Many of my Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ jobs have been in News, where we were obviously very interested in what was happening there and then because news is all about the present - and we might have had a flicker of interest, but no more than that, in planning something for the next day if we were really pushed. But we'd have laughed at the idea of a deadline that's 1000 days away.
So now I'm the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's director of London 2012 - and there's a deadline that's 1000 days away because today it's precisely that distance to the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics on July 27th, 2012. But there's no sense at all of this being remote. It's starting to feel remarkably close, and it's setting a lot of earlier decision-points if we want to be in the right shape for one of the biggest challenges this country and the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ are facing.
Have no doubt: this is the largest event that will ever have taken place in the UK, and it will be the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's most extensive set of outside broadcasts, ever. Having the Olympics in our own country - effectively the most important championships in 26 different sports - is like having multiple Cup Finals played all over London and the rest of the UK for a period of 17 days. It will attract hundreds of world leaders, thousands of athletes and millions of spectators.
But 2012 is even more than that. It's also a year in which we hope to be celebrating the first Diamond Jubilee since Queen Victoria's at the end of the 19th century. Both the Royal and the Olympic story will start when Big Ben chimes in the New Year, and we'll then cover the landmarks like the lighting of London's Olympic flame in Greece; its journey round the UK; and all the arts and performance events that are designed to deliver a Cultural Olympiad alongside the sport.
So here in the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ our planning is already well underway - and we want to deliver something that brings the UK together to celebrate all the extraordinary moments. We'll have failed if people in Aberdeen and Truro don't feel they can share the experience of the people crowding the streets of London for the spectacles or visiting the Olympic Park to see Usain Bolt in action. We're also acutely aware that this is the year when almost all analogue television will be switched off, so it will be a fully-fledged digital world in which audiences expect top-quality services and the widest range of choice on tv, radio, online and mobile.
Therefore we need to start building the infrastructure now if we're to make the most of digital technology. We have to choose our studios around the Olympic Park in the coming weeks because if we don't agree our base then it will be too late to construct one. We're slotting in some of the proposed concerts and performance events to our 2012 broadcasting schedules, because commissioning deadlines are looming for the most ambitious pieces. And we're meeting with a vast range of partners - from the organising committee at to government departments, the Mayor's office, commercial companies, sports governing bodies and national arts institutions.
I'm sharing what we're up to in - so you can read there about our hope to capture some of the content in 3D and Super HD, along with issues like what the Cultural Olympiad should be like. Perhaps because of that news background, I love debate and the more conversations we can have with audiences the happier I am. It doesn't mean we'll always agree - I have to say I'm not sure about some of the ideas coming in about the 2012 ceremonies in - but even if we differ about Chas, Dave and cockney singalongs, we want this to be a story in which everyone can take part.
(Roger Mosey is the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's director of London 2012 and posts regularly on the Olympics on .)