Culdrose airbase, England, May 19: Eight days after it was lit on the slopes of Mount Olympus in Greece, the Olympic Flame arrived on British soil on Friday.
It was the start of a 70-day, 8,000-mile (12,875-kilometre) journey around the United Kingdom and Ireland before forming the centrepiece at the opening ceremony of the XXX (30th) Olympic Games in London.
The Princess Royal (Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and an Olympic contestant at Montreal in 1976) carried the flame during the special British Airways flight BA2012 flight from Athens to the Royal Naval Air Station at Culdrose in Cornwall, southwest England.
She was accompanied by Lord Sebastian Coe, double Olympic medallist and chairman of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) and David Beckham, Olympic Ambassador and football star.
“The heartbeat starts to go just a little bit faster because you know we've got 70 days to go and and with every pounding step of that torch relay, it's getting closer to London, so the work intensifies,” said London Mayor Boris Johnson.
The flame was lit in the traditional way with a parabolic mirror - and a little olive oil - on the slopes of Mount Olympus in Greece eight days ago and has touring the spiritual home of the Olympic Games, before boarding the custom-painted plane, aptly named ‘Firefly'.
Weather for the arrival was disappointingly dull and grey but the gold-coloured plane - emblazoned with the motto of the London Games - ‘Our Moment to Shine' - brightened the waiting crowd.
“It's a historic moment,” said teacher Cherry Hawker, who is from the nearby town of Helston.
“It was breathtaking,” added her daughter Erin, aged 9.
On Saturday the Olympic torch relay will begin a 70-day event which will take in more than a thousand cities, towns and villages including Dublin in Ireland.
It will cover more than 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometres) and involve 8,000 bearers, each recognised in the 8,000 circles that make up each Olympic torch.
One of Great Britain's most successful Olympians, yachtsman Ben Ainslie, will be the first to carry the torch, but first a ceremonial cauldron was lit on the airfield to celebrate the flame arriving in the UK.
Early on Saturday morning the flame will be flown by Sea King helicopter 25 miles (40 kilometres) to the most westerly point on the English mainland, Land's End for the start of the relay.
