Verner Bickley's “Forward to Beijing: A Guide to the Summer Olympics” will be published by Proverse Hong Kong on 29 February 2008. A book signing has been announced and will take place from 6.00pm-6.45pm. (Registration details on http://www.geocities.com/proversehk.) The book gives a brief history of the Olympic Games as well as providing extensive coverage of the modern Games that were revived in 1896. Introduced in 776BC in honour of Zeus, the King of the ancient Greek Gods, the original Games were held in Olympia, a sanctuary in the Greek Peloponnese. There the Games continued to be held every four years until they were banned in 393AD by the spoil-sport, Theodosios I. The Peloponnese is the name given to a large peninsula in southern Greece. Three of its most famous cities are Olympia, Corinth and Sparta. GB. © The Gilvern Times,  February 2008. -- *Check back daily for Vern's take on the Olympics! (Ed)