True to the London Games' motto of 'Inspire a Generation', organisers put unknown youngsters in the global limelight rather than established sporting greats in the closing act of a madcap four hours of comedy, spectacle, noise and emotion. "I declare open the Games of London celebrating the 30th Olympiad of the modern era," said Queen Elizabeth, the 86-year-old monarch, followed by a fanfare and explosion of fireworks.

The ceremony on a cool, cloudy but dry London night kicks off 16 days of sporting thrills and spills up and down the country, as more than 16,000 athletes from 204 countries vie for the Holy Grail of sport - Olympic gold. Celebrating her 60th year on the throne this year, the monarch played a starring role in a ceremony which film director Danny Boyle turned into an unabashed celebration of the host nation stamped with an unmistakeably cinematic style.

Early on in the show, which ran well over time, Her Majesty appeared in a short, tongue-in-cheek film also starring Daniel Craig in his role as James Bond. Wearing his trademark tuxedo, 007 enters Buckingham Palace and the queen, with two corgis at her feet, turns from a writing desk and says simply: "Good evening, Mr Bond". The moment drew a huge cheer from the crowd, not used to seeing Her Majesty play such an informal part in proceedings, and coincided with a resurgence in the royal family's popularity following the 2011 wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. Doubles of Bond and the queen then parachuted from a helicopter above the stadium, built on the Olympic Park in a once derelict area of London's East End, before schoolchildren sang the national anthem and the Union flag was raised.

The quintessentially British flavour to the ceremony, accompanied by a stunning soundtrack of hits from Elgar to U2, caused plenty of confusion among international journalists struggling to describe it to readers back home. "It couldn't get any more British if it came drenched in tea," quipped the Hollywood Reporter movie magazine. But others from abroad warmed to Boyle's vision. "It really played to what Britain does best," said Sarah Clarke, a visitor from South Africa, as she left the stadium after the show. "It was a British ceremony but absolutely we felt included.

The ceremony, inspired by Shakespeare's "The Tempest", began with Britain's first Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins ringing a giant 23-tonne Olympic bell. Played out before world leaders, European royalty and dignitaries including US First Lady Michelle Obama, the show switched to the playful recreation of an English rural idyll with grassy meadows, fences, a water mill and maypoles. A cast including shepherdesses, sheep, geese, dogs and a village cricket team filled the stage during the one-hour prologue to the show that included a dramatic, low-level fly-past by the jets of the Royal Air Force's Red Arrows stunt team. After "England's green and pleasant land" came the "dark Satanic mills" of William Blake's famous poem.

Titled "Pandemonium", the next phase saw the grass uprooted and fences torn down to be replaced by a blackened landscape of looms and foundries that conjured the Industrial Revolution. To the deafening beat of hundreds of drummers, giant chimneys rose from the ground and began to belch smoke as a small army of volunteers, dressed as 19th century factory workers, forged one of the five Olympic rings. The giant orb was raised to the sky to join the four others, letting off a fountain of sparks and drawing gasps from many in the audience. All around, especially designed "pixel" light boxes installed next to every seat accompanied each scene and created giant images of waves, flags and words.

In the second of three "acts", Boyle paid homage to the National Health Service, an emotive subject in Britain where people hold the right to free health care close to their hearts. Hundreds of dancing and roller-skating nurses and doctors pushed beds on to the now empty stage and when the beds were illuminated, they spelled "GOSH" for the cherished Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London. "The atmosphere was electric coming out into the stadium - like we could take over the world with our beds!", said Rachel Dobbin, a speech and language therapist from London who performed as a nurse in the ceremony. Giant representations of famous villains from English literature, including JM Barrie's Captain Hook, JK Rowling's Voldemort and Ian Fleming's Childcatcher, rose from their beds. They were quickly vanquished by dozens of Mary Poppins characters descending from cables criss-crossing the stadium roof, carrying brightly illuminated umbrellas

Comedian Rowan Atkinson, adopting the globally recognised character of mischievous Mr Bean, brought the house down as he joined the London Symphony Orchestra playing a single note throughout the score of the Olympic film "Chariots of Fire". The final act, starring hundreds of young nightclubbing dancers, was a breathless journey through popular British culture over the last five decades featuring music from everyone from the Sex Pistols to Queen and the Jam to the Who. Sitting at a computer outside a small house on stage was Tim Berners-Lee, the Londoner who invented the worldwide web and enabled the explosion of social networking that is playing a major part at the London Games. Mid-ceremony he tweeted to his almost 83,000 followers "This is for everyone" which also projected across the spectators.

Next came the parade of athletes, with the Greek team keeping up Olympic tradition and leading out thousands of competitors dressed in colourful national costumes. They marched around the stadium in double-quick time, urged on by the up-tempo beats of the Bee Gees band and others. The world's fastest man Usain Bolt strode confidently with the Jamaican flag while playing up to cameras and cheering fans. Libya and Egypt represented a new chapter in their histories after the tumultuous events of the Arab Spring while the first ever female Olympic athletes from Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar made appearances. Britain, dressed in white and gold and hoping to repeat its medals success of Beijing in 2008, entered last to thunderous roars and the thumping strains of David Bowie's lyrics "We Can Be Heroes" as ticker tape floated down from the roof. Boxing's most famous fighter Muhammad Ali briefly appeared to hold the Olympic flag, looking frail, wearing dark glasses and leaning on his wife.

The Olympic torch, ending an 8,000-mile odyssey across the country, was driven in a speedboat up the River Thames by former England football captain David Beckham and handed to Britain's most successful Olympian Steve Redgrave. He then passed it on to seven youngsters - Callum Airlie, Jordan Duckitt, Desiree Henry, Katie Kirk, Cameron MacRitchie, Aidan Reynolds and Adelle Tracey - who performed a lap of honour before approaching the centre of the stage. Surrounded by thousands of athletes, they lit some of the 200-plus copper petals which rose on stalks to form a single burning "flower". Ex-Beatle Paul McCartney rounded off a night when music played non-stop, and at concerts across the capital, with a nostalgic sing-along of his old band's hit "Hey Jude".

I can only repeat what I posted on the other thread.

'It was totally rubbish. Impossible to follow, not at all inspiring, disconnected and generally joyless. Just boring. A complete waste of money. I ended up flicking away to other channels.

I got a bad feeling as soon as I saw the sheep in the fields. A huge disappointment and nothing comparable to the Athens and Peking opening ceremonies.

I did enjoy the fly past by the Red Arrows, especially as they flew past here afterwards. That bought all the neighbours out which was great.'

(Apologies for 'cutting and pasting'. LOL.)

I'll add that I enjoyed the torch lightening section with David Beckham racing down the Thames handing the Olympic torch to Steve Redgrave who then passed it on to seven youngsters representing other great British Olympians.

That was a nice touch.

:thumbsup:

More nice Pictures

















- Victoria , left side, first girl with long hair

Thanks Rose.

I've just been enjoying the mens' artistic gymnastics. Tke UK team did well.

:)

Thanks Rose! I think the girls'dresses were far superior to the GB Teams' outfits. They looked rather like what the bridesmaids wore to Kate Moss's wedding, if my memory serves me correctly!
I am worried by the fact that the Queen always looks so sad these days, as if she is in pain, and bearing it to the best of her ability. I've seen her twice drive by, as I was standing in the crowd, and the radiance of her smile was remarkable. I wonder what has happened? :(

I think the Queen does very well for her age. But she is very elderly and no doubt gets tired easily. This year has been extremely busy for her and, just like for anyone else, it's effects are showing.

I suspect that once the diamond jubilee year is completed the Queen will cut back on her duties and public appearances.

PS - She seemed to really enjoy taking part in the opening ceremony's James Bond's sketch with Daniel Craig.

Yeahhhh GB has a silver medal ...

Bronze for Rebecca - Yeahhhhh

Well done Rebecca, she seems like such a lovely girl too.

Well done Rebecca.

I loved her huge smile when being interviewed afterwards.

:thumbsup:

Excellent performance from Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins. They sec a new Olympic record in the women's double scull.They are favourites to win the final.

Fingers crossed.

Very hard luck to Tom Daley and Peter Waterfield. They started so well but the final dive defeated them.

I'm not sure the screaming crowd helps. Ok, I'm all for cheers during the introductions but then I feel it should stop.

Well done to the gymnastics team for getting a bronze, it's been nearly 100 years since we won anything in the gymnastics so it's a great result.

Very bad luck to Tom Daley & Peter Waterfield, let's hope one of even both of them succeed in the individual diving. Tom is only a young lad and I'm sure his time will come.

such a pity about the one dive.... :(

Just watched a repeat of the mens' artistic gymnastics. Well done to them for the bronze.

:)

Tom Daley Twitter abuse: Police arrest boy in Weymouth

A teenager has been arrested by police investigating abuse of Team GB diver Tom Daley on Twitter.

After coming fourth in the men's synchronised 10m platform diving event on Monday, the 18-year-old received a message telling him he had let down his father ...

Full piece, BBC News, 31/07/12.

:angry:

Poor Tom. He did his father and the UK proud.

I'm just shocked at what some people think they can get away with on the internet.

What a thoughtless idiot. :angry: He did apologise afterwards though, so I suppose that is something, but the damage was done. :(

Even worse there are many on twitter who think he did nothing wrong and has a right to free speech.
That BBC article does not tell the full story I'm afraid, the lad also said he want to stab Tom Daley amongst other things, not very nice at all.
It was really horrible to read, remember Tom is only 18 and has only recently lost his father to a brain tumor, I'm sure his dad would be very proud of him with the way he performed yesterday and rightly so.

Well done to the equestrian team for their silver.

What's this I heard about badminton and teams trying to lose on purpose? They should be disqualified as it totally goes against the spirit of the games.

Olympic female badminton players face charges

Fans jeered as the women's doubles match between China's Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na ended in controversy.

The Badminton World Federation has charged eight female Olympic doubles players with "not using one's best efforts to win a match".

Four pairs of players - two from South Korea, one from China and one from Indonesia - could be disciplined ...

... China's Yu Yang and Wang Xiaoli and South Koreans Jung Kyung-eun and Kim Ha-na are among those facing charges.

The longest rally in their game lasted four shots, with match referee Thorsten Berg coming on to court at one point to warn the players. The players also appeared to deliberately serve into the net and hit the shuttlecock out of the court.

Both pairs were already through to the quarter-finals. Reports have suggested they both wanted to lose to secure an easier draw.

The unseeded South Koreans eventually won their match, meaning they would next play China's Tian Qing and Zhao Yunlei.

The South Korean pair did not comment, but Yu said she and Wang were saving energy for the knockout stages ...

Full article, BBC News, 01/08/12.

:angry:

Just saw some of their 'play' on the BBC morning news. It's pure and simple match fixing.Their conduct was outrageous. They should all be disqualified.

i'm very glad they arrested this idiot. It is no good saying he needs help because he is hyperactive. He needs to know that his actions have consequences. :angry: Especially as he said he would drown Tom later on :angry: :angry:

yaaaay :D :D :D
the rowing girls Heather and Helen did us proud! :D :D :D

a gold medal at last!!

Congratulations to them.

And congratulations to cyclist Bradley Wiggins who won gold today in the time trial.

Our second gold of 2012 but Bradley's 7th Olympic gold.

:)

Great day for team GB today, the 2 brilliant golds + bronze for Chris Froome in the cycling then this evening Michael Jamieson won silver in the breaststroke.

Bradley actually has 7 medals, 4 golds 1 silver and 2 bronze, at the moment Sir Steve Redgrave still holds the record for most golds with 5 but that will probably be beaten sometime (Chris Hoy on tomorrow!)

Pleased to see that those 8 badminton players that we were discussing yesterday have all been disqualified. Serves them right. There conduct was a disgrace. Silly people.

9 medals in total up to today - well done one and all and keep them coming ..

Congrats to the gold winners!!! :D

3 gold and 3 silvers won today. Well done to all of them. Tower Bridge will have its gold lights on again tonight.

:thumbsup:

Great news re gold medal tally but costing me a few penny's = My sister in Austrlia collects stamps and I add to my mum's collection ( not that anyone at present does them ) and every time UK win a gold a new stamp comes out and you have to buy the strip of 6 = £3.60 at time , so today £10. 80 gone out of purse .. Im now hoping they only win a few more --- JOKE ...

In the towns/villages where the medal winners live they also paint one letter box gold .. Good idea ..

And well done to Gemma Gibbons who won a silver medal in the judo late last night.

I saw an interview with her this morning on the BBC and she is lovely.

:thumbsup:

Another Gold today - so far in the rowing ..

I'm really into that sport now ..

... and 2 more gold in the men's team pursuit and the women's keiren.

They are flowing in, one after another, after another.

:)

:fruitloop:

:D

Ouch, it's going to cost you a small fortune.

Are the stamps available straight away?

:)

Andy Murray through to the final, get in there! :D

Congratulations to Rebecca Adlington on her 800m swimming bronze. Lovely young woman.

Uk start today in 4th place on the medals table.

:thumbsup:

Morning..

Re stamps Eddy, yes they are available the day after they are won ... The post offices are even open on a Sunday for 2 hours to pick up Saturdays wining gold medal stamps .. They are nice with photo of the winner/s doing their sport ... Another 3 to pick up today for yesterdays wins.

George off home today but still have kyle here and his brother ( 7y ) is coming tomorrow night for two days ..

Boy did it rain in the night - noise woke me up ..

Have a good weekend ..

What an amazing evening, literally a golden hour for team GB, 3 golds earlier in the day too and Andy Murray in another final :D

It's all been so exciting. Well done to them all.

:)