London has unveiled its 2012 Olympic and Paralympic mascots - one-eyed, alien-looking creations called Wenlock and Mandeville.

London 2012 organisers introduced the interactive mascots on Wednesday, and predicted they will be a big hit with children and help inspire young people to get involved in Olympic sports.

London organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe says kids don't want cuddly toys as mascots and prefer "something they can interact with and something with a good story behind it."

Wenlock is named after Much Wenlock, a town whose local games helped inspire the modern Olympics.

Mandeville is named after Stoke Mandeville, a town where the Paralympic movement was founded.

The story of how these mascots were created is contained in a great video on their own website - http://www.ourlondon2012.com/mascots/ 

Each mascot will be giving constant updates Twitter style on their main site and each has their own Facebook page. They will have a greater online presence than offline with internet users able to nominate what sports they learn next and follow their journey to the Games.

Reaction on social media sites about their appearance has been mixed but the story of their creation and the history behind their names is positive.

Offline schools in Britain will be able to win visits from the Mascots. 

AP