Jonathan Glancey on the champions of the 2012 legacy plan:
I wonder if it has occurred to these London Olympians...that the seeds of a truly worthwhile legacy are in the very soil of Stratford and along the banks of the river Lea that flows lugubriously through it. The site chosen for the 2012 Austerity Olympics was, until 1991, home to the Stratford railway works, founded in 1847. It held the record for high-speed manufacturing; in 1891, one of James Holden's 0-6-0 freight locomotives was built here in nine hours and 47 minutes. It went straight into service and ran more than 1.2 million miles over the following 44 years. Stratford and the Lea Valley were, in fact, the cradle of a second industrial revolution, with Britain at its forefront.
If you missed this piece last week, read on.
