Torch spends first day in capital (From Times Series)
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Torch spends first day in capital
2:58am Saturday 21st July 2012 in National News © Press Association 2013
Dame Kelly Holmes holds the Olympic Flame with Beefeaters at the Tower of London
The Olympic torch is to spend its first full day in London as it inches ever closer to its final destination.
After being greeted by crowds all over Britain, the flame will start its first full day in the capital at the Prime Meridian in Greenwich, south east London.
The meridian is located at Greenwich Royal Observatory, across the river Thames from Canary Wharf and overlooking the site of the Olympics equestrian events.
Natasha Sinha, 15, from Greenwich, who was nominated to carry the torch for her dedication to swimming and cross-country running, will take the flame down into the equestrian arena. It will then be taken around Cristopher Wren's Naval College and the famous Cutty Sark clipper, which has recently undergone a £50 million renovation.
Sir Robin Knox-Johnson, the first person to sail solo non-stop around the world, founder of the Clipper Round the World yacht race in 1995 and a Cutty Sark trustee, will take the torch around the ship. Later Jaco Van Gass, 25, from Woolwich, will carry the flame on to the stage at the Woolwich Live Site, a screen which broadcasts local news and BBC coverage of major events, sport, arts and entertainment.
Crossing over the Thames, the torch will make its first move into east London before it arrives at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford next week. It will be taken around the streets of host boroughs Newham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Waltham Forest, stopping off at Stepney Green Park, Hackney Town Hall and Leyton Cricket Ground.
Fauja Singh, a 101-year-old marathon runner from Ilford, east London, will be carrying the flame through Newham after completing the London Marathon in 7 hours 49 minutes in April.
On Friday night, Royal Marine Commando Martyn Williams abseiled into the Tower of London with the flame. He undertook the 180ft descent from a Royal Navy Sea King helicopter at 2012 hours before a torch carried by Dame Kelly Holmes was lit from his flame.
The torch spent the night under guard at the 11th century tower.
