Olympic Torch Relay route announced

The full route for the Olympic Torch Relay has been unveiled.
The Olympic Flame will be lit at Wembley Arena Square at 10.30am on 6 April. It will pass through ten London boroughs and reach a grand finale planned for the Greenwich Peninsula.
In the morning, torchbearers will carry the flame through a carnival staged at Ladbroke Grove and Notting Hill Gate. At mid-day it will appear on an open-top bus along Oxford Street. It will then pass the British Museum, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square.
At 1.30pm, the torch will arrive at the Southbank Centre. It will be welcomed by a choir, hip-hop and beatboxing acts along the front terraces of the Royal Festival Hall.
At 2.30pm on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Band of the Scots Guards will welcome the flame with fanfares and music.
The flame will then head on to Stratford via Whitechapel Road. It will reach Canary Wharf at 5pm to be greeted by carnival themed entertainment.
At 6pm, a grand finale featuring a performance by the Sugababes will take place at the O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula.
The Wembley and Greenwich events will be attended by 2000 people. Free tickets will be released in the week prior to the event.

London invests in the arts. But is it the quantity or the quality that's important?

Taking advantage of the Nordic Bar's any bottle of wine for £10 on a Monday night offer, the talk turned to the merits of the 2012 Olympic Games. A friend of mine expressed his concern that the capital's arts provision would suffer at the hands of sport. I took delight in reporting the next day that Ken Livingstone had announced a £1.4 million fund for organisations to develop new cultural projects across the capital.

The fund has been established by the London Development Agency and will be delivered by the Arts Council England. According to the publicity boys at City Hall, this is just the beginning. More funding will be made available to support cultural projects in the run up to 2012. By blogging this, lets see if that promise is fulfilled over the coming years.

The fund was announced at the same time as a cultural audit that compares London's cultural environment with four other major world cities. Amongst the findings, the audit states that London has 184 museums compared with 157 in Paris or 91 in New York. And 55 major theatres compared with 39 in New York and 19 in Shanghai. New York has more major concert halls than London (12 and 9 respectively), but London stages more music performances each year than New York (32,292 against 22,204). London stages 200 festivals each year and has 400 venues offering music.

The audit has been rubbished by one of Ken Livingstone's most outspoken opponents, journalist Andrew Gilligan in today's Evening Standard. In amongst the rhetoric and accusations of suspect number crunching, Gilligan makes a valid point. It should be the quality of London's attractions and not the quantity that makes this city a world beater. For a copy of the audit, download it here and make your own mind up.

The brands of Beijing

Promotions and Incentives magazine asked me to analyze brand activity around this summer's Beijing Olympics. The International Olympic Committee tightened up the Olympic Charter after Athens in 2004 and the only sponsorship with exclusive worldwide marketing rights to both Winter and Summer Games, lies with the TOP (The Olympic Partner Programme) Partners. So will we see a repeat of the ambush brand marketing which, in the past has caused simmering tensions between the likes of Nike and Adidas? Or will China's human rights record put brands off attempts to align themselves with the Chinese Olympic rings and lead TOP Partners to rethink their official Olympic marketing strategies?

For the published article visit:
Brand Republic's Promotions and Incentives site
For a brief look at the promotional marketing we can expect from TOP Partners during the Beijing games, see below:

TOP Partner brand activity:
Omega
The luxury watch brand is the official timekeeper for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. To commemorate, it has released limited edition versions of its Constellation watches. The men’s version has the Olympic rings attached to the second hand. The women’s version has blue and yellow sapphires, a black diamond, an emerald and a ruby representing the colours of the Olympics as hour markers.
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola is working with the official pin licensee in China to produce Coca-Cola branded Olympic pins from the same consignment of steel as used in the construction of the Beijing National Stadium. “We are supporting the pursuit of Green Olympics,” says Coca-Cola Olympic project group general manager David Brooks.
Visa
Visa is the exclusive payment card for the Games and is helping China speed up its process of building a world-class payment infrastructure.
ATOS
The international IT services company received Olympic support for its Integration Test Lab in Beijing. The facility will test all the key IT infrastructure and software applications that will be used during the Games.
Johnson & Johnson
Official health care products sponsor for the Olympics since 2006. It will be following up its Sport for Good Health campaign and in-store promotions on Compeed and Neutrogena products are anticipated but not confirmed.
Panasonic
Panasonic banners and advertising will be seen everywhere during the Games. The HD technology provider promises to “bring the excitement of the Olympic Games to life.”
Samsung
Samsung is launching three new mobile phone models around the Games and plans on enabling consumers to benefit from customized SMS and business information across different applications.
Kodak
The 2008 Olympics will be Kodak’s final Games as official imaging sponsor. It will provide an imaging centre for journalists, a clinic for diagnostic imaging of athlete injuries and accreditation badges.
LENOVO
The Chinese supplier will launch 2008 Games branded computers.
GE
General Electric is expecting to sell about 357 million euros worth of electricity-producing turbines, lighting systems and other equipment for the new Olympic venues.
McDonalds
Happy meal on pack promotions and in-store point of sale is expected.

Breaking News: Boy A

Today is World Book Day.
Congratulations to Jonathan Trigell - Boy A has been voted 2008's book most worthy of discussion.
For a debut novel, the deserved plaudits just keep on coming. Thanks to all who voted. See the results for the World Book Day's Books to Talk About here.

Spielberg's stealth attacks

Whilst I've been away writing a travel piece in Portugal, it seems that the rest of the planet fell under a brief, yet stealth like attack from Steven Spielberg.

First, the US film director (alien in human form) resigned as artistic consultant for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics, saying his conscience will not let him choreograph an event for a country that has done little to use its influence to ease the slaughter in Darfur. By agreeing to Olympic work and then kicking the Chinese despots in the shins and running away, Spielberg struck a victory blow for global human rights. He may also have saved us from an Opening Ceremony comprised of flying bicycles, hover board chases and casting decisions the likes of which have seen Tom Hanks get far too much work over the years.

What puzzles me however is why the Chinese wanted Spielberg's services in the first place when the country is so determined to separate sport from the politicalization of the Olympic Games. Did they not know that he directed Munich - the 2005 film that depicts the 1972 Munich massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes by Black September gunmen and the Israeli government's secret retaliation assassinations? Surely if anyone was going to politicize the Olympic Games, it would be Spielberg!

Secondly, by using what I can only presume is part of his arsenal of super human powers, Spielberg managed to get his film Terminal aired on television over the Christmas period. For all of us who watched it, little did we realize that we were subjecting ourselves to influences that, two months later would result in one of us actually living in Gatwick airport.

Ok, so it transpires that Anthony Delaney had been living at the airport for some time after losing his position as restaurant chef in Buckinghamshire. Apparently after ignoring airport authorities' orders to stay away he was given an asbo in 2006, banning him from the airport and its train station until 2011. But after Terminal was aired to the nation, Delaney was stopped by airport security 30 times and was found at south terminal on the same day that he was released from jail, where he spent 95 days for breaching the asbo. He has now been refused bail, presumedly so that Spielberg can't get to him. If alien strikes, like most things, occur in threes, where Spielberg will strike next is anyone's guess.

Word of mouth: Boy A A book worth talking about

A good friend and novelist, Jonathan Trigell has achieved much acclaim for his debut novel Boy A. In 2004, it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize for the most promising literary work of the previous year for authors aged under 35. Sarah Waters, Chair of the Judges for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, described Boy A as: “A compelling narrative, a beautifully structured piece of writing, and a thought-provoking novel of ideas.”

Last year, Boy A was turned into a Channel 4 drama starring Andrew Garfield (Lions for Lambs). It's the story of one man's struggle to adapt to normal life after being released back into society following imprisonment throughout his childhood years for the gruesome murder of a young girl.

On Monday, Boy A topped a shortlist of Britain's most discussion worthy books. More than 3,000 readers were polled by the organisers of World Book Day and asked to vote on a selectition of 100 titles. Now that the list has been whittled down to the ten most popular choices, a second round of voting begins. The winning author will be announced on World Book Day (6 March) with a £5,000 prize at stake.

Boy A's subject matter - whether the rehabilitation of children who commit crime is the right thing for society, or even possible. And whether such children deserve our sympathy or our scorn – has already stimulated much debate. Garfield's powerful portrayal of protagonist Jack provoked an emotional response from many who saw it. And the spectra of James Bulger's 'where are they now?' killers just adds to the dialogue. In all, Boy A deserves its recognition as a discussion worthy read.

If you would like to vote for Boy A in the World Book Day's Books to Talk About 2008, Click here. If you'd like to read this gripping debut from a talented friend, you can order it via Amazon here.

Centre Point: The next chapter

Sources at citizen journalism start-up Newspepper.com tell me a new chapter in the beleaguered history of Centre Point tower on New Oxford Street is about to unfold. Up on the 31st, 32nd and 33rd floors, a private members' club called Paramount has been four years in the planning and is close to completion.
Centre Point has long been embroiled in controversy. It was completed in 1964, offering 180,000 sqft of office space at a construction cost of £5.5 million. For years,property tycoon Harry Hyams kept it intentionally unoccupied as values soared against its potential rent yield. The building's estimated market value in 1973 was £20 million. Moreover, by keeping it empty it was not liable for rates.

According to records, Hyams' tactics resulted in Centre Point becoming the single most profitable landmark ever constructed in the UK - an act which so outraged students from the Architectural Association that at one point they planned to storm the building and hold the security guards hostage to publicise his actions.

Pierre Condou (the man responsible for the Century club) is behind the Paramount development and now plans to throw open its doors to event planners and the Soho media fraternity.

It'll take 28 seconds for guests to reach the 31st floor greeting area by lift. Here, visitors will find a members' bar with dedicated events space and dance floor. To ascend to the 32nd floor, visitors will climb an internal staircase with views out over the British Museum, stretching all the way towards Canary Wharf. The East Side restaurant occupies this floor and will offer European cuisine with an emphasis on provenance. The Western Bar on the same floor boasts an eclectic wine list but it won't be the bouquet of the vino that'll be stimulating the senses. Just one floor further up, a 360 degree, floor to ceiling glazed walkway will allow visitors to circumnavigate the Paramount Cocktail and Champagne Bar whilst marveling at the breath-taking views as they change from day to night.

Centre Point has withstood years of criticism and disuse to earn the accolade of a Grade Two listing. The Royal Fine Art Commission once praised the building as having an 'elegance worthy of a Wren steeple'. Now, finally it appears a new occupier will realise its elegance whilst providing guests with a new perspective on London.
Click here for Centre Point conspiracy theories