Reliant Robin To Appear At Closing Ceremony

As the Olympic closing ceremony on Sunday approaches, speculation is mounting as to exactly who and what will be featured.

Thus far, the "informed" speculation states that a Reliant Robin from Only Fools and Horses will appear together with over 4,100 performers, among them 3,500 adult volunteers and 380 schoolchildren from the six east London boroughs where the Games are taking place.

Rumours are that Kate Bush, the Who and George Michael may also appear.

The closing ceremony starts at 21:00 BST Sunday 12 August.

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The London 2012 Opening Ceremony - The Curate's Egg

"Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises,

Sounds, and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments

Will hum about mine ears; and sometime voices,

That, if I then had waked after long sleep,

Will make me sleep again: and then, in dreaming,

The clouds methought would open, and show riches

Ready to drop upon me; that, when I waked,

I cried to dream again."

The above speech, by Caliban from Shakespeare's The Tempest, was read by Kenneth Brannagh (playing Isambard Kingdom Brunel) as Danny Boyle's vision of Britain morphed from the green and pleasant land into the dark satanic mills of Victorian industrialisation.

NB: Caliban is forced into servitude on an island ruled by Prospero, because Caliban attempted to rape Propsero's daughter. 

Boyle's show was entertaining and it was most certainly a spectacle, in every sense of the word.

In terms of presenting history in a linear format, David Starkey et al were doubtless rolling their eyes in horror, it was a mishmash (of Boyle's "choice cuts") albeit an entertaining one.

I was very amused to see that Boyle had managed to persuade the Queen to take on a cameo role and allowed herself to be escorted to the Games by "James Bond" via helicopter, from which she "parachuted" into the stadium.

The two criticisms I would make are as follows:

1 The Second World War and, most specifically, the Blitz were ignored. Like it or not, that was a defining moment in this country's history in the 20th century. To ignore that ignores how we have arrived at where we are today, including the fact that the war paved the way for the creation of Boyle's precious NHS and welfare state.

2 Whilst the NHS is a key milestone and achievement in this country's history, it is not the be all and end all of this island's long history. Boyle devoted too much of the show to a segment that gave a distorted 1940's fantasy of what the NHS never was or will be. Political point scoring is all very well, but the opening ceremony of the Olympics is not the place for such point scoring.

That being said, the opening ceremony did what it said on the tin; namely provide a well choreographed show to open the games, that contained the core British characteristic of self deprecation (step forward Her Majesty and Mr Bean to take a well deserved bow).

As to whether anyone not born in the UK understood what was going on, well I will leave that to foreign commentators to discuss!



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Danny Boyle's #Savethesurprise Olympics Crusade

Danny Boyle, the artistic director of the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony, has been forced to apologise to the 10,000 volunteers who will appear in the opening ceremony on 27 July over "spoilers" that have been appearing in the press.

The email apology asks that the volunteers "stay virtuous", the BBC quotes him:

"Many of you have been dismayed by the media scrutiny on the show.

I am sorry that, despite our best efforts, we appear to be unable to stop these stories appearing in the press."

I am more than a little "bemused" at Boyle's apparent surprise/disappointment over the press interest and stories about the opening ceremony:

1 He is an experienced film director and producer, he knows full well how the media operates.

2 He himself held a media briefing last month, where he revealed that the ceremony would feature a recreation of the "British countryside" featuring country scenes and farmyard animals.

3 The London Olympics are being heavily promoted by the government, sports bodies and businesses; of course the media are interested in what will happen in the opening ceremony.

4 With 10,000 volunteers, even if they have all signed a non disclosure agreement, there will be leaks.

I cannot understand how Boyle could have been so naive about this?

Notwithstanding the apology, in an action that is guaranteed to create even more media interest in the opening ceremony, Boyle has asked that everyone involved to start Tweeting pleas to the media and others to #savethesurprise.

Even Seb Coe has joined the Tweet crusade:
"Seb Coe ‏@sebcoe

Share the frustration of volunteer performers and the public at Opening Ceremony being unofficially trailed. Let’s #savethesurprise"

Is Boyle trying to increase the media frenzy over the opening ceremony, or is this a genuine (if misguided) attempt to damp down leaks and speculation?

Olympic Medals won during the Beijing 2008 Olympics

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