IT is said that more than 750 years before the birth of Christ, a Greek king approached the Oracle at Delphi and asked how he might leave a legacy of peace.

The Oracle suggested to him that he should hold a games so that all the fit young men – the ones who usually do the fighting – could lay down their weapons and show off their strengths and skills on a sporting battlefield.

And so the Olympic Games began. Messengers were sent to all corners of the Greek world declaring the start of a “Sacred Truce”. All city states had to cease fire so that competitors, spectators and referees could travel to the contest in safety.

By and large, it worked. For the best part of 500 years, the Greeks peacefully came together in sport.

Now there are questions about the legacy of the 2012 London games.

The prime legacy is supposed to be economic – it will regenerate a rundown part of south London.

The second legacy is inspiration. The Olympics will provide a goal for current athletes, and it will be a spur to others.

While the economic legacy may not filter through enormously to this region, organisations such as the Tony Blair Sports Foundation are trying to ensure that the North-East does not miss out on the inspiration legacy. Mr Blair has charged his foundation with recruiting a coach a day between now and the Olympics so that when inspiration strikes there are local clubs that people can join to help them succeed.

A third legacy is the “Sacred Truce”. As we report on Page 36, a North-East lord, Michael Bates, is walking 3,500 miles to raise awareness of this idea.

He hopes that during the London games, guns will fall silent so that humanitarian aid can reach the civilians caught in the middle of intractable civil wars.

It is a dreamer’s dream – yet this weekend we learnt that a perfect storm of drought and war has pushed ten million people in east Africa into starvation.

The Olympic Truce will not bring world peace overnight – the Christmas Day football match in 1914 did not bring an end to the First World War.

But, hopefully, it will encourage governments, including our own, to lift their eyes from day-to-day difficulties and, for a month, to consider how they can restore a little humanity to the world and implement the original Olympic spirit.

The lord’s aim is a noble one.