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Today marks two years until the start of London 2012. A breathtaking series of events are planned to mark the milestone, including the launch of a volunteering programme and the opening of the first official shop. Follow the thrills and spills here

3.54pm:

Right, that’s it. Most of the activities celebrating the fact the games start two years today have finished. So what have we learned, apart from the fact that there is now an official London 2012 shop open at St Pancras?

• Sir Chris Hoy can still ride a bike. This is good news.

• Londoners could make a small fortune letting out their homes during the games. Up to £5,000 per week, according to the Times.

• Wenlock, one of the official London mascots, is available in soft toy form. But he costs £25. You can also try and win him.

• If you decide to buy Wenlock, don’t try and use your Mastercard. “In recognition of Visa’s longstanding support of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, the London 2012 Shop is proud to only accept card payments by Visa.”

• The Olympic park is really beginning to take shape. Some of the buildings, particularly the velodrome and the swimming arena, look amazing – as this Guardian gallery shows.

Thanks for following the blog today and for all your comments.

2.25pm:

Lord Coe is telling Sophie Rayworth that there will be more tickets widely available than any event in history.

He also says there is as much chance of getting a ticket for the 100m final through the ballot as there is for any other event.

If you so wish, you can register on the London 2012 website for the latest information on tickets.

Around eight million tickets will be available for the games, according to the website. The tickets go on sale next year.

Interestingly it seems people will only be able to make card payments using Visa at the Olympics. “In recognition of Visa’s support of the Games, the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are proud to accept only Visa cards (debit, credit and prepaid), along with cash and cheques.”

1.57pm:

Footage is emerging on the news channels of Sir Chris Hoy cycling around the makeshift track in the London velodrome. It appears Boris Johnson has also had a go around the temporary track, albeit somewhat more slowly.

PA reports that Hoy was “watched by a crew of cheering builders” on the 75m track.

“Just walking in here you get the feeling that this is an Olympic venue,” Hoy said.

“This is where it is going to take place and hopefully where I will win one more Olympic gold medal.

“Just looking up at the stand and even the cheers from the construction workers, you can feel what it will be like when it is full to the rafters and being in an Olympic final.

“You can really sense it is getting more enthusiastic – two years to go, I really cannot wait.”

1.33pm:

Another YouTube video, this time from Pearcesport. aka James Pearce, the BBC’s sports news correspondent, who was one of the people allowed into the Olympic Stadium this morning.

The video shows the short (very short) track which has been laid for Michael Johnson to run around on later today. According to the documents I have here, he will sprint against youngsters at 2.30pm. Hurray!

1.10pm:

My colleague Matt Wells, displaying a disturbingly close knowledge of Doctor Who, has sent me the following email explaining his “little shop” comment below the line.

The episode is Smith and Jones, starring Tennant. The doctor and his then assistant, Martha, are hiding from the Judoon (who are not very nice) in the Royal Hope hospital, which has been transferred to the moon, for the purposes of the plot.

“Ah, you’ve got a little shop. I like a little shop!” he says. It is ironic, obviously, to be thinking about retail opportunities, given the danger he is in.

That will be all.

12.55pm:

kayewiggins has uploaded a video of Boris Johnson talking about the volunteering scheme to YouTube.

He says at least 8,000 people will be able to be London ambassadors, maybe more if sufficient sponsorship can be acquired.

12.38pm:

BBC One is screening a live “special news” programme – called, fittingly, “London 2012: Two Years to Go” – from the Olympic stadium in Stratford from 2.15pm.

As KenBarlow points out below the line, you can purchase 30cm Wenlock soft toys rather than pitting your wits against others in a bid to win one.

The mascot is a snip at £25.00 (plus £4.95 standard delivery).

12.30pm:

We (Lexy Topping and I – it was doubles) lost. 11-3, 11-7. Mostly my fault.

12.03pm: Fittingly, given the subject of this live blog, I have to pause here to go and play table tennis – a first round match in the Kings Place Occupiers’ Championship. (Really).

Will be back shortly.

11.54am: Owen Gibson has written a comprehensive progress report on preparations for London 2012.

Two years from today, the Olympic flame will be lit in a stadium that is now all but finished on a site in east London that is looking more and more as it will in July 2012. This time next year, test events will begin. All of a sudden, there is not much time left.

Despite the worst recession for 70 years, the construction of the venues is on track. “We’re in a remarkably good place,” said the sports and Olympics minister, Hugh Robertson. “As at today, we are marginally ahead of where we ought to be in construction terms and on budget, which is an extraordinarily good position to be in.”

As confidence grows that the London Olympics will avoid an Athens-style meltdown, attention will turn to the operational issues for which the London organising committee (Locog), chaired by Lord Coe, is responsible.

You can also read progress reports on individual sports on our London 2012: two years to go keyword page.

If you don’t win a 30cm soft replica of Wenlock.

11.35am: The BBC has opened up its archive of footage from the 1948 London Olympics.

The 1948 Olympics section of its website has pictures, news stories, video and audio from the “austerity Olympics”.

When the Olympic Games came to London in 1948 it was visiting a city still suffering from the ravages of the second world war. Rationing was still in force, many people had been left homeless and yet the bomb cratered city rose to the challenge of hosting the world’s greatest sporting occasion.

These “austerity Olympics” were not only the first post-war games, but also the first Olympics where British television played a role. This collection of programmes and photographs looks back at the games, remembering the athletes who took part and revealing the BBC’s role in televising the events.

The collection includes a broadcast from Prime Minister Clement Attlee offering a “warmest welcome” to the athletes who have travelled to London, and a video news piece informing viewers that the BBC had used for the first time “its latest EMI outside broadcast equipment” to screen some events.

11.10am: To celebrate the fact there are only two years to go until the games, fans of weird-looking droplets of steel can win a soft toy of one of London 2012’s official mascots.

Three 30cm replica of Wenlock (the more aggressive looking one) can be secured by answering two questions on Twitter and Facebook.

More details about the competition on the official London 2012 website.

10.52am: The Times reports today that Londoners could rent out their homes for “up to three times the market rate during the Olympics”, with a four bedroom house potentially fetching up to £5,000 a week.

British athletes are training hard to win medals at the London Olympics but homeowners may also strike gold. Some properties will be rented out for up to three times the normal market rate during the event, with a fourbedroom house in London fetching up to £5,000 a week.

The paper quotes Tom Impey, lettings manager at Green Homes estate agents in Stratford, who says there are few hotels close to the Olympic area.

“If you had a property that would normally rent for £750 per week, you could push that up to £1,500 for the Olympic month,” he told the Times. “I’ve already had enquiries, as Londoners are looking to cash in.”

The article reckons homes in Greenwich which would normally be let for £800 a week could be listed for as much as £2,400 during the Olympics.

10.40am: Mayor of London Boris Johnson is heavily involved with the various ceremonies today. Judging from his Twitter feed, the good Mayor appears to be enjoying himself.

Amid messages notifying followers that “I’m on BBC Breakfast shortly talking about the Olympics“, the Mayor has posted a photograph from inside the Olympic stadium, and also had his picture taken with Diversity.

Amid his mingling the Mayor has also posted a link to the newly launched website for those wanting to volunteer to help out at the games.

The website has a quiz to enable hopefuls to find out if they’d be suited to the role.

The quiz takes the form of multiple choice. Question 5 asks “What are you really looking forward to?” (About being a volunteer).

One of the possible answers, C, is “Meeting Boris Johnson, what a legend.”

I wonder how hands-on the Mayor’s role was in preparing the quiz.

10.25am:

The BBC has reporters stationed around the Olympic Park, with one having just filed from the cycling velodrome where Chris Hoy will be showing his stuff later today.

The velodrome, although it has a roof, still looks pretty much like a building site. The track – which will be “Iberian pine” according to the reporter – hasn’t been laid yet, so instead the great Hoy will ride around a white marking on the concrete floor.

A report from the Basketball Arena, where later today former NBS star John Amaechi will shoot “into a temporary hoop”, according the PR stuff I have here, suggests Amaechi better not try bouncing the ball – the floor appears to be sand, giving it the look of an equestrian arena, rather than a basketball one.

10.00am: Rejoice! Rejoice! London 2012 is now a mere two years away. And the even better news is that the Olympic Delivery Authority has prepared an action-packed day of fun, lest the milestone pass unremarked.

Follow the latest here as the Olympic volunteering programme is launched (with the help of dance group Diversity and the Mayor of London) and a shop is opened at St Pancras International, before the media and dignitaries catch a train to the Olympic Park site.

From there, stay tuned as Chris Hoy cycles around the newly opened Olympic velodrome, Michael Johnson races, and presumably beats, youngsters on a temporary track in the stadium, and much, much more!*

And nobody mention today’s news that half of Britain’s Olympic sports could have their funding slashed. Besides, once that shop is open, worries over finance will surely pass into distant memory.

*not that much more.

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Waggish columnists have, naturally, been wringing every last drop of derision from their creative juicebanks in the cause of humiliating poor old, one-eyed, Wenlock and Mandeville. Londonist begins its round-up of trans-continental scorn as follows:

Well, it was always going to happen, wasn’t it? Had the Olympic organisers reanimated Frank Lloyd Wright, William Morris and Harry Beck to work on the mascots we’d still have sneered at the outcome.

Horribly true. They conclude:

Tempting though it is, we’ll remain neutral and resist the urge to cock a snook at Wenville and Mandelock (even though we do think the blue one looks like a roadkill Smurf in a crotchless chef’s outfit).

Most generous. Now read on.

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New government department to combine DCMS with responsibility for London 2012 Olympics

Jeremy Hunt has been appointed secretary of state for culture, Olympics, media and sport in a newly created department in the Lib Dem/Conservative coalition government.

Hunt’s new brief combines the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with Tessa Jowell’s ministerial responsibility for the London 2012 Olympics.

He told the BBC News Channel: “The Olympics is our number one priority and what we need to do is to grasp the opportunity.”

Hunt praised the Labour administration and Lord Coe for securing the 2012 Games for London. “They have entrusted us with a very, very precious jewel and we really need to make it work,” he said.

The former Tory shadow culture secretary left No 10 earlier today looking visibly pleased following his meeting with David Cameron.

More ministerial appointments are expected to be made tomorrow and Ed Vaizey is tipped for a post within Hunt’s department. Vaizey was part of Hunt’s Tory shadow culture team, responsible for arts and broadcasting.

Hugh Robertson, who has been shadow sports minister since 2004, is tomorrow expected to be confirmed as sports minister.

The addition of the high-profile Olympics brief to Hunt’s portfolio is not a surprise and will see it reintegrated into the department’s main offices in London’s Cockspur Street. It was orginally carved out when Jowell was given a new cabinet role as minister for London and the Olympics after she was replaced as culture secretary by Andy Burnham.

However, it is unclear how many DCOMS ministerial appointments will be made – the last Labour administration had a culture minister, a minister for the creative industries, and a sports minister reporting to the secretary of state.

The Lib Dems are expected to have one minister in the new department, although it is understood responsibility for media is likely to go to a Tory.

There are also serious questions about how much of the Conservatives’ media and technology strategy remains intact following the political horse trading with the Liberal Democrats needed to get the keys to No 10.

The seven-page coalition agreement between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservative party, published today, includes a promise to reform the UK’s libel law.

But there is nothing about repealing the controversial Digital Economy Act, which was rushed into law by Labour in the last days of the previous parliament – a move criticised by both parties while in opposition.

The coalition statement also includes a plan to extend the scope of the Freedom Of Information Act, which resembles the Conservatives’ promise to include taxpayer-funded bodies such as Northern Rock and Network Rail in the regime, but nothing about any wider review of media ownership laws or changes to regulator Ofcom.

Political insiders maintain that the Conservatives will have to forgo some of their more radical plans for the media industry, to allay the fears of their new partners about their intentions towards the BBC, and instead concentrate over the coming months on legislation to cut public spending and reduce the deficit.

There is no mention of the BBC in the coalition manifesto. As shadow culture secretary, Hunt said if the Conservatives won the election they would move swiftly to scrap the BBC Trust and give the National Audit Office full access to the corporation’s accounts – moves backed by the Lib Dem manifesto. The Tories also proposed freezing the BBC licence fee.

The Conservatives opposed Labour’s independently funded news consortium plan to provide replacement ITV regional news services, which had Lib Dem backing.

In the parties’ shared statement on taxation there is no mention of how to pay for getting the next generation of superfast broadband services into rural areas of the UK, despite both parties saying that internet access pays a vital role in rural development. The previous Labour administration was forced to dump plans for a controversial 50p-a-month tax on fixed-line phones in order to get the finance bill through the pre-election wash-up.

The Conservatives’ technology manifesto, published in March, made it plain that they wanted to use part of the licence fee to pay for broadband. The Lib Dems, meanwhile, were ambivalent about the levy.

Danny Alexander, who is one of the five Lib Dems who have secretary of state posts in the new cabinet, said in April that the levy was not perfect but he recognised the need for action.

In fact, despite both parties talking extensively about the need to create a new economy based on skills and technology, the word “digital” does not appear at all in the coalition’s plans, and “technology” is only used to describe the science behind environmentally-friendly carbon capture schemes.

But campaigners will welcome the pledge to reform the UK’s libel laws. All three political parties committed to reform of the law in their manifestos but the Lib Dems went the furthest. Having been the first party to openly discuss reform – it was debated at the party’s conference in September – the Lib Dem manifesto included plans to put into statute the controversial “Reynolds defence”. This provides a public interest defence for journalists who conduct their investigation responsibly but are unable to later prove the story was true.

The proposal to expand the Freedom of Information Act “to provide greater transparency”, meanwhile, was included in an election campaign speech by Cameron given on 24 April in which he talked of “nine big ideas for real change in politics” including adding taxpayer-funded bodies, such as Northern Rock and Network Rail, as well the Local Government Association.

“This will give the public access to a huge amount of government information currently available only to ministers,” he said at the time.

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