Olympic Opening Ceremony

[CaptainQuintero]

I think I read somewhere that Boyle loves the A-Monkeys so maybe that was it. I would have Love Led Zep, Bowie and Rolling Stones!

Maybe then ran over budget with all those little flags

[Blakes]

I would have Love Led Zep, Bowie and Rolling Stones!

:clap:

[CaptainQuintero]

Joe Cocker instead of McCartney!

But I'm thinking the budget of my version would have been more than £60m lol

[rckymtn22]

Still think they should have gone with Firing Elton John carrying the torch out of a cannon the light the cauldron!

I would paid big money for them to fire David Beckham out of a cannon to light the cauldron especially if there was no net for him to land in.

[Hypersomniac]

Should have been a throwback to the Olympic roots and have everybody walk in nude.

[Ken Gargett]

i reckon that a great deal of the stuff mentoned here re the musicians is the sort of thing that is usually held to the closing ceremony.

thought that the rowan atkinson stuff was priceless. liked the 007 bit at buck house but then they stuffed it up with the queen supposedly parachuting in. far more roger moore than daniel craig.

most of the rest of it rather blah. but perhaps that was influenced here by the unbelievably dire commentary we got from eddie mcguire. he could make paint scream. but i must say that things like opening ceremonies rarely excite me.

as for the david beckham stuff, i simply do not get it? he was a talented soccer player but far from a great one. his stupidity got england kicked out of a world cup with his brain snap. he left england to get more dosh offshore. married a scrubber from an equally bog average band (actually, i probably should not say that - i am not certain i have ever heard a single song of theirs). so why is he so famous? seriously, can a pom enlighten me? what am i missing? for me, the premier league is the greatest soccer competition (world cup etc aside) in the world. by continually flogging this dying nag, it just highlights that england don't really front up with that many great players as part of it any more. rooney for one. a few others, but the stars in recent years have all been from offshore - look at the man city crop, cantona, henri, so many more. beyond me.

[mazolaman]

Still think they should have gone with Firing Elton John carrying the torch out of a cannon the light the cauldron!

Wasn't that Elton John in the peach dress, parachuting from the helicopter?!

They could have had a flaming corgi belting towards the torch to light it.

I really enjoyed the opening ceremony, as we watched late here in Finland.

They are usually quite boring "look at how much money we spent on fire works" events, and they are usually too dry for me. This one seemed to reflect much of the UK, and more importantly, it was tongue in cheek, and also reflected the British ability to laugh at ourselves. I didn't see a Big Mac either....

Danny Boyle does good again...

[Ken Gargett]

Wasn't that Elton John in the peach dress, parachuting from the helicopter?!

They could have had a flaming corgi belting towards the torch to light it.

I really enjoyed the opening ceremony, as we watched late here in Finland.

They are usually quite boring "look at how much money we spent on fire works" events, and they are usually too dry for me. This one seemed to reflect much of the UK, and more importantly, it was tongue in cheek, and also reflected the British ability to laugh at ourselves. I didn't see a Big Mac either....

Danny Boyle does good again...

i'm sure what you say about the UK is correct. and as it should be.

i suspect i am not the target market. i didn't even get particularly excited about ours. though the way they did the flame in sydney was a bit special (that and the archer in barcelona my faves).

must say that rolling out poor old paul macartney was a bit sad. he turns up at everything and has that permenantly surprised look on his face from all the face lists. saddest thing about lennon dying was that he is not around to take the piss out of his old mate for that.

[CaptainQuintero]

I think the Beckham appeal isn't that much to do with on-field reasons. Most people say he is to blame for getting high numbers of women interested in the sport (Not sure how valid that is). Personally I think it's because of the chairty and ambassador type stuff he does. When most celebs either sit in their mansions counting their dosh or pretend to care about issues while sitting on even larger piles of cash (Bono), he actually gets out there and does lots of chairty work. Probably because it's such a rare thing nowadays to see a footballer who seems a genuinely nice bloke!

[pjansen]

To see socialized medical care being celebrated was sickening...

[winelover]

To see socialized medical care being celebrated was sickening...

The NHS is a national religion in the UK where so many are duped in to believing it is "free", when in reality it costs the tax payer an enormous amount every year (cue someone to find the stats for me) and it is questionable whether it delivers value for money. However it is so deeply entrenched in the national psyche (and pretty much part of our unwritten constitution too) that it is nigh on impossible to reform.

I cringed when I saw it celebrated as part of the Olympic opening because I think it is too much of a political (and socialist) statement.

[Ken Gargett]

I think the Beckham appeal isn't that much to do with on-field reasons. Most people say he is to blame for getting high numbers of women interested in the sport (Not sure how valid that is). Personally I think it's because of the chairty and ambassador type stuff he does. When most celebs either sit in their mansions counting their dosh or pretend to care about issues while sitting on even larger piles of cash (Bono), he actually gets out there and does lots of chairty work. Probably because it's such a rare thing nowadays to see a footballer who seems a genuinely nice bloke!

fair enough. have not seen that side of him down here but good on him, if he is.

[Smallclub]

To see socialized medical care being celebrated was sickening...

You have a problem with the medical care system of a country where you don't live?

[CaptainQuintero]

To see socialized medical care being celebrated was sickening...

I know right, actually looking after everyone from cradle to grave regardless of race, creed or colour. It's the most unchristianic, anti-freedom thing ever. It's basically communism, the hundreds of billions it costs to run could be spent on so many better things, like wars, the exploration of space or propping up dictators and despots in far away lands to protect us from the evil ones.

[AverageJoe83]

To see socialized medical care being celebrated was sickening...

Reading your comment was sickening.

[Ken Gargett]

I know right, actually looking after everyone from cradle to grave regardless of race, creed or colour. It's the most unchristianic, anti-freedom thing ever. It's basically communism, the hundreds of billions it costs to run could be spent on so many better things, like wars, the exploration of space or propping up dictators and despots in far away lands to protect us from the evil ones.

i thought having it celebrated in an olympic opening ceremony was a very british thing to do.

still think atkinson stole the show. brilliant.

[CaptainQuintero]

i thought having it celebrated in an olympic opening ceremony was a very british thing to do.

still think atkinson stole the show. brilliant.

lol yeah I've seen it trending on youtube a lot, I wasn't sure if anyone outside the UK would have got it.

There had been a lot of fuss in the papers about who would light the flame, the last minute bets being on Roger Bannister doing it, he would have been my choice too but I'm not sure he has the legs anymore to climb steps etc.

Sad to see how frail Ali had become, not sure if his appearence was some kind of public swan song.

[Blakes]

Sad to see how frail Ali had become

Very sad indeed.

[Blakes]

so why is he so famous? seriously, can a pom enlighten me? what am i missing?

Beats me!! haha

[Ken Gargett]

Sad to see how frail Ali had become, not sure if his appearence was some kind of public swan song.

absolutely tragic. but curious that the olympic movement embraces him so warmly, given he supposedly tossed his medal into the ohio river. not that he wasn't a truly great athlete but there are plenty of others who would never have done that.

[amosnaim]

i thought having it celebrated in an olympic opening ceremony was a very british thing to do.

still think atkinson stole the show. brilliant.

X2 on Atkinson.

[DrunkenMonkey]

To see socialized medical care being celebrated was sickening...

I know, right? The nerve of the British people to not ask you what national achievements they are allowed to be proud of. Its really sickening that everyone in the world doesn't share your values and priorities, isn't it?

[ptrthgr8]

I know, right? The nerve of the British people to not ask you what national achievements they are allowed to be proud of. Its really sickening that everyone in the world doesn't share your values and priorities, isn't it?

Historically speaking it *is* a rather un-American notion (i.e. dependence upon the gov't), so I'm not surprised that some Americans did not find it to be as glorious as other folks. I personally didn't care for it, but simply wrote it off the the Brits being Brits. I'm not a big fan the nanny state. I don't like it at all, actually. The nannies can keep their "healthcare" and anti-tobacco laws and everything else. I don't want the gov't to take care of me. But I've no doubt the Brits could care less about an American perspective on the matter. And I wouldn't expect them to, either. So it is what it is - it was their turn to do an opening ceremony and they did what they wanted.

Cheers,

~ Greg ~

[MrGlass]

I was really hoping David Tennant would light the flame. There was an episode of Doctor Who that featured the 2012 Olympics where he ended up lighting the flame - tying this in with the real Olympics would have been awesome (to me anyway). There were a few online petitions for this, so obviously I wasn't the only one.

[Ken Gargett]

sounds a bit like that classic aussie series, 'the games (i think)', with john clarke where they did a comedy on the sydney games organisers, in the lead up (such classic moments as the 100 metre track being only 97 metres so they could fit in more seats etc.

the plan for the closing ceremony was to have the seekers come in and sing (of course, no one knew what had been actually planned). in the end, they had to don wigs etc and pretend to be the seekers as they refused. in the real ceremony, it was the seekers who came in and sang.