Excitement is building as the Olympic flame is due to arrive on British shores this Friday evening.

Among the dignitaries flying over with the torch from Greece will be games organiser Seb Coe, footballer David Beckham and London Mayor Boris Johnson.

They received the torch in the ancient Athens Stadium where the first modern games were held in 1896. Lord Coe spoke of his delight that the Olympic flame is now on its way to Britain.

"It's been an extraordinary journey and you know the spirit and generosity of British endeavour has never ceased to amaze me on this journey. But actually if you had said to me nine years ago would we necessarily be standing here tonight waiting to take the flame back to U.K. I would have hopefully dared to dream, but you know it's wonderful that we are in a position to turn those dreams into reality this evening."

The plane is set to land at Cornish airbase RNAS Culdrose just before 19:30 British Summer Time. Upon arriving in the UK, the flame will cover 8,000 miles as it tours the country for 70 days before it is finally taken into the stadium to launch the 30<sup>th modern Olympic games.

Despite the unexpected rainfall, there were smiles all round as the torch was presented. Let's hope they don't take the rain with them and that the sun shines throughout the Olympic celebrations.