That was a suprise, opening Olympic event

[Biglad82]

Arise sir Boyle....??.

Well that ended up being a hell of a lot better than I thought, fantastic to see it concentrated so much on the British theme....

 

[Piemaster]

Yup. The cauldron thing I thought was both clever and elegant.
And as you say theres the British bit of it. No chance of competing with the Chinese spectacle.....so we'll have a party instead

 

[Biglad82]

Yup. The cauldron thing I thought was both clever and elegant.
And as you say theres the British bit of it. No chance of competing with the Chinese spectacle.....so we'll have a party instead

True and in a lot of ways better for it

 

[swee'pea99]

+1. I was fully expecting an embarrassment; I was very pleasantly surprised. Some of it was bizarre, borderline surreal ("I know, let's have lost of hospital beds with kids in, and people dancing around dressed as doctors & nurses!" "Great idea!" "Sooper!" "High fives!")...but overall I thought it made a really good show of it, and genuinely showcased/made best use of what we do well. Beijing was always going to be a hard act to follow...I take my hat off to the organisers, who did the right thing - sidestepped neatly, and played to our strengths.

 

[Biglad82]

The industrial show was better than anything I saw in the Beijing IMHO , typified the change of the world, and the remberance was a nice touch too

 

[Brains]

Note: The people dressed as doctors and nurses are real doctors and nurses

 

[Keith Oates]

I thought it was a good opening ceremony and well worth getting up at 0200 hours (Vietnam time) to watch it on TV. It is something that we can say was British and not a copy of some other country or event!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[biggs682]

for what i saw through sleepy eyes , seemed very clever

 

[Arch]

I loved it. I loved the rural idyll, and I loved the dark satanic mills - especially the molten metal effect of the ring forging. I giggled all the way through Mr Bean and Chariots of Fire, and was gobsmacked when the queen in the Bond film turned out to be The Queen!

I could have done without quite so much Dizzy Rascal, but then I'm an 80's girl music wise.

I loved the cauldron too. After all the hype about who was going to light it, I was a bit 'meh' about Sir Steve Redgrave - no disrespect to him, but it seemed a bit obvious. But once it was handed over to the youngsters, somehow the who stopped mattering and the why took over, which is how it should be.

Finally. Where can I get a set of those wings!?

 

[Night Train]

I wasn't that interested in the overall Olympics thing but the opening ceremony was excellent!

I thought the rising mill chimney with a 'Fred Dibner' hoisted up the side was a nice touch.

The rings/wings were fantastic.

 

[Doseone]

Absolutely loved it. The Pink Floyd and Fireworks was amazing, the cauldron was breathtaking.

We start our journey today to the greatest show on earth - Judo to see tomorrow, I just can't wait. Very very proud to be British.

 

[Stephenite]

I thought it was great too. Don't know what i was expecting, but i think this exceeded it.

My norwegian gf tho, thought it was OTT patriotic! Then went on to say the Lillehammer Olympics is widely reknowned as the best ever!!!

 

[Theseus]

We saw it for free at Cineworld at FountainPark

As the teams entered, cheers erupted from different areas.

 

[TVC]

Completely first class, loved it.

 

[Arch]

Does anyone know why the Czech athletes were wearing uniform wellies?