Sporting excitement in the UK is mounting to fever pitch following the announcement of the route to be taken by the Olympic torch relay next year. Few people have a keener sense of tradition than the British, and the chance to take part in a ritual that goes back all the way to Hitler's Berlin Olympic games in 1936 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for many.
While some people are unaware of the torch parade's origins, assuming the tradition goes all the way back to ancient Greece, most British sports fans appreciate that the parade was started by the Nazis as a way of making themselves look a little bit harder, in a strangely homo-erotic way.
"The Olympic Games really are history in the making," enthused Adolf Renfrew from the doorway of his semi-detached bunker in Penge. "For some people it's about sporting excellence and fair play, but for me and the wife Eva it's a lot more - the glory of the Nazi games in '36, the frisson of the click of jackbooted heels, that blond Gestapo officer in Where Eagles Dare, the whole groovy fascist thing."
"We've done our house up specially, with red and black bunting and a hundred-foot high statue of Sebastian Coe grinding his boot into the face of International Communism - it took us ages to get planning permission."
Chief Executive of London's Olympic organising committee Paul Deighton confessed he was not entirely happy with people focusing on the Nazi aspect to the torch parade. "We're keen to play down that side of it," he admitted. "Yes, the whole thing was Hitler's idea, but we've moved on a lot since then. Look at the last one for the China Olympics - ok, there were gangs of blue-shirted thugs running alongside beating up anyone who dared criticise China or mention Tibet, but not a German among them - I think that says something."
The parade is expected to have a global audience in the billions, and is being filmed specially by veteran director Leni Riefenstahl, with commentary by Tony Gubba.
