by ANIKA WELLS
Top of the morning to you! Welcome to the run down of the London Opening Ceremony. Let’s put our cards on the table upfront shall we, and admit the whole shebang had a punchy LSD vibe and it was something we all just needed to roll with. I would argue it was a tip of the hat to both the musical and lifestyle inclinations of the Beatles, and lord knows they did quite well didn’t they?
The ceremony was named Isles of Wonder, which is taken from a speech in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This felt invitingly high brow for those of us viewing at home who could still hear the sound of last night’s revellers vomiting in the gutter outside. Sir Kenneth Branagh was called upon to oversee the Shakespearean elements, and he really does a marvellous stride-about in a jodhpur, Sir Kenneth. Cracking form.
If the official theme was Isles of Wonder, the unofficial theme had to be You’re Welcome, Earth. Across the three hours, the Brits reminded us they invented the railway, the transatlantic steamship, the Industrial Revolution, rugby, pop music and tunnels that run under water. They also asserted they invented the internet, which I feel may have been a bit of an over-reach.
The Queen and James Bond parachuting out of a helicopter might have been sacrilegious if attempted by one of the colonies but was a total showstopper here. Bonus points for featuring the Corgis.
But for one of the happiest and most unifying occasions in the world, we were asked to contemplate things like death and childhood terror more frequently than you’d expect, weren’t we? If reliving childhood nightmares was an essential part of my Opening Ceremony experience, what on earth were the 30 minutes they cut?!
Then a bunch of dancers clad in black threw dust and thrust about a bit while Emile Sande sang a song that apparently has featured in every FA Cup Final since the Land Before Time.
Top Comments
There was a lot of sleep forgone to make this one happen but I had so much fun watching the Opening Ceremony. Definite highlight was the Queen jumping out of the plane (GO HER MAJESTY!). I was a little disappointed by the lack of Spice Girls but otherwise it was absolutely awesome! Congrats to the Poms, they put on a damn fine show.
Agree, I had my "stop right now" dance moves all ready to go!
My highlight was the very creative torch (with a highly commended to Mr Bean/Rowan Atkinson)
Loved Becks in the speedboat.