A Scot who had the "run of a lifetime" carrying the Olympic torch now has a family heirloom to pass on to his five-year--old daughter after being one of few to be gifted one.
Gavin Bell was told on Antiques Roadshow' that his prized torch would fetch up to £2000 under the hammer, although he has no intention of selling it.
The 76-year-old was working as a foreign correspondent for The Times in the 1980s when he was sent to Korea aged 41 to cover the run-up to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea.
The Games took place at a time of social and political upheaval. Mass protests, especially on college campuses, had recently forced the military dictator, Chun Doo-hwan, to acknowledge the torture of political prisoners and to allow a direct Presidential election to go forward.
The International Olympic Committee made some concessions to North Korea, but North Korea did not find them satisfactory and boycotted; several other countries, notably Cuba and Ethiopia, stayed away from Seoul in solidarity with North Korea.
"The idea was to cover a lot of the political turmoil in advance of the games," said Mr Bell, who lives in Glasgow's south side and is also a former Herald writer.
"While I was there I met a couple of young English lads who had been appointed to do public relations for the torch relay.
"I was an 800m runner and 10k road runner for Bellahouston Harriers and they found out about that and they said, 'how would you like to carry the torch?
"I've no doubt the fact I was a Times correspondent was the main factor because it meant that they would get good publicity."
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As a runner his 'PB' for a half-mile was 2 minutes 5 seconds but he counts his most leisurely 1k jog with the torch as one of his best.
"I had the run of a lifetime," says Mr Bell who ran Dumbreck Riding School in Pollok Park, before it closed.
"You feel that for that brief period you are the embodiment of the Olympic ideals, you feel a sense of purity. I felt as if I was flying, although the torch is quite heavy.
“I spotted a wee Korean girl in her traditional costume, her eyes were like saucers," he added.
After the 1k leg, torchbearers are normally required to hand it back but in this case the journalist left with a permanent reminder of his once-in-a-lifetime experience.
"A few months later the South Korean president invited me and a few other foreign correspondents who were leaving the country after the games to lunch," says Mr Bell, who lives in Pollok Park.
"As we were leaving he took me aside and said, 'I believe you carried a torch for us during the games.' He said he had something for me and it was a torch.
"There are probably hundreds of torches but as far as I know, I don't of anyone else who has one."
His wife, Claire, who runs a children's play barn, suggested he take the torch along to the Antiques Roadshow, for the recent show filmed in Glasgow's Pollok Park.
"I thought, 'Och no, nobody would be interested, it's probably not worth anything', but she insisted.
"To my surprise the guys were very excited by it," he says.
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"They appointed an expert in miscellaneous antiques to have a word with me and he made the point that he had never seen anything like this before.
"He was able to translate the hieroglyphics on the torch and told me it would be worth anything between £1,500 and £2000, which came as quite a shock.
"It's destined to be a family heirloom. I've got a five-year-old daughter, Fintry, who is showing promise as a runner and when the time comes it will be her's."
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