The Olympic torch has arrived in Kent - to the delight of thousands of cheering spectators in Tunbridge Wells.

Flag-waving fans turned out in force to paint the town red, white and blue as they lined the streets to welcome the flame to the county.

Crowds up to six people deep whooped as each of the 10 relay runners proudly held the torch aloft through the town in the sunshine.

The torch entered the county for the start of a four-day tour just before 11.30am.

It was only in the county for about half-an-hour before heading to Crowborough, in East Sussex.

However, Kent was given more Olympics torch excitement this afternoon at Tonbridge Castle.

Kent-born Dame Kelly Holmes, who won gold in the Athens Olympics in 2004 carried the flame in the castle grounds with Frank Verge, a torchbearer in the 1948 relay.

Hundreds of people gathered in the town to catch a glimpse of one of Kent's most successful sporting daughters with Mr Verge, who was 22, when he ran from Platt through Ightham.

The torch entered Tunbridge Wells at Mount Ephraim Road at 11.24am before snaking through the town to Eridge Road at just after midday.

The first torchbearer in Tunbridge Wells was Italian sports writer Giovanni Merlo, who handed over the torch to British sports journalist Patrick Collins.

Patrick handed over the flame to Russian former athlete Olga Bogoslovskaya.

The sprinter won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay in the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Dame Kelly Holmes with Olympic torchbearer veteran Frank Verge

Among the other torchbearers was charity worker Alex Gerrity, 20, 17-year-old dance teacher Samantha Wheelwright and champion cyclist Emily Barnes - also 17 and pictured above left.

The relay had particular poignancy for 15-year-old torchbearer Nesii Burns.

She battled a rare birth defect called proximal femoral focal deficiency, which affects the pelvis.

Nesii - who used to have one leg 9cm shorter than the other before undergoing two gruelling operations - is now hoping to inspire other children with the same condition.