search and rescue chopper.
06.57: We're about three minutes away from this Royal Navy rescue chopper landing.
06.55: Ainslie seems intensely relaxed ahead of his big moment. A bit like a groom preparing to wed his third wife.
06.51: An update from our Olympics Editor Jacquelin Magnay who is at Land's End
06.48: A helicopter is delivering the flame to Land's End. It will be handed over to London 2012 officials who will then light the torch and hand it to today's first torchbearer, three-time Olympic gold medallist and Telegraph Sport columnist Ben Ainslie.
06.46: Our decorated Olympian Sir Steve Redgrave believes this is the start of the real Olympic countdown.
06.43 Good morning and thanks for joining us for live coverage of the start of the torch relay. We're at Land's End in Cornwall for the beginning of a 70-day journey that will end with the torch lighting the cauldron in the Olympic Stadium. The relay begins in just over 15 minutes, so let's get going shall we?
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