The Opening Ceremony - the best kept secret

…and its best kept that way! Danny Boyle made a plea to all the volunteers privileged to see the show on Monday and Wednesday to keep it a surprise for the rest of the world and he did ask so nicely!  Also, it would be a real shame to spoil the impact for you.  All the screens around the stadium were emblazoned with the hash tag #save the surprise.

I can give  you a few snippets which you may have already read about. It's called the Isles of Wonder.    The pre show is a grand theatrical production on a scale the likes of which have never been seen before.  The theme is England's green and pleasant land set to Jerusalem, emphasising the enormous historical and social change from the idyllic, tranquil, green, pastoral, land of cricket matches, maypoles, picnics, livestock and religion to the noisy, aggressive, protesting,  dirty, dark, factories and foundries, finishing with the forging of the steel-like Olympic rings - all very impressive. 

The second part is all about the NHS and Great Ormond Street Hospital with plenty of spare hospital beds!

The last sections were not revealed to us much but they are about culture and the arts with sequences about Britain's heritage from the 60s to present day - focusing on the best British films, TV, books and dance and I think will be more visual and digital for the TV audience.  The show begins with a quote from The Tempest read by Kenneth Branagh.  There's references to  Chariots of Fire, James Bond (I think he may drop from a helicopter),  EastEnders, The Beatles and an amazing contemporary dance routine plus much, much more.

The most striking observation is that it is all so quintessentially British, not sure of the appeal to the rest of the world.  It's clever, quirky, charming, funny, warm although a bit strange and even scary in one part, covering the whole spectrum from simple and down to earth to spectacular, awe-inspiring and inventive.  "Splendidly British and magnificently bonkers" was one quote.  Of course, it is the views and vision of a 50ish year old northern man if you asked him to describe Britain.  It didn’t reduce me to tears like the ones in Athens and Beijing but maybe tonight when it's for real it will as I stand with my beer at the BT concert in Hyde Park with my family and friends.  I do hope so!  I am positive you will enjoy it!