Olympic Torch Route Revealed
7 November 2011, 08:49 | Updated: 7 November 2011, 11:52
The full list of the towns and cities the Olympic flame is going to pass through on its way to the 2012 Games has been released.
We now know places like Northampton, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Dunstable and Luton will get a visit from the torch during July 2012, as it heads towards the Olympic Stadium in Stratford, east London.
In all, more than a thousand locations across the UK will be visited. The torch will also call at the Lee Valley White Water Rafting Centre in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, which will host the Olympic white water events. It will also visit Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, as a tribute to the codebreaking team who helped shorten World War Two.
London 2012 chairman Lord Coe has urged people to get behind the Olympic torch relay in the same spirit in which they got behind the royal wedding.
While he did not want to tell people in a 'Big Brother way' how to celebrate, he said, communities would be advised on how to mark the passing of the flame through their local area during its journey around the country.
"I don't want to be prescriptive about this. We're not Big Brother sitting in headquarters telling people how to enjoy themselves in an Orwellian way," he said.
Instead, he wanted to see local leaders organising celebrations at a local level, he explained.
"We saw the appetite around the royal wedding and that's what we're wanting to do,'' he said.
Here are some of the key dates:
Mon 2 Jul
Northampton, Wellingborough, Isham, Kettering, Geddington, Corby
Sun 8 Jul
St Ives, Huntingdon, Bedford, Cotton End, Letchworth, Stevenage, Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield, St Albans, Hemel Hempstead, Luton
Mon 9 Jul
Luton, Dunstable, Milton Keynes, Bletchley, Buckingham, Winslow
Pictured is Olympic organiser Lord Seb Coe, holding the Olympic torch at London St Pancras International train station.