The Opening Act

Light showers preceded the opening ceremony. However, the evening skies cleared up soon enough for the proceedings to begin.

The event was named “The Isles of Wonder” and was directed by the legendary Danny Boyle better know in Asia for his Oscar winning movie “The Slum dog Millionaire”. The show began with local hero and Tour De France winner Bradley Higgins ringing the huge Olympic bell much to the delight of the 80,000 spectators in attendance at the Olympic stadium. Rural Britain was depicted with images from Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales. Men could be seen playing a game of cricket.

There were little children singing in groups. Famous quotes from William Shakespeare followed. The 18^th & 19^th century industrialization was wonderfully depicted with excitement on the one hand and fear & hardship on the other. Several chimneys sprouted from the earth with smoke billowing out from each one of them. Thousands of workers could be seen laboring hard. Iron ore and steel production that epitomized the revolution was on display. The Olympic rings then came together with all the pyrotechnics and the suspended rings looked majestic making the evening look even more resplendent.

The James Bond act ensued with our famous 007 agent Daniel Craig calling on her Majesty – The Queen and then taking off in a special chopper. The Queen made acting look so easy and effortless. The organizers needed only a single take to shoot the sequence of images. The unfurling of the union jack followed shortly after her Majesty was welcomed by the President of the IOC – Dr Jacques Rogge.

UK’s National Health Service set up shortly after World War II was enacted. One could see little children being attended to by nurses. Bedtime stories were read out to them. Enter J.K Rowling of “Harry Potter” fame and all her imaginative creatures and characters immediately came to life.

Sir Simon of the London Symphony Orchestra walked in next to the roar of the cheering fans and began his show. One of the personalities on the keyboard was Mr. Rowan Atkinson – better known to the world as Mr. Bean. He was at his humorous best fiddling with his mobile phone and enthralling everyone present with his mannerisms and characteristic expressions. The famous Greek composer Yanni’s composition could be heard.

The evolution and growth of British music over the centuries was up next after which the growth of social media and its effect on Britain was depicted.

On the whole, this opening ceremony did showcase the culture, art, literature, music and the social life of both old and New Britain. It was thoroughly enjoyable though certainly not comparable to the magnificent show put up in Beijing four years ago. Yet, the evening was a one to remember considering the difficult and tumultuous times that we are in. The entire show was commendable considering the fact that it was put up at roughly one-tenth the cost of Beijing 2008.

The march past of the 204 nations was next and lasted for almost an hour and a half. More than 10,000 athletes were in attendance from well known countries as well as the not so well known nations such as Belize, Benin, Burkina Faso, Comoros, Cook Islands, Gabon, Gambia, Guam, Lesotho, Kiribati, Nauru, Federated States of Micronesia, Sao Tome & Principe etc.

David Becham crossed the Thames in a motor boat along with the GB women’s football Captain and handed over the torch to Sir Steve Redgrave who then ran into the stadium and passed on the torch to a group of seven youngsters specially chosen to light the cauldron. The youngsters lit the copper petals. The flame spread into a concentric circle and the stems were moved to a vertical position to form the cauldron. There were 204 stems in all depicting the total nations participating in the 30^th Olympiad. Sir Paul McCartney mesmerized the crowd with his soulful rendition.

Let the games begin….