Put down that bagpipe!

Bagpipe player Andrew Aitken, from Galashiels, who went to the Olympics to raise money for the National Deaf Children's Society on a sponsored walk along the Great Wall of China, was almost arrested when he was practicing his bagpipe near the stadium (the Birds Nest), not realizing that he was close to a major electricity source, a sensitive security location. When a Chinese officer stopped to arrest him, a passing tourist helped explain that the bagpipe was not a weapon.

Mr Aitken said: "I'm not all that good on the pipes so I thought I'd go off on my own and have a practice before I had to play in front of the people I was doing the walk with.

"I had a silly soldier's hat on and my kilt and a few locals gathered round and seemed to be enjoying me playing, but just as I finished a police car pulled up with four officers.

"They weren't happy and it emerged that it was heightened security all over China because of the opening ceremony." via bbc.co.uk