The problem with Hey Jude was it sounded like no one else joined in.

I think that although the show was not 100% my cup of tea, it appears to have been very well received by world wide media. Which after the spectacular Beijing opening ceremony, London 21012 had a hard act to follow and appears to have been measured well against 2008.

hey jude is a good uplifting song, although yeah he did that at the superbowl years back and it was a bit sheeet on reflection back then but they may have been because I was watching the superbowl which is sheeet...things you do to sleep with americans.....

The event wasn't a history lesson about the UK but a camp and fun spectacle of Britishness featuring Mr Bean...Trying to convey GB as guys who sort out "African tribes fighting each other" would have been the height of idiotic crassness.
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I didnt say it was a history lesson.

As I have already said it was an abstract and theatrical respresentation of britain's development, culminating in its modern culture.

It was done in chronological order with references to pre industrial times onwards except for the period 1800-1950. it was a glaring omission.

You asked me how you could do it, and ive explained to you how it could have been done.

it wouldnt not have been idiotic, because it is factually and historicaly accurate. i have already acknowledged that it could have been regarded as insensitive, however all other recent opening ceromonies have (i think) done a pieace about how great the host country is and what it has achieved. britain has achieved more than any of these countries, and yet we didnt show it. in the context though of other opening ceremonies and britain's unparaleled historical achievements, to have done so would not have been either idiotic or crass.

Bob

He was just a bit cringy with his performance. Overdid the singing. I think people are just a bit bored of seeing him finish big British events off. It's become a cliche. 'Na' is exactly what the makers should have said when asked if Macca should close the ceremony.

oh god. redgrave's blaady presenting now

daley

Weare - Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Maybe I'm too young understand some of the older British culture.

Of course they had to be selective with history and it was quite right that they concentrated on the positives.

A re-written version of Fat Les's Vindaloo would have been a good closing song

should have had oasis on i reckon.

spurtle...

Should have ended with Comfortably Numb

"We're gonna win mor golds than you!!!" GB!!!
Great Britian Great Britian !

JPB.. did you want daley commentating on the rowing ...

What about Status Quo with 'Rocking all over the World"?

Of course they had to be selective with history and it was quite right that they concentrated on the positives.
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hopefully a day will come when everyone is able to put the empire into perspective, and again acknowledge what an incredible achievement it was, and recognise the role it played in developing the countries which were lucky enough to benefit from british participation.


phelps in the pool

it would do to the many people who sadly dont know anything about british history.
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I think your list of what you would have done makes you one of them. (specially the bit about SA and fighting 'tribes'

They obviously asked the wrong bloke to Art Direct last nites ceremony. Should have been JPB

Quo would have been a bit Live Aid "all right mate not arf" "Do alota good work for charity don't like to talk abowt it"

it's true about south africa. the dutch invited the brits in because they were battling with local tribes. britain sided with the tribes and also aboloshed slavery, which is why they fell out with the dutch and the dutch relocated to the north. arguably one of the brit's biggest mistakes was their subsequent aggressive search for mineral resrouces in the transvaal, but this happened later.

JPB, I stand by my comment about it being crass. We could have even got some of the Arfican countries to read out letters of thanks. Or Michael Cain doing an iconic scene from Zulu.

I think Emperial propaganda is best served via a JPB production on youtube.

JPB . i agree with you that a lot of good things come from the British empire , but last night was not the time to celebrate it

Did you watch the series with Jerermy Paxmen on the Empire ... fantastic stuff

JPB you really like debating don't you?

and if you dont think that african tribes were fighting one another, and that this was largely stopped under british rule, then you dont know anything about africa either

I suppose the good thing about Macca is most people on the planet know who he is. The reaction to Quo and others from a lot of people would be "Who the hell are they?"

Michael Cain doing an iconic scene from Zulu.





That would of gone down well