My New Statesman article on the Wenlock Olympian Games

Having an online column is very pleasant, but there remains something magic about seeing your name in print. So I am pleased that I have made it into this week's New Statesman with a short article on the Wenlock Olympian Games:

A thousand people have travelled to Shropshire to take part in the 14 different sports at the Wenlock Olympian Games, which take place from 11-14 July. The event may seem quaint, but the Olympic movement owes the pretty town of Much Wenlock a great debt.

The movement's founder, the French aristocrat Pierre de Coubertin, was inspired by the values of ancient Greece - or so we shall be told when television covers the opening ceremony from Beijing next month. But there is more to Olympic history than that, and Much Wenlock and its Victorian doctor played a central part in it.

I know it sounds just the sort of thing I make up, but I promise you it is true.

Given my memories of buying the Statesman when I was at school, I am deeply chuffed.