Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
Seven years of planning have finally come to a head with the start of the much-anticipated opening ceremony for the London Olympics.
The £27m extravaganza entitled Isles of Wonder is expected to attract a global audience of billions.
I must admit 27 m for 1 night's entertainment in a debt ridden country like the UK is a drop in the ocean.
Just sack a fu home helps and we will be back on track.
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
Roger H mentions the drummers in post 17...and here they are. Pounding away in fine style rapping out that rhythm...behind them a backdrop of industrial revolution...Certainly the most unusual opening ceremony ever and it went down well here in the UK. How it was read around the globe is hard to say as it did have a very localised feel. But feedback so far seems good. 27 Million people watched it on BBCTV here in the UK..astounding figures for this day and age!
ITV gave up and went home essentially, showing the ghastly Vera in opposition..
Have also added a rings picture to the frontpage..hopefully the Olympic committee wont be after us for use of the rings!!
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
"vera" may be ghastly paul,but was a good allternative if you didnt want to watch the opening ceromany,[such a bore any way].
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
the drummers must have been knackered at the end, that was long time playing,
i loved it thought they were great
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Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
A couple were interviewed yesterday and I got the impression they are back for the closing ceremony, I hope so they were brilliant.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
jan
frightened to say this, but i agree with you lol
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Guest 656- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 2,262
Like many others I enjoyed the opening ceremony, very British indeed, thank goodness I understood it, not sure wether the rest of the world understood it but hey it was the olympics in Britian so ours to do whatever we wished. Truly spectacular
Guest 725- Registered: 7 Oct 2011
- Posts: 1,418
Bread and circuses. Someone wake me up when the jolly knees up is over.
I mean like, wow, the olympic cauldron is nearly carbon neutral.......like that's far out maaaan. I can hear the trees in the rainforest wailing and they are saying "Like wow we are all saved now, Oh the humanity".
Like it's kinda like those sky television vans you see on the high street. Like they've got a sign on the side saying "Sky broadcasting - carbon neutral".
Seriously though folks doesn't this appalling parade merely signal the decline, the swan song of a once powerful nation?
Come on face it guys it's pretty embarrassing all round. People's reactions up and down the country have been so over the top. Calls for a knighthood for Danny Boyle. This event is getting ever more bizarre.
It just goes to prove that if you throw enough money at a project, lots of whizzy noises, flashing lights, a few famous people, install newsreaders with just enough gravitas to tell us that what we are witnessing is groundbreaking and historic etc. etc. you can get away with murder.
Jan Higgins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,883
"it was the olympics in Britian so ours to do whatever we wished"
I think that is the best comment I have read and so true
If the rest of the world did not like it too bad, it was our party we paid for it so we did it our way.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
we only have to go back to the world cup opening ceremony in south africa 2 years ago that was a celebration of their culture, music and dance.
the rest of the world acclaimed it, hopefully the same happened here.
Guest 715- Registered: 9 Jun 2011
- Posts: 2,438
They said on the night that the drums were plastic and not actually being played.
Audere est facere.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Jan #10.
I did see what Aidan Burley meant and did at times cringe a bit but I thought it churlish and an inappropriate comment for him to make and full credit should go to all involved for a great show.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Martin - It was indeed said they were plastic and not traditional drums but they were certainly played all that time.
Keith Sansum1- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
was good and yeam gb just won the footy lovely
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Guest 730- Registered: 5 Nov 2011
- Posts: 221
Well, I missed the whole thing. I've just come back from the Cambridge Folk Festival and at the time of the opening ceremony I was in a big tent listening to the Pine Leaf Boys, a Zydeco band from Louisiana. I've recorded it though and I'll watch it this week.
For anyone that likes live music the Cambridge Folk Festival is well worth a visit. Friendly atmosphere, all ages, minimal security, real ale and a huge variety of music.
Guest 745- Registered: 27 Mar 2012
- Posts: 3,370
Correct Phillip
But I think they could have thrown in a fu muggings and crack dealers to celebrate our new cultural changes.
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
They should also have highlighted the contribution and sacrifices made by the miners. Without coal there would have been no industrial revolution. OK the Grimethorpe Colliery Band took part, but that almost implied that the miners contributed more to music than to industry.
I also felt that more mention might have been made of our maritime heritage.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I would have loved to see Drake, Nelson, Wellington and Marlborough celebrated and maybe Cecil Rhodes and other great Empire builders but I suspect it would not have gone down well with some of our visitors...
Inevitably there would always be elements missed out given the wide sweep of our history though certain 'inclusions' did seem a bit odd. Someone will always carp on about such things but, at the end of the day, it was a great show.
Guest 710- Registered: 28 Feb 2011
- Posts: 6,950
Ignorance is bliss, bliss is happiness, I am happy...to draw your attention to the possible connectivity in the foregoing.
Guest 699- Registered: 3 Jun 2010
- Posts: 292
great stuff saw to the end
shame about macca messing up , but as they say after the torch was lit , did we need him
one other thing a lot of tiny nations never knew where in the world they were !! and the clip of micheal fish saying we will not have a hurraine in 1987 ------------ i bet these little nations thought what is that all about !!
