The Olympic spirit has been ignited in Britain as the Olympic flame was brought to London from its ancient home in Greece. London is taking the Games as a big opportunity to project the city as a better place to live, work and do business in. Every activity related to the Games is being done in style and bringing the Olympic flame back from Greece was no exception. A British Airways aircraft was specially prepared for the job. It took workers nine days to repaint the aircraft gold and yellow. A total of 250 liters of paint in four shades of yellow and gold was used to create the flaming effect on the planes exterior.
The special BA A319 plane has been nicknamed The Firefly. In fact the name Firefly was selected in a participative manner. Appeal was made through the London 2012 Get Set network to pupils around the country to suggest a name for the special aircraft. Over 1,000 students submitted their suggestions and Firefly was selected which was suggested by three students from different schools – Sana Hussain, 13, from New Horizon Community School, in Leeds; Jessica Spencer-Ades, 10, from Woolhampton Primary School, in Reading, and Konika Verma, nine, from Lower Fields Primary School, in Bradford.
The Olympic Flame was handed over in a significant event at the Panathenaic stadium to the London team consisting of London Mayor Boris Johnson along with Olympic Committee team members Sebastian Coe and Princess Anne, as well as London 2012 ambassador David Beckham. Five young people were selected for their commitment to sport and Olympic values and represented Britain at the Flame handing over ceremony. On its return. Firefly landed at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall and the torch started its 70 day journey around the British Isles. The Olympic torch will cover a total of 8,000 miles before reaching the East London’s Olympic Stadium for the opening of the Games on July 27.
Via: mirror, travel.aol
