Amateur shots of the 1948 London Olympics discovered in an East End loft

They were called 'the Austerity Olympics. With Europe still in ruins and with the host nation crippled by the expense of fighting the most bloody war in history London staged an Olympic Games to remember.

Now, with London about to host the games again, an extraordinary coincidence brings to light some long-lost images of that unique sporting event.
Lucy Bull, aged 37, from Leytonstone, London, bought the box of negatives at a car boot fair in Middlesex for just £2 when she was a photography student over 20 years ago.
'I bought the box of old negatives because I was studying photography at the time and obviously anything to do with photography was of interest to me. I remember looking through them and recalling lots of shots of family and friends, but never the Olympics.'
'They have travelled around with me, moving home over 11 times, but it was only recently when I was clearing my loft that I discovered them again and found shots of the 1948 Summer Olympics including the torch relay and Wembley stadium.'
'I think it's quite ironic finding these as I now live right next to the Olympic 2012 site in Stratford.'

London Olympics 2012 Mark Cavendish has opportunity to win Britain

The London Olympics Mark Cavendish will be a strong favourite off to a flying start with Britain's first medal of the 2012 Games.

Cavendish, the good cyclist who has won more stages in the Tour de France than any other Briton, will take part in the men's road race on the morning of Saturday, July 28, the day after the opening ceremony.
From the London Organising Committee the race will be one of the first events as officials of the Olympic Games (Locog) want to have a strong British medal opportunity for the local audience, coupled with an event to showcase the capital city for an international audience of billions, to kick start the Olympics.
The 240km (150 mile) men's road race will pass much that is London starting at The Mall and heading past Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park, before going through Kensington, Chelsea and Fulham, out to Surrey with a couple of loops around Box Hill before returning into the city via the King's Road. The women's road race, a shorter version at 130km (80 miles), will be held the next day.
But though the road race will be the first to start, it will not be the first to finish. Indeed the first medal of the London Olympics will come in the shooting, though the schedule for that has not yet been released.
Among other free spectator events, the marathons will be held on days nine and 16 and the triathlons on days eight and 11.
It is understood the women's triathlon will be held on the middle Saturday, Aug 4, with the men's event in midweek. The middle Saturday, with its overlap of swimming finals and the start of the athletics programme, including the men's 100m final, will be the most congested day of the Games.
Locog director of sport Debbie Jevans said the first event on the Olympic programme would be football, with matches starting two days before the opening ceremony. The ranking competition of the Olympic archery, its preliminary stage, has been moved forward a day to start on July 27, the day of the opening ceremony.
Jevans said there were 59 more sports sessions than at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, even though there would be two fewer sports, with the omission of baseball and softball. This was to maximise the number of tickets available to the public.
Meanwhile the director of Olympic security, Sir Ian Johnston, said it was probably that officials would ban spectators and officials from bringing liquids, including bottled water, into the Olympic venues.
Johnston said there would be exceptions, with items such as baby food and small bottles of suntan lotion being allowed into the Olympic Park, but added: "There will be a no liquids policy. I think people will understand that it is for their safety."
He said security arrangements were being based on a 'severe' threat level, one down from the most extreme level, 'critical'.