MY first news story involved the green man and John Craven. I was about eight years old and realised the pelican crossing near where I lived didn’t give people long enough to get over the road.

To prove my point, I pressed the button, and as the green man appeared, I crossed slowly, deliberately shuffling one foot ahead of the other, trying to mimic an old aged pensioner.

Just as I thought. The green man went off as I was three-quarters across.

Fired up with a sense of injustice, I put pen to paper and send my ‘report’ to John Craven’s Newsround, which was broadcast each Saturday morning on Noel Edmond’s Swap Shop show.

Imagine my shock when John Craven read out my story on air and named me ‘Stringer of The Week’.

I was chuffed. I had my first story. My journalism career had begun.

And that was it. I don’t remember anyone else making a fuss about my great ‘exclusive’; the world certainly didn’t change; and, disappointedly, there was no national clamour to get the green man to stay green for longer.

Until this week.

Imagine my delight to see ‘my story’ making the BBC news and the national press – some 35 years later.

Campaigners are calling for the green man to be three seconds longer to give people more time to cross the road safely.

The Smarter Crossings campaign, run by the Living Streets charity, says the green man is “out of date”. It follows a study of 3,000 pensioners that found more than two thirds of those aged over 65 walk slower than necessary to use a pelican crossing.

Researcher Dr Laura Asher, of University College London, said being unable to cross the road may deter older citizens from getting out and about and taking regular exercise.

As our population gets older, the problem is going to get worse. Let’s hope the campaigners have more success than me in getting the green man to hang around just that little bit longer.

 

• ALARMING results from another study suggest it may not only be senior citizens who would benefit from changes to pelican crossing times.

Children’s fitness levels are declining and many children cannot run as fast as their parents could when they were young.

These were the findings of a global fitness study where researchers analysed data going back 46 years and involving 25 million children in 28 countries.

Researchers concluded that children needed to be doing more strenuous exercise – at least one hour a day (although it can be done in chunks rather than one session) – otherwise they run the risk of developing conditions such as heart disease in later life.

They called on children to be inspired and encouraged to do more exercise.

Here in Britain, we had the perfect opportunity in the shape of the hugely successful 2012 Olympics to fire up a passion for sport in the younger generation.

So it has been tragic to learn that the so-called ‘Olympic Legacy’ is in serious danger of being wasted. It is shocking that in the 12 months following the London games – which cost £9 billion – a survey by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport found a drop in the number of children involved in sport.

The Government should hang its head in shame.

The Lords Olympic and Paralympic Legacy Committee is demanding the Government takes urgent action. They are calling for a ministerial post with specific responsibility for the Olympic legacy to coordinate the UK response to the Games as well as pushing for more emphasis on sport in school.

One suggestion is to give primary teachers extra training in PE.

With respect to primary teachers (who have enough on their plate teaching our kids the three Rs and all the rest), the best people to inspire kids into PE are people who love sport.

We need proper coaches going into schools, who can teach young people skills and motivate them to take part in a wide range of sports.

This way we might find our Olympic stars of the future, but also give our young people a fighting chance of staying fit for life.