Route map for Olympic torch relay in London unveiled

The route that the Olympic torch will take through London, carried by stars of sport and screen, was published today. The symbolic flame will travel on foot, by bus, cycle and even the Docklands Light Railway.

It will pass through the capital on April 6 as part of an international relay that will take it to Beijing for the start of the 2008 Games in August.

Konnie Huq, the Blue Peter presenter, Vanessa Mae, the classical violinist, and Kevin Pietersen, the England cricketer, will be among those carrying the torch from its start at Wembley, North London, and on to the arena in north Greenwich where the London 2012 Games will be based.

Other runners include Dame Kelly Holmes, Sir Trevor McDonald, actress Amara Karan and Tessa Sanderson, the British Olympic javelin thrower.

In total, there are 80 people bearing the torch in London as part of its 85,000-mile journey around the world in the run-up to Beijing's opening ceremony on August 8.

Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, said the torch-bearing was a "great opportunity for London to experience the excitement and opportunities that the Games will bring us in 2012".

People wanting to attend the event can win 2,000 pairs of free tickets from the website www.london.gov.uk. Others, who do not have tickets, can turn up and view the final stages of the relay along the path towards Peninsula Square.

Schedule for the relay

Wembley 10.30 International dancers on stage at Arena Square, outside Wembley Stadium

Ladbroke Grove 11.00 Mini-carnival with entertainers in carnival masquerade costumes performing to Soca music

Notting Hill Gate 11.20 Carnival del Pueblo Latino carnival band

Oxford Street 12.00 Open-top bus carrying celebrity torchbearer

British Museum 12.20 A fanfare with Greek trumpets in the Great Court

Chinatown 12.30 Costumed dragons and lions perform under Chinese decorations and lanterns on Gerrard Street

Piccadilly Circus 12.40 Convoy passes

Trafalgar Square 12.50 Dance spectacular in front of Nelson’s column, to the accompaniment of a brass fanfare

Southbank Centre 13.30 Spectacular welcome for the torch along the front terraces of the Royal Festival Hall with a choir of 600, Kathak, poetry, circus, hip-hop and beatboxing

Somerset House 14.15 Aletta Collins-choreographed dance accompanied by music from the Bollywood Brass Band

St Paul's Cathedral 14.30 Band of the Scots Guards will welcome the flame with fanfares and music from the cathedral steps

Potter's Fields/More London 15.00 Rhythms of the City and live drumming sessions

Whitechapel Road 15.30 Kinetika perform storytelling, costumes and dance

Stratford 16.00 World-themed carnival with 300 school children, 50 spectacular carnival costumes and nine music floats. An aerial performance will take place at Theatre Square

Canary Wharf 17.00 Carnival themed entertainment including acrobats, jugglers, stilt-walkers, street theatre, music shows, dance performances, face painters, children’s workshops and treasure hunts

North Greenwich 18.00 Grand finale — a free, ticketed event will be a fusion of East meets West, the contemporary and traditional, in a display of Chinese ribbon dancers, an electro-acoustic music act, gymnasts, pyro displays and a performance from the Sugababes.

Asterix,france's most popular cultural hero , turns 50

The last cover: An October 22, 2009 picture in Paris shows the cover of the last Asterix comic book by writer Rene Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo ‘L’anniversaire d’Astérix et Obélix, le livre d’or’ (Asterix and Obelix birthday, the golden book). The album, marking the 50th anniversary of the character’s first appearance in 1959, was released on Wednesday in 15 countries, with three million exemplaire, including 1.1 million for France.

PARIS: The small, wily Asterix the Gaul and his oversized, clumsy friend Obelix were born under the influence of friendship, desperation and a great deal of alcohol, according to one of their creators.

In August 1959, writer René Goscinny and illustrator Albert Uderzo met at the latter’s apartment in the Paris suburb of Pantin, to dream up a story and some characters for a comic strip to be published in the first edition of the weekly magazine Pilote.

The launch was only two months away and the two close friends had no idea what they would do. At the time, aside from the Belgian strips Tintin and Spirou, French newspapers carried primarily American comics. The founder of Pilote wanted French children to be able to read stories in which their own culture dominated.

Mr. Goscinny and Mr. Uderzo, both in their early 30s, had been successfully working together for seven years. On that sunny August afternoon, they “drank a great deal” of Pastis and “smoked enormously,” Mr. Uderzo said.

After considering and eliminating stories set in the prehistoric and Cro-Magnon eras, they hit upon the Gauls. “The Gauls,” they thought, “liked to have a good laugh, to talk big and were bon vivants. I think we’ve got something there.”

That something — the continuing story of a small village of Gauls who resist the mighty Roman legions of Julius Caesar that have occupied the rest of the country — became an immediate hit, and soon, an international phenomenon.

Asterix first appeared in serial form in Pilote on October 29, 1959. Fifty years later, 34 comic albums have been published in 107 languages, including Urdu, Arabic and Latin. More than 325 million copies of the albums have been sold, making Mr. Goscinny and Mr. Uderzo France’s best-selling authors abroad. In addition, the series has spawned 11 films, eight of them animated, a number of games and a popular theme park outside the French capital.

Many fans say that the series lost its heart when Mr. Goscinny died in 1977 and Mr. Uderzo took over the script-writing. But the popularity of the cartoon has not fallen off at all. Eighty-two-year-old Uderzo has ensured that Asterix and Obelix outlive him by selling rights to the publishing giant Hachette and appointing three young artists to take over upon his death.

Mr. Uderzo’s first sketches of Asterix, were of a big Gallic warrior, but Mr. Goscinny saw him differently. They finally came up with a hero who would be small, but wily and tough. “As perceptible as a punctuation mark,” Mr. Uderzo said. The strength would be provided by his best friend Obelix, a roly-poly, red-haired giant prone to pratfalls, falling in love and drinking too much. The obese Obelix has become the reader’s favourite, according to opinion polls. It has also not hurt his allure to be portrayed in two films by French megastar Gérard Depardieu.

The stalwart duo and their friends quickly became a major component of the French culture, so much so that during a meeting of his cabinet in the early 1960s, the then President Charles de Gaulle resorted to calling his Ministers by names taken from the strip. In addition, the first French satellite sent into space, on November 26, 1965, was named Astérix. “When I heard that, I prayed that it wouldn’t break down,” Mr. Uderzo said.

In commemorating the 50th anniversary of the first Asterix comic strip, the daily Le Figaro wrote, “They embody the French spirit as few heroes before them have and none after them!” But that doesn’t explain their worldwide appeal. Mr. Uderzo once told the BBC that their popularity was down to “the revenge of the small against the strong, which the audience can relate to.” The broad popularity of the cartoons can also be attributed to their many jokes, puns, and send-ups of popular figures, such as Sean Connery as Agent Dubbelosix in Asterisk and the Black Gold, and the Rolling Menhirs and Elvis Preslix in Asterix and the Normans. But perhaps, people simply love them because they have a lot of Gaul.

The great cricket umpaiar David shephard was dead

David Shepherd, the former England umpire, has died after a long battle with cancer. He was 68.

Shepherd was a renowned international umpire and much respected by the players. He officiated in 172 ODIs, including three consecutive World Cup finals, and 92 Tests between 1983 and 2005.

We will miss his legendary "nelson" antics.

Former umpire David Shepherd has died after a long battle with cancer, at the age of 68.

Shepherd officiated in 92 Tests and 172 one-day c, including three World Cup finals.

He was appointed as a first-class umpire in 1981 and was a popular figure, not only because of his undoubted ability but the manner in which he went about his job.