Team GB did pretty well in the cycling at the velodrome in Beijing.

Great Britain = 12 medals, 7 of them gold.

Rest of the World = 14 medals, 3 of them gold. 

Now, that's not a bad result at all. 

It just shows that with the facilities, the funding, a professional approach, backed up with the will to win, Great Britain can compete with the rest of the world.  A great result from the team, and my particular favourite was Vicky Pendleton.  No idea why…

I'm sure a similar approach in athletics would see us do a lot better in the track and field events.  Maybe not anywhere near quite as dominant as we've been in the cycling, but we could definitely improve our medal haul in the athletics.

It's down to a focus on doing everything right, and leaving nothing to chance.  As it was termed, the benefit from the "aggregate of marginal gains".

This article on the BBC website explains it well:  How GB cycling went from tragic to magic.

The reason for creating this Top 5 five is the amount of memories, arguments, laughter and tears that this particular subject has generated in the office over the past couple of days. So rather than let it cool off and fade away I thought I’d capture it here for posterity.

Below – my top 5 TV shows from my youth – with links to theme tune vids (I hope these bring back some memories):

1. Chorlton and the Wheelies
2. Jamie and the Magic Torch
3. Bod
4. Rhubarb and Custard
5. Ivor the Engine

They're my Top 5 - what are yours?

EEK GBP: £0.05

On one of the forums I'm on, someone posted about a 100 push-up training programme that spans 6 weeks.  The idea behind it is that at the end of the 6 weeks, you'll be able to do 100 push-ups.

When I was doing karate in my teens, we used to do 60 push-ups during training, and I remember finding them a struggle.  So I was interested to see how quickly a 12-stone weekling could get to the point where 100 push-ups was achievable.

The training programme is broken down into 6 weeks, and each week into 3 days.  You start off doing a test to see how many push-ups you can do before you start the programme.  This determines the number of repetitions you do as you progress.  The whole programme can be downloaded and printed off from the site.

Anyway, I managed 30 push-ups in my initial test, and according to the programme, that's not a bad starting point. 

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We haven't had a top 5 for ages - so here's my top 5 mathematical symbols (number 4 is divide - I couldn't find the exact symbol so I had to improvise):

1.  +
2.  x
3.  -
4.  '/.
5.  =

The beauty of mathematics means - that in addition to getting a range of my favourite symbols in this list - if I run through the list in order using the functions and the order of numbers - I get the answer: 1.

Doesn't come any more elegant than that. So this has to be the top ranking order of symbols! Doesn't it?

No reason to post this, other than it's brilliant.

I cycled to work this week. I figured it would help me keep fit, save money, be kind to the environment, nice to animals and so aid restful sleep.

After a quick shower I got changed from cycling gear into more suitable office attire. What I hadn't counted on was a female member of the fashion police pulling me over in the office to point out I was "Wearing my belt the wrong way round!" I checked it wasn't back to front. It was fine. Yet my colleague insisted I was wearing it the "girl's way".

The "girl's way"?  Ok I know that some ladies shirts have buttons on the left, and zips are on the other side of coats, but I had no idea that all my life I'd been wearing a belt the "girls way"!

In fact, I refuse to accept that there is a "girls way" for belts (there's nothing on wikipedia about it - nuff said). And then my colleague found some old navy regulations online (she had to dig deep to find them though…)

"Belt:

• The brass on the belt will be shinned and mark free
• The belt will be fitted so that the buckle and the brass fitting on the other end of the belt will perfectly line up when worn
• Female midshipmen wear the belt in such a manner that the belts tip points to the midshipman's right; male midshipmen wear the belt so that the belts tip points to the midshipman's left
• The end without the belt tip will be in line with the shirt edge and trouser fly edge to make a straight gig-line" 

Whatever! So how do you wear yours?  With the end pointing to the left or right, (and who told you to do it that way?) - or are you like me in that you've never really thought about it until now?