Sports Day on Plymouth Hoe as children and parents find their feet

Little Olympians have to start somewhere. These post-war baby boomers showcase talent in a series of races on the Hoe. Little girls in summery white dresses and boys in shorts run across the grassy bank competing in activities including a potato relay and an imperial 10-yard dash. A competitive mums' race is run although today's modern version would have parents and carers turning up in lycra and donning trainers which they would just happen to have in their bag!

In the 1960s sports and politics converge and by 1964 under Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson Britain has its first Minster for Sport, Denis Howell. A pioneering sports' policy introduces the idea of central government overseeing sport and increases state funding for sport in schools improving recreational activities and widening participation. In the modern context, politicians with the help of renowned sports' personalities are able to bid and win major sporting events. London 2012, formally the Games of the XXX Olympiad, make London the only city to have hosted the Olympic Games three times, in 1908, in 1948 and in 2012. London 2012 has left a countrywide legacy for sport and for regeneration.