Windsor Castle

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The royal residence in Berkshire from which the 1908 Olympic marathon started, and therefore the western end of the line that fixed the marathon distance. The popular account is that the start was pulled back beneath a nursery window so royal children could watch, adding the odd 385 yards. Research by Olympic historians has not supported it: nothing has been found in the royal archives, the surviving photograph shows royal children outside on the sloping lawn rather than at a window, and the start is placed on the East Terrace. What is documented is that the Olympic regulations specified a race of about 40 km and the organising Polytechnic Harriers laid out a course about two kilometres longer, confirming the change only shortly before the race.