As an exchange student at a high school in Ohio, his potential was immediately evident to a watching NFL scout.”The first play I ever received was a five-yard throw which I turned into a 56-yard run,’ he recalls. Ladejo’s accent may be a touch transatlantic following his six years of study in the United States, but this child of a Nigerian father and half-English, half-Nigerian mother was born in Paddington and resides in St John’s Wood. Now he, like Black, has 44.94sec to his credit – and nobody else in Europe appears to be close to that level of running.If Ladejo does win in Helsinki, woe betide anyone who views it as anything less than a British triumph. And I blew it.’An unusual response for him, as he now acknowledges But a vital one.

‘Never again will I do that,’ Ladejo said through clenched teeth ‘Never again will I underestimate an athlete like that I went into the race thinking it was my race. After a nightmare of illness and uncertainty he had reassured himself that he was still a contender, at the very least, by winning the national 400 metres title earlier this summer in under 45 seconds. At one stroke, he had qualified to challenge for an unprecedented third European title.
Ladejo acknowledged Black’s achievement graciously, but when conversation turned to his own performance the response was a soliloquy of self-flagellation. He was the well-spoken, affable one who went about his business with a wide smile. So who was this intense, dissatisfied athlete sitting at a press conference beside a jubilant Roger Black?

Black’s joy was understandable.

In any case, most journeys nowadays are not centre to centre but suburb to suburb. There is even a bonus on pollution: it is the stop/start that generates the worst fumes.There is, alas, no such fix for out-of-town congestion. Closure of junctions has evened the flow and hence speeded journey times. Not only has the inner zone become less congested, but the outer roads are creating less congestion, too.

In fact, congestion in towns can be tackled simply by raising street parking charges. There will be no substitute for the internal combustion engine for at least 15 years. It is not politically correct to attack buses, particularly if they are run by the public sector, but a large proportion of urban pollution results from badly tuned diesel engines.Natural resources. Lobbyists could press for the impounding of grossly polluting vehicles and tougher emission controls: Tokyo has managed to halve emissions over the past 20 years, despite an explosion of car ownership. Meanwhile there is the practical problem of how to improve the existing car fleet. There is an overwhelming case for cutting pollution, and catalytic converters will eventually do that.