Olympic Flag

Olympic flag

Celebrating "Pedalling" Victoria Pendelton and Jess Varnish's excellent "Finish" at the Velodrome.

Sardinia's Lost Warriors

Sardinia

Going on display soon in Cagliari is an exhibition of life-size soldiers carved from solid rock 2,700 years ago. Only 27 have been reconstructed of the original 33, so the squad is far smaller than the famous Terracotta army but, like them, they guarded the graves of the Great and Good. It is believed the invading Carthaginians smashed them into 5,000-odd fragments, and it has taken eight years to rebuild the three-dimensional jigsaws into the original archers, shield-holders and swordsmen that will be put on display in the summer.

Sardinia is a fascinating holiday destination, and its flag portrays either the severed heads of Moorish invaders, with St George's cross, or it celebrates the sacrifice of St Maurice, a Roman soldier saint who was martyred with his Theban legion for refusing to take part in pagan rites.

Charles Dickens' 200th birthday

Kent County

Although born in Portsmouth, not Kent, Dickens spent much of his childhood in Chatham, and lived in his adult years in Broadstairs and Higham, where he wrote many of his most famous novels. He was rightly lauded for highlighting the terrible conditions in London slums and for his opposition to slavery. I just wish he'd hadn't made the heroines in his novels such vapid, swooning sots. Happy birthday anyway, Charles. AW