The Olympic Silver medallist and world-champion middle-distance runner will be giving his lecture: ‘The Team behind the Team’, a discussion on the delivery of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the work of the team behind London’s successful bid, the athletes’ performances, as well as his own experiences of the Games.

The lecture will take place on Thursday, 18th October in the Lecture Theatre, Murray Library, City Campus, Chester Road, Sunderland.

The lecture series will continue with a who’s who of celebrated national figures including former filmmaker David Puttnam, scientist and documentary maker Robert Winston, children’s writer Terry Deary, newscaster Alastair Stewart, former politician turned writer Chris Mullin, former Education Secretary Estelle Morris, crime writer Val McDermid and BBC historian Michael Wood.

The lectures, which are free to the general public, aim to inform and stimulate debate, as well as entertain.

Steve Cram MBE is the BBC's Chief Athletics Commentator, a London 2012 Ambassador and co-presented the last three Summer Olympic Games. During the 1980s he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners, setting world records in the 1,500 metres, 2,000 metres and the mile. He was the first man to run 1,500 metres under three minutes and 30 seconds.

He said: “After such an amazing sporting year and following on from one of our most successful medal hauls at an Olympic and Paralympic Games I’m very much looking forward to sharing my experiences and thoughts on ‘The Team behind the Team’.

“Not only were both The Olympics and Paralympics such a success on the sports fields and arenas, the Games themselves had such an impact on the nation as a whole. I will look at the planning behind, not just the infrastructure of the Games, but the team working with our elite performers to make sure medal targets were hit and the nation was able to celebrate Team GB success.”

To book your place at one of the free University of Sunderland Public Lectures log on here.