On July 27, 2012, London will host the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. With less than two years to the start of the biggest sporting event Britain has ever seen, Chief Sports Writer Scott Wilson looks at the best ways of getting involved.

THE Olympic Stadium is entering the final stages of construction, the Olympic Park is being landscaped as we speak and the world’s leading athletes are turning their attention towards the Games of the 30th Olympiad.

London 2012 was yesterday exactly two years away and, as the chairman of the organisers, Lord Sebastian Coe, explained, the vision of a British Olympic Games is fast becoming a reality.

While two years might sound like a long time, the next Olympics are now closer than the last one and it will not be long before Jessica Ennis is competing for heptathlon gold, Sir Chris Hoy is attempting to add to his medal haul in the velodrome and Tom Daley is wowing the crowds from the diving board.

The clock is ticking, and for anyone in the North-East hoping to experience the Olympics at first-hand, now is the time to start putting plans into place.

Those plans might involve travelling to London to be a spectator at an Olympic or Paralympic events. They might mean applying to be a volunteer for part, or all, of the Games. If you’re not a fan of sport, they might even mean heading to one of the cultural events planned for London in order to avoid the frenzy of Olympic activity in the rest of the country.

Either way, Olympic organisers are urging people not to miss the boat – and assuring North-Easterners that the Games are not the preserve of Britons living in the South-East.

“We are in pretty good shape, but now it is your turn,” said Lord Coe. “As we look ahead two years, now is the perfect opportunity to start planning your Games and make sure you are ready to join in with the celebrations.”

HOW DO I GET A TICKET?

THERE will be eight million tickets for the Olympics and two million for the Paralympics, and 75 per cent will be allocated to the public.

The rest will go to National Olympic committees, sponsors and hospitality and package providers.

Tickets go on sale, via a ballot system, next spring, but anyone interested in buying one can register details at tickets.london2012.com The registration process will remain open until tickets go on sale, and although registering does not guarantee a ticket, it will provide a shortcut when the sales process begins.

It will also enable interested parties to nominate the events they wish to see. Again, there is no guarantee of a ticket for that event, as it is anticipated that some sports, such as athletics and swimming, will be oversubscribed.

In that situation, there will be a ballot.

Ticket prices will be announced in the autumn, but the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) has pledged that some adult tickets will be available for £20.

It is also worth remembering that a handful of Olympic events – the marathon, triathlon and cycling road race for example – will take place in the streets and parks of London and will therefore be free to see.

It will also be possible to purchase a grounds ticket that will enable you to enter the Olympic Park and watch all of the action in a “Fan Fest”

area with giant screens.

HOW DO I BECOME A VOLUNTEER?

LOCOG intends to recruit 70,000 volunteers to help with the organisation and delivery of the Games. Some will fill specialist roles, such as doctors, doping control officers, interpreters and press officers. Others will carry out more general tasks, such as checking tickets, helping spectators with directions and assisting with crowd control.

Online applications for most specialist roles opened yesterday. Anyone interested can download a questionnaire on the Locog website.

Online applications for more general roles open on September 15, and volunteers must be available for a minimum of ten days at either the Olympic or Paralympic Games. They must also attend a minimum of three training sessions next March, April or June.

Volunteers will be provided with a uniform, free meals and free travel on public transport, but travel to and from London (or any of the other cities hosting football matches) and accommodation will not be provided.

There will also be no free tickets, and anyone interested in applying should be mindful of the fact that most Olympic volunteers are positioned in an area where they do not get to watch any sport.

HOW DO I BECOME A TORCH BEARER ON THE OLYMPIC RELAY?

PRIOR to the start of the Olympic Games, there will be a 70-day torch relay around Britain. It will start on May 18 and, while the precise route has not been confirmed, the Olympic flame is expected to spend about five days in the North- East and North Yorkshire.

There will be 8,000 volunteer torch bearers, and at least 50 per cent of them will be aged 24 or under in order to honour a long-standing commitment to make the Games a vehicle to inspire young people to take an interest in sport.

British Olympians, past and present, will also be offered the chance to carry the torch through their home regions. The identity of volunteer torch bearers has not yet been decided, but a nomination process will open at the start of next year.

WILL THERE BE ANYTHING TO DO THAT DOESN’T INVOLVE SPORT?

YES. Olympic organisers are determined to use the event to inspire creativity in areas other than sport, and a 12-week long London 2012 Festival will showcase leading artists from around the world.

The festival, which will run from June 21 to September 9, 2012, will feature music, film, fashion, theatre, visual arts, opera and carnival.

A series of large stages will be located on the banks of the Thames, and the Royal Shakespeare Company will stage a series of shows.

In addition to the 2012 Festival, events are already being staged as part of the Cultural Olympiad, which was launched at the end of the Beijing Olympics, in 2008.

These include a London 2012 exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, a Film Nation project that gives 14 to 25-year-olds the chance to make films celebrating the values of the Olympic Games, and Unlimited, a programme celebrating the artistic and sporting contribution of Britain’s deaf and disabled population.