Right you awful lot have solved the default operating system thing

(WIth little help from someone on the Ubuntu forums)

Here is what he told me that solved it

And it is so simple you will kick yaself

How do I make Ubuntu the default boot option?
Ubuntu is not installed as the default boot option, you have to select it in the windows boot menu.
To change that, in windows XP go to control_panel > system > advanced > startup_and_recovery
and edit the "Default Operating System", if you want you can change the timeout as well.