By the opening of the London Olympics in 2012, fifty years will have passed since Newsweek cited Charles de Gaulle’s wry enquiry as to how anyone could be expected to “govern a country that has 246 varieties of cheese?”. Half a century and around 240 kilometres away across the Channel, Keith Khan’s challenge as Head of Culture for the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad seems rather more daunting and his subjects more expectant than your average Roquefort.
So just how do you coordinate a celebration of culture in a nation whose capital alone hears over 300 languages spoken every day?
