No truth in rumours of Red Arrows olympics ban.

I just found in my spam filters a chain email promoting an e-petition which complains that the Red Arrows have been banned from appearing at the 2012 London Olympics because they are deemed 'too British'. My initial reaction was horrified disbelief: this turned out to be justified, because an internet search took about 30 seconds to refute the story.

London 2012 has responded to reports that the Red Arrows have been banned from the Opening Ceremony of the Games, describing the rumours as 'utter nonsense'.

The London 2012 Organising Committee will decide what to include in all celebrations and they will be a showcase of the best the UK has to offer. But with five years to go, decisions are yet to be made on what the celebrations will look like.

The Red Arrows have in fact been used before in connection to London and the Games. They did a spectacular fly over of Trafalgar Square in London to celebrate winning the bid in July 2005, and also flew over the Mall when the Athens Torch Relay was in London in 2004.

The DCMS and the Red Arrows themselves also released statements refuting the claims about the ban.

The comment was attributed to Mark Twain, a century before the internet, that a lie can get half way round the world before the truth has finished putting its boots on. These days if people don't stop to check before clicking "forward" it is more like a thousand times round the world. A good rule of thumb is never to believe anything in a chain email or e-petition unless you have thoroughly checked it out.

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