Opening Ceremony

Wel, I loved it . . . bonkers, mad and very British. Just such a shame that Macca had to do his na na na naaaaaaaaaaaaaa yet AGAIN. Pipe and slippers time for him methinks. Very, very pleased with who lit the cauldron - and how - rather stunning and different.

Looking forward to the sport now :).

P
 
It was wonderful! The forging of the olympic rings was stunning.

The bird men at the end.....one of them 'flew' away on his bike. Where to?

The cauldron is stunning, but I hope they move it, because there will be some singed javelins next week.

HM is a real sport. I was sure it was going to be an impersonator but when she turned around..... Nice walk through of the Palace as well.

Glad I didn't have to hold those grey Heavies, pulling the tram. One of them looked a tad upset.

Sorry, but Paul M's performance at the jubilee concert should have flagged up some warning signs to the organisers. Should have finished at the fireworks.

Thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing.
 
Well, I really enjoyed it although have to agree that Paul M struggled (I've never been a fan of his singing). Loved the Queen and James Bond - was squealing like a kid when she turned round and it wasn't an impersonator.

Fir those that said it was confusing I remember the Beijing ceremony when the commentators had to explain what was going on as it was to do with China's history.
 
Well maybe we had too much to drink but we just laughed all the way through, took the p**s out of the countries we didn't know - but really trying to follow the history theme - I am sure there were many, many people who had no idea where he was coming from - ok they put on a spectacle, lots of fireworks and sparkle, but those 2 old men,we all said McArtney needs to go out to grass, hang up his wig and extensions, and poor Ali , well, did he even know what was going on? The shires needed a bit more acp!
 
Well maybe we had too much to drink but we just laughed all the way through, took the p**s out of the countries we didn't know - but really trying to follow the history theme - I am sure there were many, many people who had no idea where he was coming from - ok they put on a spectacle, lots of fireworks and sparkle, but those 2 old men,we all said McArtney needs to go out to grass, hang up his wig and extensions, and poor Ali , well, did he even know what was going on? The shires needed a bit more acp!

I drive and was watching that OS grey shire thinking oh no oh no.
It was very funny so non Olympic .
 
Yes Goldenstar, so non-Olympic. Do you think that's what he intended? It was more like 'The History of England in a capsule'!
 
We thought it was great.

As others have said a reminder to all of us just how great a nation we really are and what we have given to the world and how proud we should be. An ecclectic mix as that is what we are as a country now, the industrial revolution, shakespeare, music, James Bond and bet not many people round the world know the WWW was created by a British person and given away for the whole world to use

Thought the humour was fab so unusual in the normally very boring opening ceremonies

Will everyone around the world get it probably not as some posters on here have not but will serve to show the world why we are called GREAT Britain and just why we as a small island have had had such an a large impact on "Everyone"
 
Loved Mr Bean, the Queen parachuting and the cauldren lighting. I also thought the scotish lady singer was excellent, pity McCartney can't sing even 1% as well
 
Loved Mr Bean, the Queen parachuting and the cauldren lighting. I also thought the scotish lady singer was excellent, pity McCartney can't sing even 1% as well

Ditto this; the rest of the ceremony was total cr@p; knew it would be rubbish if GB was doing it - but it surpassed my wildest dread basically. AWFUL!
 
Yes Goldenstar, so non-Olympic. Do you think that's what he intended? It was more like 'The History of England in a capsule'!

Um, which would be the point, yes? To welcome the world to the history and the culture of the host country.
 
Seriously dissapointed with the ceremony except for the Dove cycles, the lighting of the flame - that is an awesome piece of mechanics - and Mr Bean.

Watching the Eventing Dressage live in New Zealand - have declared that I will be nocturnal for the next 16 days! I have my alarm clock set to go off hourly - just in case I fall asleep - not planning to miss anything

Currently judges teabreak time!
 
Um, which would be the point, yes? To welcome the world to the history and the culture of the host country.

I thought so I liked it so much more than the much lauded offering fron Beijing .
It did show case our humour well and ability to laugh at our selves .
I was laughing out loud after Kenneth Brannagh dresses as Brunel did that Caliban speech from the Tempest ( one of my favourites ) which in the play is so poignant and sad it was just really really happy funny and human.
 
The opening ceromony is all about the history of the host country and where they've come from to where they are today in order to be able to host the Olmpics. I guess that those who are complaining about how boring they think/ thought it was have no knowledge of our great british history!

I thought it was fabulous and loved all the quirky humour. lets hope our athletes show the world what a great nation we are too. Go team GB. I'm sure you'll do us proud :-)
 
Well, I have to say I LOVED it.

Yes, it was a bit random at times but still, it was brilliant. It made me love this country even more! You guys are awesome :cool:

The only thing that ruined it for me was Paul McCartney (so you call him Macca?). After such spectacular show of fireworks why did they have to bring the show down with such a pitiful performance? Sir Paul is an old lady with no voice left and should have participated in the Opening Ceremony...by being in the audience. No more.

The rest was amazing and even emotional at times. :)
 
Must admit we nearly turned off after first 10 mins but stuck with it and enjoyed it. I do think that watching on the tv didnt give the impression as seeing it live on the large scale as you couldnt see all the things going on. Hope most people had a programme which would explain what was going on. The NHS bit went on too long and was embarrassing, so was Macca. After the Jubilee concert it was obvious his voice had gone.
Thought the cauldron was beautiful. The Queen has my vote, what a trooper!
 
Watched in disbelief as £27million spent on overblown tosh.
A history of UK? Bonkers . Baffling. I K Brunel reciting Shakespeare? Celebration of the NHS? Voldemort as a balloon thing? And rubbish choices of UK music for the modern bit. Gave up when the athletes began their hours long march .
Would have been a 100x cheaper to put on a grand military tatoo thing - lots of horses from Kings Troop etc , would have been better.[ seeing as we need troops as security anyway!] #
But thanks H&H forum for knowing how to find live eventing dressage - never would have done so without kind forum posters.
 
Anyone else think it was leftie multi-cultural crap?

£27 million? The share bonuses of eight Barclays bosses (allegedly) - chickenfeed.
 
I nearly switched off with embarassment at the beginning, but stuck with it and admired all the special effects. The forging of the rings was really good. It was a great spectacle, but like a lot of these things, I thought it went on too long. Overall, the lad did a good job, and most people seem to think it was great, so I will go along with the majority.
 
Loved it all - Except bleeding Paul McCartney at the end - why can't he retire???

I think some of the problem with understanding the "plot" of the Ceremony was that Danny Boyle had to cut 1.5 hour out of it, and just stick with the set pieces we saw, if we had seen it all, then I think it would have probably made sense.

My favourite bit was the Queen and James Bond - GO YOUR MAJ!!!!! Loved Her!
 
Ok - the poor old Beatle was bad - but they were/are very iconic - so I almost didn't mind that he can't sing any more!
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought the whole thing was a bit odd. I was starting to think I was being unpatriotic by not liking it.

The lighting of the cauldron was the best bit. It was beautiful.

I really didn't understand what was going on half of the time. I thought the nurses dancing around was a bit creepy - especially with a giant baby head in the middle and the social media bit was a bit weird.

Great music apart Paul McCartney. I've never been a fan of his though. Or his daughter. Aparently she designed the good awful chavvy white and gold tracksuits Team GB wore for the parade.

One question though, why does the queen never smile? She was a picture of misery the whole way through.
 
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