The Commonwealth Games first appeared in 1891 in The Times as an idea of the Reverend Astley Cooper, a “Pan-Britannic-Pan-Anglican Contest and Festival every four years as a means of increasing the goodwill and good understanding of the British Empire.” The Games then appeared in their first form as a Festival of the Empire in 1911 to celebrate the coronation of George V, where teams from countries including Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom competed. In 1930 they began in earnest in Hamilton, Ontario, where they were called the British Empire Games





. In 1954 the Games returned to Canada, held in Vancouver but as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games. Then in 1970 the name changed again to the British Commonwealth Games, held in Edinburgh (UK) before finally becoming the Commonwealth Games in 1978 in Edmonton, Canada This year in Delhi approximately 5000 athletes, comprising 71 teams, will compete, quite a step up from 1930 when 11 countries sent 400 athletes to all sleep in dormitories in the Prince of Wales School next to the Civic Stadium in Hamilton.

The Commonwealth of Nations, which the Games celebrate, is widely seen as the successor to the British Empire on the international stage, although we might more accurately call it the remnants of the British Empire. It is an inter-governmental organization of 54 independent states, of which only 2 were not part of the original Empire. Indeed, Anthony Eden turned down an application from France in the 1950s to join the Commonwealth, which resulted in its creating the EU with other Western European countries; a cruel twist of fate, one might say. All member states are equal in the Commonwealth although all agree to recognize the Queen (of England) as its head. . The management however is headed by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the head of which serves for a maximum of two 4 year terms and is an observer at the United Nations General Assembly. As a result of the 1971 Singapore Declaration the organization is devoted to the promotion of democracy, human rights, good governance, the rule of law, individual liberty, egalitarianism, free trade, multilateralism and world peace.

Click here for a countdown and the Delhi 2010 homepage, where you can also find out about the mascot and the chakra.

Finally, you’ll be able to read more about Delhi 2010 in our up and coming magazine, but for now you’d better make the most of 2010 as the Commonwealth Games are scheduled to land in Glasgow in 2014, the heroin capital of the United Kingdom! I hope they know how to test the athletes for other drugs than steroids, or maybe this is all just part of the plan to introduce a new track event; most chilled out 100metres? Who knows what lay behind this decision, but whereas the motto of the 2010 games

When it comes to Delhi, there’s only one thing you need to do – Get a short term flat for it here.