'If it wasn't for Hitler I could have won a gold medal': Amazing story of Britain's oldest living Olympian

When the 1948 Games came around, Britain was still under food rationing – which didn’t help his preparations for the race

The oldest surviving British athlete of the 1948 London Games was robbed of a gold medal by the Second World War – but he refuses to be bitter.

Gutsy Bill Lucas, 95, who ended up getting a medal for his flying heroics, told the Mirror: “I had a good war instead.”

The 5,000m runner was on course to steal gold in 1940… then the Olympics were axed that year and again in 1944 because of the global conflict.

By the time they were held again in 1948, Bill was 31 and past his prime.

But he says: “I was gratified that I was picked to take part.

“I had been looking forward to going to Helsinki in 1940 but Mr Hitler deprived me of that and of the Games in 1944 but I had a good war instead.

"By the end of it I’d been flying missions for Bomber Command and drinking gallons of beer.”

Bill, from Cowfold, West Sussex, flew 81 death-defying missions over Germany, including the 1,000 bomber raid on Cologne in 1942.

His bravery earned him a Distinguished Flying Cross medal and he was Mentioned in Dispatches.

He volunteered in 1940 and flew for 9 Squadron (Wellingtons), 15 Squadron then 162 Squadron, rising to the rank of Squadron Leader.

However, he can’t help musing: “But for the war I could have won a gold medal or set a world record.”

When the 1948 Games came around, Britain was still under food rationing – which didn’t help Bill’s preparations for his race.

He says: “The athletes were on rations just like everyone else.

“I was pushing 32 and had only had 12 months of reasonably good training, whereas today’s athletes take eight years.

“At the opening ceremony it was 34C. We had four hours of marching about, standing up, sitting down then standing up again.

"We raced two days later so I wasn’t at my best, and didn’t run my best race. None of the British boys did.”

Bill was beaten in the heats by Emil Zatopek, who was dubbed the “Czech Locomotive” and went on to win four Olympic golds.

“Emil and I didn’t say much,” Bill remembers. “We just sort of passed each other on the starting line.

“Was I disappointed with the result? Not really. The war had hardened me up.”

The post-war Games – the last time Britain hosted them until now – were a far cry from London 2012.

Bill, who worked as an insurance broker, says the athletes were housed not in a glitzy Olympic village but in cramped conditions at RAF Uxbridge, Middlesex.

“I’d been stationed there when I joined up so I preferred to stay at home,” he adds.

There were no Games road lanes or other special treatment for competitors, either.

Bill simply took the bus from his home in Surrey to Croydon, the train to London and then the Tube to Wembley.

“I walked to the stadium with the fans,” he says. “Everybody was just the same.

“When my race finished I went home and went back to work – but I did go back for the closing ceremony.

"They gave us a blazer, tracksuit, vest and a beret and that was about it.”

Bill, who lives with his wife Sheena, still wears his blazer with pride, and has the 1948 Games programme of his 5,000m battle with Zatopek, which cost a shilling.

He remains heavily involved with athletics, despite not being able to walk very well, and has been a member of London’s Belgrave Harriers for 77 years.

For a long time he was the announcer at London’s now defunct White City stadium, where he was known as “the golden voice of athletics”.

And currently he is campaigning against the planned closure of the Broadbridge Heath Leisure Centre in Horsham, West Sussex, which has a 400m running track.

“It’s a marvellous centre,” he says. “They’ll probably knock it down and build houses.”

Bill is involved in the RAF Association and the Royal British Legion, too, and helped raise £10,000 towards the £7.5million Bomber Command memorial unveiled by the Queen last month.

“I’m also in a group called PROBUS – Poor Retired Old B****** Unfit for Sex,” he adds with a glint in his eye.

At the moment Bill is looking forward to London 2012, and has been contacted by the British Olympics Association after a public outcry persuaded them to involve our 1948 athletes.

He’s had lunch with Princess Anne and toured Team GB’s headquarters with the other surviving competitors.

They include Dorothy Tyler, 92, who won the high-jump silver, John Parlett, 82, an 800m finalist, and his wife Dorothy Manley, 85, the 100m silver medallist.

Bill has also been given tickets to the final of this year’s 5,000m race.

He says: “I’m pleased to get the tickets and I did enjoy the lunch.

“There had been talk some time ago of me carrying the torch in the relay before the Games but it never amounted to anything.

“I can’t walk more than about 200 yards these days but it would have been nice if a few of the Belgrave Harriers could have pushed me in a wheelchair while I held the torch.”

He plans to watch as much of London 2012 as he can on a new television he has bought especially for the Games. “We will certainly have a good view,” he says.

“At lunchtimes I will have a gin and tonic, and in the evenings Sheena and I will pour ourselves a Scotch as we usually do at 5.40pm. On the dot.”

Al Qaeda 'plot to blow up passenger jet' in run up to Olympics uncovered by security forces•Terrorist group recruited a western Islamic radical in an attempt to evade security procedures

By Daily Mail Reporter

A terrorist plot to blow up a U.S. passenger jet timed to coincide with the Olympics has been uncovered by security agencies, according to intelligence sources.

Al Qaeda intended to use a radicalised Norwegian Islamic convert to attack U.S. planes in the build-up to the London Games - which start in 26 days on July 27 - it is understood.

The plan centred on using the so-called ‘clean skin’ – a terrorist with no previous criminal record and are unlikely to raise suspicions among the security services – in order to evade airport security.

‘If you are blowing up aeroplanes you are likely to be killing Brits or having a big impact on the European or British economy. [So it] would in effect be an attack against Britain,’ a Whitehall official told the Sunday Times.

It is believed the suspect tasked with the attack uses the Islamic name Muslim Abu Abdurrahman, had converted to Islam in 2008, and was recruited in a terrorist training camp in Yemen, sources told the Sunday Times.

It is not thought to have been aimed specifically at the Olympics in London, but security forces protecting the Games said intelligence on any possible threat was constantly reviewed.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: 'We have planned against the four main areas of threat: terrorism, serious and organised crime, public disorder and natural hazards.

'We are working closely with Games organisers to deliver an end to end operation to ensure everyone is safe and secure. Alongside LOCOG’s in venue security operation, police will be present for the detection and prevention of crime.

'Our intelligence is kept under constant review. For operational reasons we do not discuss the exact detail of how we monitor any individual or group.'

Terrorists from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsular (AQAP), based in Yemen, are understood to be behind this latest plot.

The same group were revealed to have been behind at least four other attempted attacks in the last four years.

Nigerian-born British student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was ordered to carryout a suicide mission for AQAP when he attempted to detonate a bomb in his underpants as the plane, en route from Amsterdam, approached Detroit.

It failed to fully detonate aboard the flight, which was carrying nearly 300 people, but caused a brief fire that badly burned his groin.

Passengers pounced on Abdulmutallab and forced him to the front of Northwest Airlines Flight 253 where he was held until the plane landed minutes later.

In 2009, months before the attack, he travelled to Yemen to see Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric and one of the best-known al Qaeda figures, according to the government.

In February, this year, a U.S. court jailed him for life without parole.

AQAP were said to be responsibility for a sophisticated attempt to blow up a cargo plane with bombs hidden in ink cartridges.

At least one of the bombs planted on cargo planes heading for Chicago was primed to explode once the aircraft reached the U.S. mainland.

The terror plot was thwarted after the two devices - hidden inside printer cartridges - were intercepted at airports in Nottingham and Dubai on October 29, last year.

Both bombs contained quantities of the powerful explosive PETN. The device discovered in the UK contained 400 grams of the lethal ingredient – 50 times more than needed to punch a hole in the aircraft’s skin – and was wired to a mobile phone.

The device, discovered at East Midland airport, was timed to explode during flight after it entered U.S. air space, Scotland Yard officials said at the time of the plot's discovery.

In May, this year, it was revealed security agencies had thwarted another AQAP plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner.

The attack was prevented because the intended bomber was actually a double agent who infiltrated the group and volunteered for the suicide mission, it was revealed.

Saudi Arabia's intelligence agency placed the undercover operator inside AQAP where he convinced his handlers to give him the new type of non-metallic bomb.

The agent, who was in Yemen, was liaising with the CIA before handing the device over to intelligence services.

US enlists Britain's help to stop ship 'carrying Russian attack helicopters' to Syria

The US government has enlisted Britain's help in a bid to stop a ship suspected of carrying Russian attack helicopters and missiles to conflict-riven Syria, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

By Ruth Sherlock, in Washington, Roland Oliphant in Moscow and Colin Freeman

The MV Alaed, a Russian-operated cargo vessel, is currently thought to be sailing through the North Sea after allegedly picking up a consignment of munitions and MI25 helicopters - known as "flying tanks" - from the Russian Baltic port of Kaliningrad.

Washington, which last week condemned Moscow for continuing to arm the Syrian regime, has asked British officials to help stop the Alaed delivering its alleged cargo by using sanctions legislation to force its London-based insurer to withdraw its cover.

Under the terms of the current European Union arms embargo against Syria, imposed in May last year, there is a ban on the "transfer or export" of arms and any related "brokering" services such as insurance. Withdrawal of a ship's insurance cover would make it difficult for it legally to dock elsewhere and could force it to return the cargo to port.

The request to London from US officials comes after the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, disclosed on Tuesday that Moscow was in the process of shipping a batch of attack helicopters to Syria.

Dismissing Russian government claims that its weapons sales to Syria would not be used for internal repression, Mrs Clinton warned the shipment could "quite dramatically" escalate the conflict, which has already claimed an estimated 10,000 lives. Yesterday, the United Nations monitoring mission said it had suspended its work because of "intensifying" violence on either side, which was putting its teams of unarmed observers at risk.

The helicopters Mrs Clinton was referring to are believed to be part of a 36-strong consignment ordered by the Syrian government at the end of the Soviet era, some of which were transferred back to Russia recently for routine maintenance. They are understood to have been serviced by the state-owned helicopter manufacturer, Mil, at their premises at Factory 150 in Kaliningrad.

While the Kremlin, which has so far vetoed calls for a United Nations arms embargo against Syria, insists that Mil is merely honouring the terms of an existing business contract, critics point that such helicopters have helped spearhead President Bashar al-Assad's attempts to suppress the uprising against him. Last week it was reported that helicopters had repeatedly fired rockets at a hospital in a rebel enclave outside Aleppo in northern Syria.

Shipping records show that on Thursday - the most recent date for which data is available - the Alaed was off the north-west coast of Denmark, apparently heading south towards the entrance to the English Channel. It is insured by Standard P and I Club, which is managed by Charles Taylor and Co Ltd of London, whose offshore syndicate director, Robert Dorey, confirmed on Saturday that they were investigating claims that the ship was carrying arms.

"We were informed on Friday evening that the ship might be carrying weapons, in particular attack helicopters, missiles and non-specific munitions, and we are making inquiries to establish what their side of the story is," said Mr Dorey. "There are exclusion clauses in our cover, and for anyone involved in improper or unlawful trade, we can cancel cover. We are investigating whether or not to do so in this case."

Like most international cargo ships, the Alaed has a complex ownership and management structure. Its registered owner is Volcano Shipping on the island of Curacao in the Dutch Antilles, but it is listed as part of a fleet belonging to a Russian company, FEMCO, which was unavailable for comment last night. According to FEMCO's website, the ship's commercial management and chartering is carried out by United Nordic Shipping, a Danish company based in Copenhagen, but yesterday, United Nordic shipping said that the management agreement had never actually been finalised, and that FEMCO's website was wrong.

"To the best of our knowledge the vessel is managed and operated by FEMCO in Russia," said Soeren Andersen, United Nordic Shipping's managing director. "We have no knowledge of or involvement in the vessel's current charter or trading - a fact we have also satisfactorily accounted for to the Danish authorities."

A source close to United Nordic added: "The Danish authorities contacted us a few days ago to ask about the ship, and said it was related to possible shipments of weapons to Syria."

The claims about the Alaed's cargo will fuel the growing row over Russian involvement in supplying arms to Syria, which Moscow has long seen as a strategic partner because of the Russian naval base in the Syrian port city of Tartus.

Last week, The Sunday Telegraph disclosed how the Professor Katsman, a ship belonging to a firm owned by a Russian billionaire, Vladimir Lisin, docked in Syria with a suspected weapons cache on May 26, one day after the massacre of more than 100 people in the Syrian village of Houla.

Dr Lisin, a steel magnate who is also vice-president of the Russian Olympic Committee, now faces calls from British MPs to have his invitation to London 2012 withdrawn. Sources close the Games organisers have said, however, that accredited Olympic representatives of foreign countries enjoy an effective "diplomatic immunity" that would be revoked only in the most serious of circumstances.

On Saturday, Dr Lisin said that the accusations against him were "groundless" and said an internal investigation he ordered at his transport firm, Universal Cargo Logistics (UCL) had found no evidence that the cargo was dangerous or violated international law.

"The evidence I was presented with indicates that according to the documentation the company was not transporting arms for either side of the Syrian conflict," Dr Lisin said in emailed comments.

"To date, I have not received a single [piece of] evidence to the contrary. If at some point someone does bring such evidence to my attention, I shall be grateful and will take all the possible measures available to me."

UCL said that as part of its investigation it requested information on the Professor Katsman's cargo from the owner, which it named as another Russian company. The company told UCL that the containers the Professor Katsman delivered to Syria "was a general cargo of non-military purpose featuring electrical equipment and repair parts (rotor blades) in containers and wooden crates", he said.

Dr Lisin is reported to be one of Russia's richest men and is well-connected to the country's political elite. Victor Olersky, a former board member of Dr Lisin's shipping firm, North Western Shipping Company, is now a Russian deputy transport minister, while Dr Lisin himself has been photographed meeting both the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Russian prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev.

Dr Lisin also described calls to bar him from the Olympic Games as opportunistic "self promotion."

"I am against armed conflict in any region of the world, including Syria," he said. "Sadly, there are those who try to use the tragedy of the Syrian people for self-promotion... At the same time, I would like to ask those who consider themselves to be reasonable and responsible to refrain from groundless accusations that will do nothing more than aggravate the relations between people, businesses, and states.

"I have no doubt that the International Olympic Committee, the National Olympic Committee of the United Kingdom, and the Organising Committee of the 2012 Olympics will preserve the traditions of the Olympic movement that has always been above political gambling."

Meanwhile, Russia and the West are at further loggerheads over Moscow's plans to press ahead with a deal to supply President Assad's regime with state-of-the art attack jets.

In a move that US intelligence officials fear could plunge the Syrian conflict into even greater long-term bloodshed, the Kremlin is pushing on with an existing 2007 contract to provide two dozen Mig-29M2 fighter aircraft, estimated to be worth £250 million to the Russian defence industry.

While the aircraft may not be ready for delivery for many months, Washington fears if President Assad's regime is still intact it could use them to devastating effect against the country's rebel enclaves. They could also be used to hinder any Western plans for a no-fly zone, which some analysts believe may eventually prove the only way to provide Syria's rebel movement with a safe haven.

"Delivery of the Migs will helps prop Assad up and give him some credibility, which is not the message the US wants to see," said Washington-based national security analyst John Pike. "The Migs would make it more difficult to enforce a no fly zone, and would increase the amount of time that the Syrian air force could survive, although possibly only by a matter of a few days."

Rafif Jouejati, spokeswoman for the Free Syria Foundation, a US-based Syrian activist group, said: "Russian arms are flooding into Syria. If Assad gets these new and advanced Migs it will be terrible – a fearful thing."

She dismissed Russian claims that the aircraft were largely to provide strategic air defences against Syria's historic enemy, Israel. "It is preposterous to argue that Assad needs them as a defence against Israel with everything else that is happening right now."

She also claimed Mr Lisin ought to have ordered his shipping firms be more proactive in finding out what any ships heading to Syria contained.

"When your ship is taking a cargo to Syria – a country embroiled in civil war – it is your duty to know what that cargo contains. You can't hide behind a lack of knowledge when little children are being slaughtered."

The Kremlin has dismissed Western criticisms of its arms policy to Syria as hypocritical, saying that other governments are also fuelling the conflict by arming anti-Assad guerrillas. The Daily Telegraph disclosed yesterday that representatives of the main rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, had held meetings with US government officials to discuss getting them to authorise shipments of heavy weapons, including missiles.

British MPs are calling for Rosoboronexport, the Kremlin-owned arms export firm that has a monopoly on Russian arms exports, to be banned from exhibiting at the trade section of next month's Farnborough Airshow. Last week, Rosoboronexport had a stall at the Eurosatory 2012 arms exhibition in Paris, where videos of Russian attack helicopters were on display. Igor Sevastyanov, the company's deputy CEO, said: "No-one can ever accuse Russia of violating the rules of armaments trade set by the international community.

"The contract (with Syria) was signed long ago and we supply armaments that are self-defence rather than attack weapons."

On Monday Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton, raised the issue of Rosoboronexport's attendance at Farnborough with the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in Parliament. She said: "It is deeply alarming that while the Russian state-owned company Rosoboronexport continues to sell weapons to the Syrian government – despite appalling state-sponsored atrocities in the country – it will nevertheless be allowed to exhibit its wares on UK soil at Farnborough International Airshow.

"The Foreign Secretary has assured me in Parliament that he will look into the matter, but with the air show only a few weeks away, I would urge him to act now to prevent Rosoboronexport from entering altogether."

She added: "By taking measures to ban Rosoboronexport from Farnborough and revoke Mr Lisin's invitation to the Olympics, the United Kingdom can lead by example in showing that it is prepared to take a moral stand against all of those foreign companies accused of involvement in the sale of weapons to deadly and undemocratic regimes."

An FCO spokesman said that Mr Hague was still considering the matter, but added: "Farnborough International Air Show is a commercial event run by Farnborough International Ltd. The British Government plays no part in deciding which companies are invited to the event."

Asked about the Alaed last night, a spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was “urgently looking into any possible breaches of the EU arms embargo on Syria.”

“We are aware of reports that a ship carrying a consignment of refurbished Russian-made attack helicopters is heading to Syria and that it is travelling in international waters near the UK,” the spokesman added. “The Foreign Secretary made clear to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov when they met on 14 June that all defence shipments to Syria must stop. We are working closely with international partners to ensure that we are doing all we can to stop the Syrian regime’s ability to slaughter civilians being reinforced through assistance from other countries.”