I’ll see what I can do.”I’m flattered to be given this opportunity to play. She is one of the goddesses of modern tennis, one of the greatest athletes this sport has seen – and she wants to play with me! Let’s go out and win it, Steffi.”In another dream pairing, Tim Henman and Andre Agassi contested a practice set on Court 9 yesterday. Agassi came back from 4-1 down in the tie-break to prevail, then met Henman at the net.”Gimme some love,” the Las Vegan said. “That was a great set.”Andrei Medvedev observed the pair, and was impressed, especially by the American. “I watched Andre practising against Henman, and he was moving really well,” the Ukranian said “In their first game, he broke Henman’s serve at love To do that in England, you’re a god.”.

THE LAST Wimbledon Championships of the 20th Century are almost upon us, and having reached the age when I am older than most of the exhibits in the Wimbledon Museum I did think of getting myself cloned and starting up all over again so I would be around when the magnificent multi-million pound redevelopment scheme is finished in 2010. Already there is an impressive new No 1 court, a cascading waterfall where a car park used to be, and a giant television screen where spectators can laze on a grassy hillock with a Pimms close at hand and watch the major matches. But if clones don’t have built-in memories like computers do, I would rather stay as I am with my irreplaceable yesterdays. They were a reporter’s Valhalla.
Wimbledon’s long and lonely fight to bring about open tennis in 1968 and the bans and the boycotts of the 1970s all made front-page news; but for me the joy of The Championships is all about its people and the strange and wonderful things they do. Nothing was more fun than The Great Knicker Controversy of 1949. The photographers, and at least half the spectators, loved it; but it did have its serious side.It was all about an inch of lace on Gorgeous Gussie’s (Moran) panties, and a dress short enough to make sure it could be seen… But it was more than just a fashion foible by the dress designer Ted Tinling, it was his broadside attack against The Championship Committee, who had banned his using even the slightest hint of colour on his creations, and Tinling who spent his life glamourising women’s tennis was furious.

Gussie had a beautiful body, so did Karol Fageros in her gold lame underwear, but even Ted’s friends thought he went too far when he produced a pair of pants with one cheek green, the other mauve (The All England Club colours). Faces in the Committee box were puce.Wooden rackets and white balls, which used to fluff up a bit, produced magnificent matches of a magnitude which because of the introduction of the tie-break (1971) can never be seen again. They left the competitors and spectators exhausted, and played hell with edition times. The Drobny- Patty third round clash in 1953 lasted for 93 games and took 5 hours 4 minutes and finished in the twilight.

Principally, then, she is the babe who magnetises the tabloids, inspiring them to produce spreads of today’s young players, either in swimsuits or photomontaged to look like the Spice Girls – Anna as Baby, Martina Hingis as Posh, Venus Williams as Scary and the pumped-up Amelie Mauresmo as Sporty, with Novotna, clearly the senior, as Ginger. (Ironically enough, this is just the sort of joke their predecessors might have turned into an satirical party skit at Eastbourne.)All this may seem as frivolous as Gussie Moran’s lace knickers in the Fifties, but in today’s world, where sport and showbiz and commerce are inextricably linked, the renewed interest of the tabloids is a sure sign that the women’s game is serious business – tennis’s current success story, in fact. Attendance records were set at Eastbourne last week, and for the next fortnight the men will find themselves with a fight on their hands for an equal share of the crowd’s attention and the media’s interest.Yet Wimbledon, in common with three of the four Grand Slam tournaments, refuses to award the women the same prize-money as the men (the honourable exception is the US Open). Campaigners against this historic injustice received support from an unexpected quarter earlier this month when John McEnroe wrote an article for the New York Times in which he advocated fiscal equality. “If I were advising the guys,” he wrote, “I’d tell them to take the equal prize-money – while they still can. Fans buy tickets to watch great tennis played by great playing personalities competing for titles in great events.

And the women are selling the tickets.”According to McEnroe, the dramatis personae of the women’s tour – Hingis, the Williams sisters, Kournikova, Seles, Davenport, Graf – easily outshines the men’s cast, in which Sampras and Agassi are poorly supported by the likes of Kuerten, Kafelnikov, Medvedev and Rios, who have failed to build a significant fan base. “The women have always worked harder at marketing and promotion than the men,” he continued “It was a necessity This ethos is paying dividends today… the women are carrying the promotional load and bringing the fans through the turnstiles. They should be paid accordingly.”The compliment was warmly accepted “The players talked about it quite a lot,” Novotna said. “It’s nice to see the support we got from a past champion like him.

It’s a sign that it’s not only the people who’re directly involved in women’s tennis who feel that way.”Bart McGuire, who gave legal advice to the WCT for many years before becoming its chief executive at the beginning of 1998, was similarly delighted “It wasn’t something we’d expected,” he told me. “And it was very encouraging, coming from someone who was outspoken in his criticisms of the general standard of the women’s game some years ago. It’s a dramatic indication of how far the women’s game has come. Another one is Richard Krajicek, who once called the women `lazy, fat pigs’ but recently commented that they were now doing so well that their success is actually helping the men’s Tour.”Seven years ago, when Krajicek made his notorious remark, the women’s game was looking rocky. The Graf-Seles rivalry, which was supposed to have taken over from the Evert-Navratilova era, had been destroyed by the on-court stabbing of Seles and by Graf’s various tribulations.

James Thompson and David Leslie took the wins after Aiello tripped over another Briton – Jason Plato – in the Sprint race, and finished a close second to his team-mate Leslie in the longer Feature race. Aiello still heads the points chase by a healthy margin, but both Thompson and Leslie are now a little closer.
The Sprint race was full of entertainment. The reigning champion, Rickard Rydell, led away as the pole position man, Thompson, started slowly and, in their wake, Aiello moved across on Plato and crashed heavily into the pit wall. The safety car shepherded the field round as Aiello’s wrecked Nissan was moved to a safe place and, on the restart, Rydell, the Swedish Volvo driver, watched by King Carl Gustav of Sweden, headed the field again from Thompson and Plato.It all went wrong for Rydell , however, as the Volvo started to misfire and he dropped back and eventually retired.

Thompson took up the running and Leslie moved ahead of Plato into second place when Plato ran wide at the Old Hairpin. Try as he might Leslie could not dislodge Thompson from the lead and the Honda driver went on to win.Leslie was second and Plato third as the Vauxhall drivers, Yvan Muller and John Cleland, entertained on their way up the field to fourth and sixth, split by Alain Menu’s Ford Mondeo.The Feature race was effectively decided at the start as the two Nissans of Leslie and Aiello (who had changed swiftly into the team’s spare car) moved into the lead, and their most plausible challengers – Thompson and Rydell – were out-dragged by Menu’s Ford.Leslie was in charge throughout, though Aiello haunted his mirrors over the closing stages. Thompson was soon past Menu, but could not close in on the Nissan drivers. Rydell spent most of the race behind the Ford, but did eventually force his way past to take fourth place, with Muller following him through to be fifth ahead of Menu.Results, Digest, page 5. TREVOR COYLE’S luck took a welcome turn for the better yesterday, when the 40-year-old Irishman jumped three wonderful clear rounds on the grey stallion, Cruising, to win the coveted Aachen Grand Prix. Six weeks ago, Coyle was concussed when kicked in the face by a young horse at home in Northern Ireland, and he sustained multiple injuries which included a broken jaw.

But his will to win has not been dented, as he proved with a swift clear round in yesterday’s four-horse jump-off.
Anne Kursinski, of the United States, took up the challenge on Eros and she was faster by 0.14sec, but lowered one fence in the process to come second ahead of Sweden’s Rolf-Goran Bengtsson and the Dutchman, Peter Geerink. Kursinski had stood to collect a bonus of pounds 40,000 if she had followed her victory in Monterrey last October with another win here, for both contests are part of the valuable Pulsar series.”It wasn’t to be,” she said, “but I am proud of my horse. He did so well to jump clear in the second round, because he had lost a front shoe early on and was skating everywhere.”Three British riders (John Whitaker on Virtual Village Welham, his brother Michael on Ashley and Nick Skelton on Hopes are High) made a single error each over the first course, but they were nevertheless among the 18 who went forward to the next round. Further errors left John Whitaker the best of the three in 13th place, after Welham had lowered the last fence both times.Coyle had often looked at the imposing plaque of past Aachen Grand Prix winners that stretches back to 1927.

Stage One would involve building a new No 1 Court with 11,500 seats (to replace the existing version, which had 6,500 seats) and a new broadcast centre to cope with the ever-intensifying demands of the world’s media. Stage Two would involve remodelling Centre Court to expand the capacity by 800 and building a new facilities centre, primarily for the players and the media, on the site of the old No 1 Court. Stage Three would involve developing the south side of the 42-acre grounds – including the construction of a new No 2 court – and increasing the overall number of courts and the overall capacity. The whole venture, the LTA said six years ago, would be self-financing and would continue well into the new millennium. Remarkably, given the scale of the project, things are going to plan.
Construction of the new No 1 Court started in 1994, turf was laid a year later (the grass needs two years to grow), and the court opened for business on schedule two years ago. A new broadcast centre went into operation at the same time, as did the giant open-air screen, where thousands of those unable to get into the main courts can watch the action sitting on the adjacent grassy bank. Crowds rose that year to record levels of more than 430,000 over the fortnight.The expansion of Centre Court is now complete and its capacity this year has increased from 13,085 to 13,813.

Other new features on display from today will be a new translucent rain cover and state of the art drying fans on No 1 court; an autograph and interview booth, where the public can meet the players, and an LTA Starter Tennis area, where young visitors can try playing for the first time. By next year, the facilities centre should be complete and the development plan will move into Stage Three.The most impressive statistic is a financial one. While the Championships continue to be a cash cow – a surplus of pounds 33m after costs was handed over to the LTA last year for development of the game in this country – all the building has been financed by debentures.In 1994, the All England Club issued 2,100 Centre Court debenture seats at pounds 19,625 apiece, entitling each holder to a ticket per day of play for five years. The Club had instant plough-back revenue of pounds 41.2m from that issue alone, while the buyers each secured 65 tickets over five years at a cost of around pounds 300 per ticket.

Maddox has spent a number of years concentrating on the 400m hurdles, but now she appears to have the best of both worlds. The strength she has gained in endurance training paid off for her yesterday.But Radcliffe’s was the outstanding British performance of the day. She broke the rest of the field with a mid-race surge and ran on strongly for a winning time of 14min 48.79sec, the fasted in the world this year. That lifted the women into sixth place and confirmed the relegation of Poland and the Czech Republic – although, had Britain failed to escape, they would have avoided the drop because next year’s competition will be hosted by Gateshead. The women’s captain, who like the rest of the team sported a black ribbon in Baillie’s memory, also carried a red ribbon on her shirt – underlining her willingness to be blood-tested at any time.The gesture was thought of by the French 5,000m runner Blandine Bitzner, who wrote in the French press this week of the need to introduce more stringent measures to combat doping abuse in distance running. Bitzner, also wearing a red ribbon, accompanied Radcliffe on a lap of honour.Afterwards Radcliffe referred to what she described as “a number of dodgy performances” which had taken place in women’s distance running in the course of the last year. Whether that message will be heeded by the authorities remains to be seen..

IRELAND’S INTERNATIONAL squad flew home yesterday full of optimism after an encouraging end to their abbreviated Australian tour. Although the Irish won just one of their four matches, their New Zealand-born coach, Warren Gatland, said the team was satisfied

“This tour wasn’t just about results for us. We’re trying to develop a style of play and I think we’re starting to get there,” Gatland said before the team’s return to Dublin. “We may not have won the games but we definitely showed that we’ve got something there to work on.”
The Irish won plenty of admirers in Australia after pushing the Wallabies all the way in the second Test in a week, losing by a narrow 32-26 after a record 46-10 defeat in their first meeting. They led the Australians 14-9 early in the second half of Saturday’s match before allowing the home side to score 23 unanswered points.But, just when it looked as though the Australians were about to run away with the match completely, the Irish hit back with two late tries to post their biggest total in a test against Australia and outscore the home side three tries to two.”We know we let them off the hook, but the good thing was that we came back at them at the end when we could have folded,” Gatland said. “It’s hard to remember the last time when Ireland did that against one of the big teams from the southern hemisphere.”Gatland said the main objective of Ireland’s tour was to prepare for this year’s World Cup, where they are drawn in the same pool as Australia.Ireland opened their tour with a comprehensive win over New South Wales Country, but lost their following matches against the full NSW side and the Wallabies.The most pleasing aspect of the tour, however, was the emergence of a host of promising backs, traditionally Ireland’s weak spot.

She’s the fastest player out there.”Navratilova took the disappointment well and said: “If you have to lose, you might as well lose to the better player on the final day and pass the torch, if you like to call it that.” We could only imagine the scene unfolding in California.It would have been breakfast time in Sacramento. Helen Wills Moody, an 82-year-old semi-recluse reminiscent of Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard, is visited by an Erich von Stroheim character carrying a silver tray. “Miss Navratilova lost, Madam.” A wrinkled arm shoots into the air, bony fist curled in triumph.Unless the state of the women’s game alters dramatically, and sturdy new talent emerges, we can continue the fantasy and move on to 1996. The 27-year-old Graf is on the point of breaking the Wimbledon record held jointly by the 39-year-old Navratilova and the 90-year-old Wills Moody and there is nobody to stop her.We shall see. Graf’s immediate objective is the United States Open at the end of next month when victory would assure her of immortality as only the fifth player of either sex to complete the Grand Slam of the Australian, French, Wimbledon and US championships in a calendar year. Margaret Court of Australia was the last to achieve this, in 1970, although Navratilova, after winning the French in 1984, held all four titles at the same time but not in the same year.The West German is trying not to overburden herself with too many thoughts on the subject.

“I knew that question was going to come up, I was waiting for it and it took so long,” she exclaimed during her interview. “Everybody is talking about it, but I am sure I still have to concentrate on every single tournament I am not going to change anything. When I come to Flushing Meadow, that’s when I am going to think about it.”Legend has it that her father built replicas of the four Grand Slam surfaces – rubberised cement, red clay, grass and asphalt – at the family home This is not true. They have access to a clay court at a local club and one court of their own. Appropriately, the surface is asphalt, which will help prepare her nicely for New York. The disturbing news for Gabriela Sabatini and any other prospective rival who may come along is that this is only the start ” I am sure I can raise my level again,” Graf said. ” I am going to need another two or three years to be able to do a few things I really needed to do today.”Navratilova, who promised to return to try again, said: “I think Steffi can do pretty much anything with her game,” acknowledging that last year Graf was greener on the other side of the net.FOOTNOTE: Martina Navritilova won a record ninth Wimbledon singles title in 1990, overtaking Helen Wills Moody’s record Steffi Graf went on to win another six..

Suppliers need to be capable of managing a broader range; customers are keen to outsource more functions.I admire the work of Peter Rose at the US-based company Expeditors. They have grown consistently and produced quite good financial results over a long period.David GarmanChief ExecutiveTransport Development GroupLOGISTICS COMPANIES tend to employ lots of people: one of the characteristics of a good leader is to set high standards then be focused, demanding and tough-minded. In today’s environment, a host of seemingly small changes accumulate to become an edge that provides competitive advantage.John AllenChief ExecutiveOcean GroupIN A service industry like logistics, it’s necessary for companies to be customer-focused and aware of how their needs are evolving. Many are global and want us to be able to support them wherever they are. Logistics involves large bespoke models which position the resources of the client in the right place at the right time for the customer. David Carter, head of after-sales at Volkswagen, now has parts delivered through the night, so dealers turn the cars around much faster.

At NatWest, Martin Gray and at Lloyds TSB Ron Watford are people who made major changes. There are numerous examples: we carry 1.5million loaves every day, and came up with a new system of moving them to reduce cost.On the user side, there are some enlightened people who are making changes to provide benefits and reduce costs. Neil Crossthwaite, managing director of TNT Logistics, is a good motivator who can spot openings to benefit the customer. His vision was to provide total repair and return services to the high- tech and contract manufacturing industries. Companies can outsource after- sales care to Celestica, confident the chain operates in an “end of runway” system which offers clients speedy turnaround.Alan JonesManaging DirectorTNT ExpressIN LOGISTICS, if you are the fastest and most reliable, you have a good chance of being the most successful. He redefined the supply chain from the purchase of raw materials to the delivery of finished goods: a customer places an order, the product is configured to the customer’s specifications, a language manual is developed to match and the product is DHLed with shipping information and customer invoicing complete.David Lusk, vice president of Worldwide Repair Services for Celestica, is behind one of the top “one-stop-shop” operations for repair services. They had a clear vision and financial strength: being broad-based lessened the reliance on their logistics business.David ColesManaging Director, DHL (International) UK LtdI WOULD nominate Ashley Mills, divisional operations and finance director of Eurotherm Controls, who oversaw a very innovative solution across an international supply chain.

Everybody thinks of consultancy firms being leading-edge, but so are companies like Exel Logistics. You’ve got to have substance behind what you say – operational credentials that demonstrate you can deliver I’d also like to commend John Cole and Ronnie Frost at Hays. Chief executive John Allen comes from a business services perspective: we’re talking about a much broader focus, helping customers improve and grow their businesses.This industry has been reticent to market itself properly. You need excellence in operational efficiency, using technology to create advantage.Work by the Ocean global logistics group is something you’d certainly recognise. That requires a broader set of skills, not simply providing resources, such as transport or warehousing, but a more extensive range of supply chain services. I’d also like to nominate Eddie Stobart; what started as a game, people adding up how many Stobart lorries they could see, he has taken and used as a marketing tool, enabling him to have a presence that outbats his actual size.Richard HuntChief ExecutiveExel Logistics Europe (Sectors)and chairman of the Institute of Logistics and TransportTHE WORLD is moving very quickly, with pan-European and now global requirements.

From his own experience, he knew that was the only way to avoid “catastrophic changes of government”.He also suggested some alterations to the Russian constitution whereby the president would hand over some powers to the prime minister and called for the restoration of the post of vice-president.Fatherland-All Russia’s success in wooing Mr Primakov to their ranks will not please President Yeltsin, although the development was hardly unexpected. Only consensus in society could pull Russia out of its extended crisis.Dodging a question as to whether he had ambitions to run for president next year, Mr Primakov made clear that for the time being his sights were on the parliamentary elections.Afterwards, he said, it was important that a government should be formed on the basis of the majority in parliament. The armed forces should receive more attention “not because we threaten anybody” but because Russia should be able to defend itself. Russians did not deserve the chaos in which they lived now, he said, while avoiding direct criticism of his old boss in the Kremlin. “All can join, except extremists and destructive forces.” The movement was committed to “human rights, giving citizens a decent life and protecting them from crime and corruption”.

Yesterday he looked buoyant as he announced his decision to take the chairmanship of the bloc’s co-ordinating council as well as to stand as the movement’s number one candidate in parliamentary elections set for 19 December.Fatherland, founded by the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, and All Russia, a grouping of powerful regional governors, was open to anyone who wanted to see Russia “powerful, democratic and flourishing”, Mr Primakov said. Also, he had needed to consider his own physical state.Mr Primakov, a former spy-master and foreign minister, is 68 and earlier this year suffered back problems that required treatment in Switzerland. Rather, he had wanted to “reflect, to meet people, to hear their opinions”. Journalists were out in force to hear Mr Primakov, who rarely speaks at length to the media.He said the silence he had maintained since Mr Yeltsin ousted him as premier in May was not due to coyness or tactical thinking. Flanked by the Mayor of Moscow and two top regional leaders, the veteran politician said he had accepted an invitation to organise their Fatherland- All Russia bloc because he wanted to see a healthy, centrist movement in Russia.
Pensioners hoping to catch a glimpse of the man who restored stability to the country after last August’s economic crash were turned away from the House of Writers, the venue of the press conference.

It represents disaster for many of those who are wandering around and munching pop corn. For some, it will make more sense to burn the crop and plough it under than to harvest it.Maybe for today, it doesn’t matter, though; and there is time for just one more piece of funnel cake before the drive back home through the swaying green fields.Andrew Marshall. BORIS YELTSIN’S nightmare came true yesterday when the popular former premier, Yevgeny Primakov, announced he would lead a bloc of the President’s rivals, thereby boosting their chances at coming elections. It is a link that, for many people, is dying: fewer and fewer of the young people in the Future Farmers of America contest are going into the family business.In the swine barn is a board where the latest news from the Chicago futures exchanges is set out. Farm prices are plunging as fast as the Skyscraper on its downward orbit and show no signs of turning up.The state fair highlights the link between farming and food.

And if the analysis leads him to agree with that, fine.”The chairman’s remarks will be seen as the beginning of the BBC’s campaign to win an increase in the level of the proposed digital licence fee. “The question is: `Is the BBC allocating the right amount of money for sport?”‘ Sir Christopher asked “My view, and the governors’ view, is that it is. No director general can magic more resources out of thin air for sport. Where is the money to come from: drama, news, the Internet?”Sir Christopher warned that the new director general’s personal interests should not influence programming choices on the BBC. Mr Dyke, who is a keen sports fan and a director of Manchester United Football Club, has already said he wants to see the BBC fight harder to win back some of its sporting events, especially the FA Cup, which was lost to ITV.Sir Christopher told the Radio Times: “Take everything you read with a pinch of salt People may be disappointed.

Sir Christopher Bland, the chairman of the BBC board of governors, said Greg Dyke, the incoming director general, would not have enough money to embark on a buying spree for sports rights. Last week Peter Salmon, the controller of BBC1, attacked competing channels for using more money rather than greater imagination to create programmes.However, the corporation’s problem with holding on to the biggest sports events is likely to continue. The money will settle the star’s outstanding contract with the corporation. The BBC had threatened to take legal action against its former presenter for breaking his contract, which was not due to expire until next year.
The BBC has been getting tough with its rivals for poaching its stars.

ITV HAS had to take the unprecedented step of paying a pounds 100,000 penalty to the BBC for poaching the sports presenter Des Lynam. Laughter was at the very centre of her life.”When she had had chemotherapy, Mr Bonnet said, Ms Rollason even sent her friends Christmas cards that depicted a bald Santa Claus.. It must have taken exceptional strength of character to have lived that generous life of mischievous humour and genuine interest in those around her when she was so fully entitled to be morbid and self-centred.”I always sensed we were just a moment away from what would have been a major BBC incident every time Helen presented the Saturday sports news just before Match of the Day,” he said.”`If you don’t want to know the result,’ she’d say with that smile, `then look away now.’ You might have looked away, but I always suspected that the devil in her was itching to tell you the result once you’d looked back. She also worked for BBC Breakfast News and, most recently, the new Six O’clock News.

She raised the profile of sport for the disabled and last month the Queen presented her with the MBE.Her fellow sports presenter Desmond Lynam read Ms Rollason’s favourite biblical verse, Psalm 121: “I will lift up mine eye unto the mountain, from whence comes my help.”The BBC sports presenter Rob Bonnet cut short his holiday to deliver the tribute to his friend. “She disliked the tabloid cliche `brave Helen’,” he said.”So do I, but for different reasons It doesn’t do her justice. “She wrote on a piece of paper `not a totally morbid experience, but should bring strength to everyone, especially Nikki’,” he said.Ms Rollason, who was 43 when she died, was the first woman to present the BBC’s flagship sports programme Grandstand. Her main concern was that the service should be a source of strength for her daughter Nikki, who is now 16.
The Reverend Stephen Henwood, the hospice chaplain who counselled Helen through her illness, led yesterday’s service at St Mary’s Church in Shenfield, Essex He recalled Ms Rollason’s wishes for the service. They turned out for the thanksgiving service which Ms Rollason started planning two years ago, when she was first diagnosed with the disease. But it would also be a quick reference for the thousands who have to make swift decisions during the annual clearing process.. SPORTS AND broadcasting personalities yesterday paid their respects to television presenter Helen Rollason, who died from cancer last week.

This may be diplomatically tricky, since a Russian New Year with neither vodka nor shampanskoe scarcely counts as New Year, let alone New Millennium. As one Russian noted: “Russians not having a drink on New Year’s Eve – that’s ridiculous. Buried deep inside the mountain, behind 25-tonne security doors which could withstand a blast of 1.5m tonnes of TNT, the centre is at the heart of the North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad). On a previous occasion, the Russians were allowed on a brief guided tour of Norad; this time, they will be kept at arm’s length, working at CSSY2K itself. A double- click will make it possible to find out more information about any given dot. What sort of missile? (The missile’s heat signature tells the computer all it needs to know.) At what speed is it travelling? What are the nearest and farthest possible targets? How large is the “threat fan” – the area that might be hit? And, crucially: how many minutes until Armageddon?CSSY2K is down the road from the Cheyenne Mountain command centre: a complex that ought by rights to have Pierce Brosnan (or at least Austin Powers) striding through its corridors. On the computer screens in front of them, and on a set of huge television screens around them, a specially devised software package will allow them to monitor – more or less alongside their American counterparts – the movement of missiles and suspected missiles anywhere in the world These will appear as dots on a world map.

The sole purpose of their mission: to ensure that nobody blows the world up by mistake They will work in three eight- hour shifts, 24 hours a day. Of such slips are potential nuclear confrontations made.By the time details of the incident leaked out, the moment for panic had long since passed, and the world’s nearest flirtation with nuclear apocalypse to date has never really lodged itself in the public consciousness. But today, as the wired world braces itself for the unquantifiable tribulations of the Millennium Bug, the prospect of accidental nuclear war has never seemed more real.It is therefore ostensibly reassuring to know that, at some point in the next few days, a clutch of around 20 Russian military officers will be arriving at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs, where they are due to spend New Year at the Centre for Strategic Stability and Y2K – CSSY2K, to its friends. The Russians had in fact been informed of the probe two weeks earlier, but the message had got lost in the post Moscow now says that “the wrong department” was informed. As in the best thrillers, the doomsday clock continued to tick until the apocalypse was seconds away. But this was for real.Ten minutes is the procedural deadline for responding in such circumstances. Halfway through the eighth minute, the Russian military decided that their country was not under nuclear attack.

The rocket was headed out to sea and no longer posed a threat. It later turned out that it had been a scientific probe, sent up to investigate the northern lights. There was no scary rhetoric, no escalating confrontations between nuclear powers Yet we still came within a whisker of the ultimate drama. (Fifty thousand Chechens, mostly civilians, died in the Russian assault. The West bleated occasionally, but took little serious notice. Plus ca change.)
Compared with today – when Boris Yeltsin has just reminded the West, in connection with Moscow’s continuing adventure in Chechnya, that “Russia is a great power that possesses a nuclear arsenal” – the international atmosphere was relaxed.

It was up to Yeltsin to decide whether the situation warranted the annihilation of western civilisation. As the radar showed the separation of multiple rocket stages, it began to look like an attack by not just one, but several missiles. On the face of it, there was no reason for nuclear panic five years ago. There was no Cuban-style international crisis which had brought us to the brink The Cold War had been over for several years. The only international event of any significance was a brutal little war that Moscow had just launched against a rebellious Caucasian republic called Chechnya. For the first time in history, the chemodanchik – the “little suitcase” containing a laptop computer, with several “nuclear option” buttons, in direct communication with military high command – was activated. It appeared to have been launched from a US nuclear submarine – capable of detonating eight nuclear bombs over Moscow within 15 minutes.