London 2012 Opening Ceremonies

Coming into the Olympics this year, it was difficult to imagine that London England could top the spectacle that was the 2008 Beijing games. But after watching the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Olympiad earlier tonight, I think they did. Showcasing the history and modern culture of one of the most exciting nations on Earth, this ceremony was able to remind people that even through the economic uncertainty, there is hope. In the first of daily posts throughout the games, I will breakdown the ceremony and what lies ahead over the next 16 days.

Not much was known about the ceremony before tonight. Everyone knew Danny Boyle was running the show. The director of Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours had proven he could direct movies, but could that translate to live television with thousands of actors, dancers, children and animals. It was a huge undertaking but it also became a huge success.

After Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins rang the bell to start the ceremony, a video was shown in which the camera soared around the Great Britain, through the countryside, into London and then to the stadium just outside Stratford. The floor of the stadium was covered in artificial turf and a large hill with a tree on off to the side. The center area was designed to be a small village in the hills of the United Kingdom with a few hundred people dressed as if from the early 19th century. These people were bustling around, doing chores, dancing and acting as normal people would for the time. 

Then the first surprise of the show happened. Legendary British actor, Sir Kenneth Branagh, dressed as Isambard Kingdom Brunel walked across the field, up the hill by the tree and read a short excerpt from Shakespeare's last play The Tempest. Branagh is famous for playing many Shakespearian roles and he smiled confidently as he recited Caliban's speech The Isle is Full of Noises. When I saw this famous actor appear so suddenly in the ceremony, I knew we were in for a treat. Who else could Boyle have got for his show? As we find out later, he got quite a few famous British people to join in on the fun. 

The real Isambard Kingdom Brunel was famous for bringing the industrial revolution to the United Kingdom and that was the focus of the next set piece. In a matter of minutes, the grass was rolled up and smoke stacks began to rise from the floor. Thousands of people dressed as labourers from the industrial era walked on stage and through some incredible choreography, were able to in sync recreate the work of labourers who came before them. Pretending to swing hammers, dig holes and pull levers, this scene was a quick 180 turn from the previous scene. 

Soon the purpose of their labour was revealed. Five Olympic rings slowly started to appear on the ground and when fully formed, were raised up above the performers. They then hovered into the middle of the stage and connected together to create the universal Olympic symbol and the picture shown at the start of the article. With the logo now in place, the ceremony was officially under way.

The next scene was the next in many celebrity cameos, this time Daniel Craig appeared as James Bond in a pre-recorded video. Mr. Bond is ushered into Buckingham Palace to have a special audience with her majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. After they meet, the Queen leads Bond to the court yard where they board a helicopter and fly around London, waving at people at all the famous landmarks and flying through Tower Bridge. 

Then a real helicopter appeared high above the stadium. In the video Bond makes a move to jump, but then decides not to. However, the Queen wastes no time, and jumps out of the chopper herself, followed quickly by Bond. From the ground two people are seen parachuting to the ground, one in a pink dress and another in a suit. This little scene was the perfect introduction for the Queen, who right after entered the stadium with her husband Prince Philip and the head of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Dr. Jacques Rogge. 

From there a group of young children sang the anthem of the United Kingdom, while also signing the words as a majority of the children were deaf. This was the first of many respectful nods given to the health care system in the United Kingdom.

The next segment was that tribute, to the National Health Service (NHS) and the sick kids of the United Kingdom. A large number of nurses pushed beds with children on them out onto the stadium floor, where happy music saw another amazing dance number be performed. As the dance ended, it was time for the children to go to sleep. To help them sleep, J.K. Rowling, who wrote Harry Potter, read an excerpt from Peter Pan. But as we all know, monsters come out at night, and soon terrifying creatures on roller skates were chasing the children. And large puppets of famous villains such as Lord Voldemort and Cruella De Vil appeared scaring the children even more. 

When all hoped seemed lost, the hero of all children appeared. Actually 32 incarnations of the hero, one Mary Poppins, who flew down from the sky with her umbrella and carpet bag. Soon the villains were defeated and the monsters scared away. This gave the many Mary Poppins time to sing and dance with the children. Boyle successfully gave tribute to both the NHS and the many children stories that have come from the UK. And it all ended with a giant sleeping baby appearing in the middle of the stage, the only part of this amazing scene that I could not quite understand.

The next major performance is announced as the performing of Chariots of Fire by the London Symphony Orchestra but it will be remembered for the always charming Rowan Atkinson’s performance as Mr. Bean playing the piano. Mr. Bean has one note to play, a note that is constant throughout the entire song, so naturally he gets board. After playing with his phone and reaching for a backpack without missing a beat, Mr. Bean gets tired and has a dream.

This dream is a re-imagining of the famous scene from the movie Chariots of Fire where the runners are on the beach training and the famous song is playing in the background. In this version, Mr. Bean is one of the runners, but he quickly falls behind. To catch up, he gets in his car and races past the runners so that he had a lead on them. Mr. Bean starts running again but when another runner catches him, Mr. Bean trips him to win the race. 

When Mr. Bean wakes up from his dream he is still playing his note, but the rest of the orchestra had finished the song and were staring at him. The conductor motions to him to finish his part, so Mr. Bean responds with a complex piano solo ending with the same note he had been playing all along. This scene was Boyle being creative again. Alone, neither the orchestra nor Mr. Bean would have been memorable at all, but together they combine the right amount of culture and comedy that a performance of that scale needs. It was executed perfectly.

The next scene was Boyle's take on the modern day English society, specifically the youth of the country. At the same time, it pays tribute to the many classic music icons that have come from England throughout the years. With songs from the Beatles, Queen and Muse among others, there was something for anyone who has ever heard music on the radio before. Add the crowd of young and excited people to the mix, dancing to whatever song came on, and you have a loud and exciting scene that showcases what it’s like to be young today. Near the end there was also a surprise appearance from Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who is credited as the inventor of the World Wide Web. Without him, this blog and the many texts sent by the youth in this scene would not be possible. 

By this point there had still not been any appearance by the Olympic torch but that changed in the next scene. A video montage was shown of the torch and its long journey around the United Kingdom and ended with David Beckham driving a boat down the Thames while a young woman holds the torch. As they pass under Tower Bridge, the scene ends, foreshadowing more to come. 

The ceremony then pays tribute to the people who had recently died with a slow, quiet song performed by Scottish singer Emili Sande. The dance that accompanied this song was cool, but nothing special. The dancers were dressed like they were from Cirque de Solei, but didn't do any fancy tricks. It was an opportunity for everyone to take a breather after the up-tempo sections earlier. 

The parade of nations began next. Led off by Greece and ending with the host Great Britain, the parade saw a majority of the athletes walk into the stadium with their countries to join the celebration too. With each country a young person walked with them carrying what looked like a cornucopia but made of metal. This would prove to be important later. This part of the ceremony was kind of dry even though Boyle chose to have more main stream music playing in the background. The Olympics have become so big that it takes over an hour for everyone to get into the stadium. 

Once the 204 countries had all proceeded into the stadium, a band called the Arctic Monkey's sang a cover of the Beatles' hit Come Together. While this was happening, cyclists rode into the stadium with giant wings flapping on their backs. After flying (riding really fast) around the track, one of the bird bikers began to fly up over the stadium. It looked like the most famous scene from ET except the cyclist had wings. The symbolism of this section of the event evaded me but it was still really cool and unique.

After this very strange performance with bikes, speeches are read by Sebastian Coe, head of the London Olympic committee that organized the whole seventeen days. He welcomed the world to England by saying the Olympics represent "what is best about mankind". Jacques Rogge then gave a speech saying that this was the first Olympics where all the teams had representation from both genders. He also reminded the competitors that they are role models for children around the world and that they "will inspire a generation". 

Her majesty the Queen then approaches the podium and declares the official opening of the games. The Queen became the first head of state to open two Olympics and to open Olympics in two different countries, having previously opened the 1976 games in Montreal. Among the athletes there to help rise the flag is boxer Muhammad Ali who receives a huge cheer from the crowd. 

There was then only one small task left, the lighting of the cauldron. David Beckham is shown docking his boat where Sir Steve Redgrave, an Olympic legend in Britain, has his torch lit. Redgrave then runs into the stadium to massive cheers from the crowd. He hands his torch to a young man who is standing with five other young athletes and the six teenagers begin to run around the track. As they run, they each take a turn carrying the torch with the original boy getting it back at the end. 

The six teens run a full lap around the stadium and return to their starting point. There stand six former British Olympians who had nominated each of the teens to participate in this special night. Behind the former Olympians stand 250 more former British athletes, some who had competed as far back as 1948, the last time London hosted. After the six teens each lit their torches, they took off to the middle of the stadium to light the cauldron. 

All the cornucopias from the parade of nations had been attached to poles which were fanned out in a circle around the center of the floor. The six teens held their flames close to the cornucopia until they caught fire. The fire then slowly spread to the other 200 so that a huge flame was now burning. Then each pole slowly rose up until they were all standing straight up and were very close together. Instead of having one burning cauldron as in years past, this year's was 204 individual flames that looked like a unified flame. 

As the crowd cheered at the burning flame, a final performance was getting ready to sing. Sir Paul McCartney sang the classic Beatles tune Hey Jude and it was amazing to hear people from all over the world sing the famous lyrics together. And even at age 70, Sir Paul can still entertain like few others. 

There are two things that bring the people of the world together, sport and music. Boyle successfully brought both those elements into his show and for four hours, the people of the world were one. It was truly an amazing sight and represented the people of the United Kingdom very well. And it did it without going as over the top as the 10,000 drummers from Beijing. 

I am hoping to post something from the London Games every day for the next 16 days. Being from Canada, my focus will be mostly on Canadian athlete. But I will cover amazing performances from other countries as well, and if a record gets broken, I'll do my best to mention it. 

It will be an exciting endeavour to cover as much as the games as I can. The Olympics bring out the best in sport and over the next two weeks, some of the most amazing performances ever given by athletes will take place. And I'll be documenting every moment of it. 

If you like my writing you can find more of it on my website, www.jbenny.com. You can also follow me on twitter @jbenny15 and email feedback to jbenny15@gmail.com. Thanks for reading.