Oxford researchers have indicated that the London Olympic Games are set to be the most expensive of all time, with the current projected cost standing at £8.4 billion.

The working paper carried out by researchers from Oxford’s Saïd Business School also found that the budget overrun of London 2012, currently predicted to be 101%, is ‘significantly more’ than the average for the past decade.

Although the average overrun for 1968-2000 stood at 258%, the Games in the last 10 years have seen this average reduced to 47%.

When asked why London 2012’s expenditure is greater than other recent Olympics, researcher Allison Stewart expressed uncertainty, telling Cherwell, “With the data we have, we don’t have enough to speculate on why London 2012 is experiencing significantly higher cost overruns than Games of the last decade. By all accounts, London has been very well managed.

“However, they increased their budget to almost the current expected cost only two years after winning the Games, which suggests that the bid budget was simply unrealistic and unachievable.”

Despite this, lead researcher Professor Bent Flyvbjerg stressed that the difficulties in budgeting Olympics were shared by all host nations, commenting, “Unlike other major programmes such as bridges, airports, IT or engineering works, the Games are always a unique undertaking to that city. Of the thousands of people engaged to work on the programme, few of them will ever have been on a Games committee in the past.

“This means that they are highly reliant on the information from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the other host cities around the world. Whilst a significant amount of information is transferred, there is inevitably a gap in experience that means that the Games are always starting from scratch in certain areas.”

Researchers are confident, however, that the overrun will not significantly affect the quality of the Games, with Stewart commenting, “By all accounts, the London Games are on schedule, and given the early acknowledgement of the budget overrun, we do not believe that it is likely to affect the execution of the Games.”

She is also confident that the Games will not have a significant long-term impact on the economy, saying, “Fortunately, Britain has a large economy, so is relatively well placed to absorb this overrun. However, it will be important to recoup the planned legacy for the Games, for example in securing a tenant for the Olympic Stadium, to ensure that the costs do not increase through ongoing maintenance fees.”

The research is the first to document, in a consistent fashion, the costs and cost overruns for the Olympic Games from 1960 to 2012. The findings are based on a quantitative analysis of budget data from every summer and winter Olympic Games from 1960 to 2012.

A plaque was unveiled at the Oxford University Pavilion in University Parks on Friday to celebrate the life and career of the Oxford and Indian cricketing legend Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.

Mr Pataudi, known as the ‘Tiger Pataudi’, studied French and Arabic at Balliol College. Having captained Oxford and famously having scored centuries in each of the three Varsity matches he played in, he then went on to captain the Indian national side between 1961 and 1974.

His international career was nearly ended before it had even begun when he lost an eye in a car crash in 1961. Recovery saw him back in the nets learning to play with partial sight and he was able to lead Indian cricket for over a decade. The plaque was to celebrate the life and career of the ‘Tiger Pataudi’ who passed away last September at the age of 70.

Members of the Pataudi family in attendance were his widow Sharmila Tagore, eldest son Saif Ali Khan, a famous Bollywood actor, and his fiance Kareena Kapoor, daughters Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan and her partner Kunal Khemu. The family was welcomed by University Chancellor Lord Patten and Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Hamilton.

The University head of (Sport) Development Andrew Thomas said, “We were delighted to welcome such a prominent family from India with deep connections to Oxford and to share in the opportunity to honour Tiger Pataudi, one of our sporting legends.” 

The family of the Mr Pataudi had lunch at his former college Balliol and then went on to the Ashmolean, exploring the Indian collection. They finished their visit by watching the 160th match of the Harlequins, a club for Oxford cricketing alumni. 

Mr Thomas also commented, “The Pataudi family enjoyed the opportunity to walk around Oxford in relative anonymity, although at one stage a passing car came to an abrupt halt and a group of surprised and excited autograph hunters jumped out!”

Students will pay a minimum of £3,500 tuition fees in their first year, and £6,000 a year after that. Fee payments increase for those with household income above £16,000, with those earning over £25,000 paying the full £9,000 tuition fee.

Bursaries also range between £500 to £4,300 a year depending on household income and with extra funding in the first year of a degree. This adds up to a maximum of £22,400 financial support from Oxford during a three-year undergraduate degree.

However, maintenance funding for Scottish and Northern Irish students is still less than for the rest of the UK as it is distributed by local government. Whereas all UK students are eligible for tuition fee waivers and loans, maintenance grants and maintenance loans depend on the local student loan authority.

Most English students can claim a £5,500 maintenance loan annually, with an additional maintenance grant of up to £3,250 available, which is based on household income. Scottish and Irish maintenance grants and loans are income-based and are less generous than English support.

Oxford accepted 93 undergraduate students from Scotland and Northern Ireland in 2011, when 451 students applied.

An Oxford University spokeswoman, responding to allegations that Scottish students were getting unfairly generous financial support, said “Oxford will offer the most generous financial support in the country for low-income students from the UK from October 2012.’

‘This financial support is provided from Oxford’s own resources – not government money. Oxford’s financial support is automatic and based on income – the number of bursaries available is unlimited.’

‘So a Scottish student getting the package will categorically not take funding away from an English student. The same financial support package is available to all UK students (suggestions that we are running a separate inducement exclusively to Scottish students are completely incorrect).’

‘Oxford is committed to access and our message to all UK students is, ‘If you have the ability to study at Oxford, we’ll ensure money is no barrier.’ ”

Robert Kelly, a Scottish student from Lincoln, commented, “I think it’s a good thing as the numbers of Scottish students at Oxford are already very low, and Scottish students are facing the prospect of £27,000 of debt when you can get as good an education for free at some Scottish universities like St Andrews.

‘By offering this, Oxford should be able to encourage more students from poorer backgrounds to come as well.’

‘It is also a sign that they want more Scottish students as they clearly acknowledge that they are more intelligent.”

When Bulgarian archaeologists argued that bones found in a reliquary in a monastery on Sveti Ivan Island were those of John the Baptist, their claims were met with scepticism. However, recent testing has suggested that their claims may be true.

A carbon dating undertaken by Oxford professors on the right hand knuckle bone has dated the relics to the first century AD, the time when John the Baptist lived.

A DNA test carried out by the University of Copenhagen indicated that the bones belonged to a single person, probably a man of Middle Eastern ethnicity, findings that correlate with the historical John’s profile.

Though the findings are not conclusive, they do not refute the suggestion made by the archaeologists who discovered the bones.

Bulgarian archaeologists had found a small box made of hardened volcanic ash close to the sarcophagus during excavations under the church.

The box bore inscriptions in ancient Greek that referred to John the Baptist and the date that Christians celebrate his birth, June 24.

Many other religious foundations around the world claim to possess relics of the saint. The right hand, a particularly important relic as it was with that hand the St John baptised Christ, is claimed to be held by many monasteries including a Serbian Orthodox monastery in Montenegro.

Oxford Professor Tom Higham, who led the study, expressed surprise at the early date of the bones. He commented “We had suspected that the bones may have been more recent than this, perhaps from the third or fourth centuries. The result from the metacarpal hand bone is clearly consistent with someone who lived in the early first century AD,’

He continued: ‘Whether that person is John the Baptist is a question that we cannot yet definitely answer and probably never will.’

Dr Hannes Schroeder, from the University of Copenhagen, echoed this note of caution, adding “Of course, this does not prove that these were the remains of John the Baptist but nor does it refute that theory.”

The findings of another Oxford researcher, Christopher Ramsey, using historical documents, suggest that the monastery of Sveti Ivan may have received a portion of John the Baptist’s relics in the fifth or early sixth centuries.

John the Baptist, the namesake of St John’s College, is an important figure in the Gospels, foretelling the coming of Christ, before his eventual beheading by King Herod.