A PENSIONER hopes to exchange two unused tickets from the 1948 London Olympics to watch the 2012 games.

Pensioner Cecil Alderson, from Cockfield, County Durham, was completing his National Service in the RAF at the time of the first London games and planned to watch two days of athletics with friend Fred Wilson.

However, his friend, from Penrith, Cumbria, could not make it, so Mr Alderson travelled to Wembley alone, keeping the unused tickets as a keepsake.

The 81-year-old said: “We were based in Wiltshire, which wasn’t too far away from London, and me and Fred were both keen on athletics.

“When my friend dropped out, I decided to still go to both days. There is something about watching live sports which is electric and I had a very good time.”

Mr Alderson, who represented the RAF at long jump, watched a variety of athletic events, including seeing Czech runner Emil Zatopek wow the crowds in the 10,000 metres.

Each day he carefully filled in the event results in the programme, which he has kept.

The standing tickets cost 3s 6d each – 17 and a half pence in today’s money. Mr Alderson hopes someone with 2012 tickets, which ranged up to £2,000 may be interested in swapping them for a piece of history.

He said: “I would love to be able to go next year, if it is possible to use these tickets.

There cannot be too many people who can say they have watched both the 1948 games and the 2012 games live.

“It is such a magnificent occasion.

“I am still very keen on watching athletics and my son lives down in London now, so I would be able to go.”

However, a spokesman from the London 2012 organisation committee said it was unable to swap his tickets, saying: “We have a very strict policy on what we will and won’t do with tickets.

“If we do this for one person, we would have to do it for all the people, so with this in mind we can’t give away free tickets unfortunately.”

􀁧 Anyone able to help Mr Alderson is asked to call reporter Will Roberts on 01388- 602232.