Tottenham Court Road, an interchange between the Central line and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line, played a starring role in John Landis’ 1981 British-American horror film. Despite some initial debate over which tube station appears in the film (Aldwych station was once in the frame), the platform where the train carrying werewolf victim, Joe Kingsploy, arrives is definitely the northbound Northern Line platform. The sign for Tottenham Court Road can clearly be seen in several shots.

It opens with two young Americans, David (David Naughton) and Jack (Griffin Dunne) backpacking there way around England. Following a famously tense visit to a very silent Yorkshire village pub (actually shot in the Brecon Beacons in North Wales), the two men, despite warnings to the contrary, venture deep into the moors at night where they are attacked by a werewolf. The attack results in Jack’s death whilst David is mauled and taken to a London hospital. It isn’t long before David begins to have disturbing dreams and then his dead friend turns up and informs David that he’s a werewolf and will transform at the next full moon.

The film, which was a massive success and caused Michael Jackson to ask Landis to direct his ground-breaking Thriller video, was mostly shot in and around London. Even the night time scene on the fictional Yorkshire moor was actually set in Windsor Great Park.

The hospital scenes, where David was brought after being attacked by the werewolf to recover, were filmed at Chiswick Maternity Hospital, Netheravon Road South. The hospital closed as a working unit in 1975 but went on to be used in a number of film and television productions including: the Chinese Detective, Angels, Not the Nine O’Clock news and the very popular Television series Bergerac.

When David is released from Hospital he goes to live with his nurse, Alex Price (Jenny Agutter), in her London flat. In reality the flat and the exterior shots used in the film are three London locations. The front of the flat was filmed on and around Lupus Street in Pimlico; Lupus is Latin for wolf which may have influenced Landis’ decision to use the Pimlico location. Other shots of the flat are of 64 Coleherne Road, Earl’s Court and Redcliffe Square also in Earl’s Court.

David, unable to stop himself from transforming into a werewolf at the rising of the full moon, is consumed by bloodlust and goes on to commit several gory murders. The werewolf’s first victims are partygoers Harry and Judith. We first see them as they alight from a London taxi on East Heath Road, Hampstead Heath, Hampstead. Deciding to play a trick on the host and hostess of the dinner party, they go to the rear of the house which, as it turns out, is a very bad move. The actual killings were shot on the Heath itself.

David then kills three tramps he comes across near to Tower Bridge, this is followed by the killing at Tottenham Court Road tube station; where for the first time we catch a glimpse of David in his werewolf persona. David is later introduced to his victims by Jack, his dead backpacking friend, as ‘the walking dead’ in an unspecified adult movie house somewhere in London. The porn film that is being shown is called ‘See you next Wednesday,’ to which a reference was later made in the opening lines of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

David runs riot in Regent’s Park’s, London Zoo. Waking up naked in the zoo, he steals balloons from a schoolboy to cover his modesty. Fleeing, David runs into a woman; the actress playing her was not told to expect a naked man prior the shot, all she was told that a man would come out and say something to her. The wolves used in the London Zoo scene were kept privately by Roger Palmer and appeared in several TV programmes and adverts. Roger went on to found the UK Wolf Conservation Trust which still keeps wolves.

The terrifying scene when the werewolf runs riot in Piccadilly Circus was filmed with multiple cameras and completed within half an hour. Police stopped the traffic and the public at the frantically busy intersection. It was the first time since the late sixties that filming had been allowed in Piccadilly Circus. This was due to another filmmaker, director Michael Winner, who set off an unannounced smoke bomb while filming a scene for The Jokers. Police were outraged as Winner escaped by speeding off in a taxi, leaving other crew members to be arrested.

Landis persuaded the Met to allow him to film by using testimonials from the Chicago police with whom he had worked with on The Blues Brothers. This, along with a fully worked plan and scale model of the area showing how traffic would be minimally disrupted, helped overcome official reluctance to approve the filming,

Towards the end of the film Landis himself appears briefly as a bearded man who gets hit by a car and thrown through a plate glass window in Piccadilly Circus. London landmark, Trafalgar Square, also appears in the movie when David asks a policeman to arrest him. At one point David screams, “I’m a f*****’ werewolf, for God’s sake!” Later changed for television to “I’m a famous werewolf, for God’s sake!”

One of the last views of London in the film is Winchester Walk, Clink Street, Southwark; the alley where David is finally cornered by police.

An American werewolf in London is the highest rated popular werewolf film on the Internet Movie Data Base, with an impressive 7.5 rating and the Number 1 werewolf film on Sqidoo.com which says: “This film has one of the best transformation scenes of any werewolf movie, which is all the more impressive since there was no CGI when this movie was made.”

The 2012 London Triathlon will start and finish in Hyde Park [August 4th and 7th]. The swimming event will take place in the Serpentine, followed by the cycle ride around central London and finishing with the run back, in Hyde Park. Spectators will be able to view this Olympic event for free on most of the course, no need for tickets or a trek to the stadiums is necessary for this exciting event.

GB Hopefuls.
In September 2011 Alistair Brownlee took the Triathlon World Title with a convincing win on the 2008 Olympic course in Beijing. Brownlee was thought unlikely to qualify for the games in 2008 but after making the team, finished as the top Brit in the competition. Younger brother Jonathon finished second and Brit Will Clarke, was ninth. Alistair and Jonathon have virtually reserved their Olympic places, which leaves just one place to fill on the Olympic team. There are plenty of contenders for the coveted place including Tom Bishop. Bishop won the Senior National Championships at Windsor on his first attempt and last year came second in the Junior World Championship, he recently said that his life at the momement consists of ” eating, sleeping and training”. Bishop considers the triathlon run his best discipline and his objective now is to qualify for the Olympic Team. Veterans, Will Clarke and Tim Don may have other ideas about who should take the final spot, Bishop said recently “there’s a lot of people going for that last spot but, if my training continues to go as well as it has been, I’ve got a chance”.

Helen Jenkins won her second World Triathlon Championship after finishing runner up ,in the season ending Final, in Beijing the day after Brownlee took his title. This follows her win in August at the Hyde Park triathlon in London, when she won in some style and met GBs selection criteria for the 2012 Olympics. After the race she said ” That hurt so much. I just kept running and running”. Jenkins who finished 21st at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 is not guaranteed selection as others may also qualify, giving the selectors a wider choice of competitors to choose from. Jodie Stimpson who was placed 14th at Hyde Park, Vicky Holland and Scot, Kerry Lang, will also have their eyes set on London 2012.

Daniel Goodings / Shutterstock.com

Marathons have become a world wide running tradition testing an athletes speed and endurance. They have become extremely popular with the general public and the ‘fun runners’ who take part have raised millions of pounds for charities. In 1996, the 100th Anniversary of the Modern Athens Marathon, over 3000 runners from around the world gathered to run in the footsteps of Pheidippides in Greece. The London 2012 Olympic Marathon will start and finish in the Mall and will consist of four laps of a circular route. The course will take in many of London’s well known sights including Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster. There will be some Special Viewing areas along the course, which will require tickets, but for most of the course the public will be able to view both the Men’s and Women’s Olympic Marathon event for Free.

GB Hopefuls

Mara Yamauchi, she holds the second fastest time by a British woman in the marathon, behind world record holder Paula Radcliffe and finished tenth at the 2010 London Marathon.

Claire Hallissey, finished sixth in only her second Marathon in Chicago, 93 seconds inside the UK qualifying time.

Paula Radcliffe, finished third in the Berlin Marathon in September 2011, inside the UK qualifying time and as one of the most experienced runners must have a great chance of selection.

Scott Overall, at his Marathon debut in Berlin finished an impressive fifth inside UK qualifying time.

Andrew Lemoncello, competed in the steeplechase event at the 2008 Olympics and made his Marathon debut in the 2010 London Marathon, finishing in 8th place.

Amazingly the Central line tube trains cover a distance of 8100 miles, equating to a journey from London and Australia. I’m not sure if I fancy being stuck on the Central Line to Sydney, Notting Hill Gate to Oxford Circus is bad enough.

The Data visualisation specialists “Spatial Analysis‘ examined the information from TfL and mapped the distances that you could travel. Even the shortest distance covered by the tube (Waterloo Line) would be enough to get you to Dublin. Seeing the data laid out like this, gives you a real sense of the massive task TfL undertakes everyday.

I was surprised to find out that the Northern Line gets that much usage every day. What’s more surprising is once you read the report fully you realise that the data only covers peak time travel!

You can click on the image above to see a full visualisation of the distances travelled by the tube each day.

The planned route of the torch relay means it will pass within one hour of 95 percent of the population. The details released so far do not include anywhere outside Britain, however they may eventually include a diversion from Northern Ireland to Dublin in the Republic, to highlight the Peace Process. “We are now really working through the feasibility of this” said Coe, “For all sorts of reasons I am very keen for it” [to go to Dublin]. “That’s not going to eat into any of the time we had allocated for England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, this will be additional time and it is likely to be hours”. Before the torch arrives in London it will take in 1018 villages, towns and cities. Coe said organisers were working closely with the Metropolitan Police and other local forces to ensure the torch would be secure along the route. He said he was confident they would strike the right balance between security and allowing as many people as possible to be involved in the event.

The Olympic Archery competition will take place At Lord’s Cricket Ground, St John’s Wood. This picturesque, world famous ‘Home of Cricket’, will benefit from a makeover before it hosts the Olympic athletes from July 27th to August 3rd. An Archery range will be created on the outfield of the main ground and the nursery ground, in the beautiful surroundings of the 197 year old cricket club, the competition will consist of four medal events. The ground will accomodate a maximum of 6,500 spectators and there will be some tickets available priced at £20.

In Archery competitions the athletes score points by firing arrows at ten concentric scoring zones on the target. From a distance of 70 mtrs they score from 10 points for the golden bullseye down to 1 point on the white outer ring. There are individual and team events for both men and women and a preliminary round to decide seeding takes place before the Games officially start. The seedings decide who will play in the head to head elimination rounds. The individual competition consists of 64 archers with 12 arrows each who compete in a knock-out format. Team events follow the same format as the individual events, except that knockout matches consist of 24 arrows per country, 8 per archer. Any country that qualifies 3 male or 3 female archers into an individual event may compete in the corresponding team event. Modern bows are strong, light and bendy and often made of laminated wood, carbon fibre or fibreglass. A good Archer must have excellent concentration, good balance and eyesight, a steady hand and decent equipment. The ability to read wind speed and compensate for it is essential and the factor which separates the best archers from the also rans.

As the host nation GB are automatically entitled to enter 6 Archers, the maximum number any country may enter. Countries can secure an Olympic place by continental qualification tournaments and at qualification events which will be held just before next years Games. After the 2011 Olympic games have finished all the equipment used will be donated to clubs and schools throughout the country.

GB Hopefuls.

Simon Terry: he made his name as a 19 year old at the 1992 Olympics winning two Bronze Medals and then promptly retired!. After a 12 year break he returned to Archery in 2005, winning Silver at World Championships in 2007 and Gold at the European Grand Prix in 2011.

Alison Williamson: won Bronze at Athens Games in 2004 and led the British Team to Silver at the Commonwealth Games last year. Blamed herself for the teams failure to win a medal in Beijing, when they lost by one point, in the Bronze Medal match.

Alan Wills: was placed 15th in Beijing Games and won Gold at the 2010 World Field Archery Championships, he switched from field archery to target archery, to seek tougher competition and ultimately compete at the Olympics.

Naomi Folkard: selected for the 2004 Athens team ahead of top ranked team mate Alison Williamson. Won Double World Cup Gold in 2007 but failed to bring a medal home from Beijing Games.

Much controversy has surrounded the idea of a G.B. football team, as the four home nations, Wales, Scotland, England and Northern Ireland historically play under their own banners. The associations of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland issued a statement voicing their “collective opposition to Team GB participation at the 2012 Olympic Games”. BOA chief executive Andy Hunt said, ‘Seeing Team GB take to the pitch in 2012 will be one of the defining moments of the London Games. It would be unthinkable to host the Olympics in Britain, home of the world’s most knowledgeable and passionate football fans, and not have Team GB represented in men’s and women’s football’. It now seems likely there will be a GB Team, with a number of players expressing interest, notably David Beckham. Whether the team will be made up of English players only, remains to be seen, and will depend on the four FAs finding some common ground.

GB HOPEFULS.
David Beckham, Aaron Ramsey [Welsh captain], Gareth Bale [Wales] have all expressed interest in a GB Team but will have to face something of a culture shock as they will be expected to stay in the Athlete’s Village at some stage, a far cry from the luxury they may be used to! Top Scottish women’s player, Kim Little, said recently “it’s a one-off tournament and I’m British and Scottish, so, yes, I’d play’, which must surely echo the thoughts of many other players faced with the opportunity to take part in an Olympic event.

The London 2012 Olympic Games will hold the first ever Women’s boxing competition, bouts will be held over four rounds of two minutes each with medals in three weights: Fly Weight, Light Weight and Middle Weight. The Men’s competition will feature 10 weight categories ranging from Light Fly Weight to Super Heavy Weight over three, three minute rounds. The Olympic boxing events run in a knockout format, the winners of the two semi-finals in each weight category, meet to decide the Gold medal position, with the losers of the two semi-finals awarded a bronze medal. All bouts at London 2012 will be held at the ExCel Arena, Royal Victoria Dock, London.

GB Hopefuls.
Luke Campbell from Hull has to be one of GBs brightest hopes for a Gold medal. The 23 year old missed out on a place at the Beiijing games but won Gold at the European Championships in 2008, becoming the first Englishman to do so since 1961. A strong GB boxing team which includes Fred Evans and Andrew Selby from Wales, Charlie Edwards, Khalid Yafai and Tom Stalker, should have a great chance of a clutch of medals in front of the home crowd.

Chantelle Cameron, the 20 year old from Northampton, had her first boxing bout in 2009. A successful international Kickboxer, Chantelle made a whirlwind start in boxing when in 2010 she won the National Senior Amateur Boxing Association Championship at her first attempt.

Nicola Adams is ranked third in the world in her weight category and recently said “The minimum aim is a medal but there’s no reason why I can’t become Olympic champion. I am very confident”.

The London 2012 games will be the first in Olympic history to charge spectators for watching sailing races. Organisers of the Olympics have been criticised for failing to consult the public over plans to turn a well used local park into a ticketed venue. Spectators will pay up to £55 to watch the sailing events in Nothe Gardens, which overlook Newton’s Cove, a Weymouth beauty spot popular with local people. The locals are unhappy as they will be denied use of the Gardens for up to three weeks while the racing events take place. The good news is there will still be a couple of Free vantage points near Newton’s Cove, plus a free site with giant screen and stage on Weymouth Beach, for those unwilling or unable to obtain tickets. Since 2000, Great Britain has won more Olympic medals than any other country in the Sailing events and will be hoping to match this in 2012.

GB Hopefuls.
Ben Ainslie, Britains most successful ever Olympic sailor, he already holds 3 Gold and 1 Silver Olympic medals. Ben had the honour of being the first athlete officially named for Team GB and will compete in the Finn class.

Nick Thompson, he won the European Championship in Athens in 1999 becoming the first Brit to do so. Will be competing in the Laser class and is capable of winning.

Saskia Clark, finished in 6th place in Beijing in 2008 and with her new partner Hannah Mills the pair are confident of success in London.

Lucy Macgregor, with sister Kate and Annie Lush they form one of the top International Match Racing Teams. Younger sister Kate won Gold at the 2007 Olympic Youth Festival in Australia, they have a great chance of thrilling the home crowd with a medal.

The London 2012 Olympic cycling race will start and finish in The Mall, Central London. The gruelling race which is 250km for men and 140km for the women will however travel far beyond the City Centre, reaching parts of Surrey. The riders will pass through Westminster, Kensington, Richmond Park, Twickenham and out to Surrey’s stockbroker belt taking in Weybridge, Dorking and Box Hill. The return journey will give the residents of Leatherhead and Esher an opportunity to see some of the worlds finest cyclists. The event is FREE to spectators and is expected to draw large crowds, it is probably the most easily accessible event for those who want to witness sporting history, but have found tickets hard to come by. Big Screens will allow spectators to watch as the action progresses elsewhere and will cover the Finish in the Mall. The length of the route means everyone who wants to see this Olympic event should see some of the action. The cycling races will kick off the 2012 Games, the Men’s Race on Saturday July 28th is the day after the Opening Ceremony, with the Women’s Race the following day, Sunday 29th July.

GB Hopefuls.
Chris Hoy, the four times Olympic Champion seems to be coming back into form, he recently had a commanding victory over David Daniell in the National Individual Sprint. He says he is stronger now than before his stunning performance in Beijing.

Mark Cavendish, recently won the World Road Race Championships in Copenhagen and is the bookie’s favourite for a Gold Medal, although GB coach Shane Sutton disagrees and says London 2012, is a “totally different bike race”.

David Daniell, was feted by GB coach Shane Sutton as the new Hoy a few years ago, the 21 year old is now realising his early potential.

Nicole Cooke, won Gold in Beijing and is keen to defend her Road Race title but is also interested in competing on the track.

Lizzie Armistead, missed Gold by a fraction in the Road Race at the 2010 Commonwealth Games