To celebrate the start of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, we thought we’d post these stories about the opening of the 1948 London Games. We love reading old newspaper reports about the OlympicGames in the Archive, as the old-fashioned, Corinthian spirit of the Olympics really shines through these stories. We also love the quirky stories, such as the ‘missing luggage’ (and wine!) of the French Team in 1948. Known as ‘the Austerity Games’, the ‘make do and mend’ and …

We’ve been reading some of the stories about the Olympic Games in the Archive, and have been fascinated by many of the stories. We noticed that the first political defection at an Olympics took place at the 1948 Games in London, when Marie Provaznikova of Czechoslovakia decided not to return home. As it’s a report that, as well as highlighting a very moving personal story, also captures the start of ‘the Cold War’ era, we thought we’d post the article …

We do love reading quirky stories about the London Games of 1948 – and other Olympiads, too. The 1948 Games, known as ‘the Austerity Games, have a very pleasing ‘make do and mend’ and Corinthian spirit to them – understandably, as the world was still recovering from World War II. From the newspaper reports below, we love the story about the lost luggage of the French team, and their fears that they might have to parade before the King in …

We’re enjoying reading news stories about people who attended the Olympic Games in 1948 – especially if they intend on going to the 2012 Games,too! It’s been fascinating to read about all the changes in the sporting world that that have taken place since the more Corinthinian-minded days of 1948. For instance, we didn’t know that the officials at the 1948 Games had to pay their own expenses. Just for the record, the Olympic uniform that Charles Arthur Potts of …

We’ve been reading stories about the Olympic Games in the newspaper archive – and it’s fascinating! From Pierre de Coubertin’s pioneering work on starting the modern Olympics in 1896 and Eric Liddell winning gold in 1924 right through to the ‘Austerity Games’ in London in 1948, we’re found 1,000s of great stories. We especially like the stories about ordinary folk getting involved in the Games, so though we’d start off by posting some stories about the journey of the Olympic …

You continue to share some wonderful ancestral and historical stories with us via Twitter and Facebook. With the Olympics coming up, we’re especially interested in stories about the Games. Indeed, we’re lobbying to have ancestral storytelling accepted as an event for the 2016 Games. So if you have any interesting stories about your ancestors at the Olympics in 1908 and/or 1948, then we’d love to hear from you! – http://www.facebook.com/TheBritishNewspaperArchive – http://twitter.com/BNArchive

With the London Marathon taking place last Sunday, we thought we’d post this story about the famous marathon that took place during the 1908 Olympics. In perhaps one of the most dramatic endings to a marathon ever, Dorando Pietri, the first man to cross the finishing line, was disqualified, after he had been helped to his feet several times by well-wishing spectators. The judges decided to award the race to Johnny Hayes, who had finished behind the dangerously exhausted, Pietri. …