"there has only ever been one perfect man, the Lord Jesus, and we killed him. I only missed a putt."
The Official Countdown to the London 2012 Games
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The Official Countdown to the London 2012 Games, Simon Hart, Carlton Books, 2010
The book is an official LOCOG publication, written by the Telegraph sports writer, Simon Hart. It is in full colour and richly illustrated on every page, full of facts and figures.
The story starts with the 2005 announcement of the award of the games to London before jumping back in history to 1896 and 776BC for the origins of the games. There is a special feature on the 1948 games, when they were last in London.
The book includes all the background information you would wish for. I particularly liked the section on the Olympic sports organized in The Lowdown (Basic description), Believe it or not (an odd fact) and Jargon Buster (a kind of glossary of technical terms), supplemented by features on top British medal hopes (Jess Ennis, Ben Ainslie etc). There is a similar section on the Paralympics
There is an Olympic quiz with 19 questions running through the book with another quiz at the end to test your knowledge.
The book gives a real feel for the games and would happily adorn any coffee table or book shelf. It is suitable for adults yet accessible to the younger reader.