Tomorrows front pages

Loving it so far.

me to

Pity Sir Steve didn't get to light it himself.

I think the 'Beacon of petals' is an absolutely brilliant idea. One flame for every nation, all together forming the beacon. It's genius. I'm staggered we're the first ones to think of it.

As to who lit the flame, it may not be the 'hollywood' answer, but it's consistent with the theme they've run with since the bid started. The ethos of these games since the beginning has been to inspire the coming generation. How better to symbolise that than to have the best of the older generation 'hand the flame on' to what we hope will be the best of the next? It's not tabloid headline friendly but again it's thoughtful, intelligent and, most of all, a complete surprise.

McCartney though... ugh, what a buzzkill. Did he really think it was a good idea to start his set off with the last few bars of a song? Really?

Ah well, nothing's perfect.

Well said Jon

Danny Boyle is the best UK director, even better than Ridley Scott, so it's no surprise.

Actually, I thought it was a nice touch that he passed it onto the kids. And actually, when you talk to him, that's one of his passions (young athletes). So fair play. I'm just glad it wasn't Beckham. I would've been disappointed at that.

I wouldn't have minded if it had been Redgrave, or say Mary Peters or another past Olympian. I'd kind of have been a bit grumpy if it had been Beckham because he really isn't associated with the Olympics other than doing a bit of schmoozing at the bid conference. Obviously given his world-wide profile he had to take some part in it but I think they did that just about right. It was either going to be 'somebody famous' or it was going to be 'something/someone symbolic'. They went for the latter. Their choice and they pulled it off well. Fair enough.

I thought it was a pretty great show overall. I thought the 'don't we do pop music well' bit perhaps went on a bit too long and the 'Arctic Monkeys/blokes on bicycles with wings' segment was pretty superfluous (and incomprehensible) but in the main the big set-pieces all came off pretty well. We got a couple of genuinely iconic images, we got some fantastic music - you don't often get Elgar and The Prodigy on the same bill do you? - and we got possibly the biggest 'Did that just happen? Did I just actually see that? You just saw that too, right?' moment I've had in a good few years. But never again with Trevor Nelson, please....

By the way, if you have a moment, google the name 'Aiden Burley', see what he said, see what the reaction was and (although I suspect it's now been rolled back) see what someone did to his Wikipedia profile. Second biggest laugh of the night and, again, quintessentially British.

Small 'claim to fame' declaration : I went to the same school as Danny Boyle. Quite a few years after he did though.

Jon

An excellent gig all round with just two poor bits IMO:
1) Paul McCartney's voice just doesn't cut it anymore. I said the same thing at the jubilee too.
2) That smug irritating bitch from Liberty carrying the olympic flag. She just does my head in.

Shami?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shami_Chakrabarti

Didn't see it myself, but I've started to mellow towards her as the years have gone by. I just wish people like the Met wouldn't keep proving her right

I watched all of it and on the whole was very impressed. It was always going to be impossible to match the Chinese but I think that the show we put on was more than worthy. I rather suspect (and hope) that it has cemented Danny Boyle's knighthood in the next honours list.

The seven young athletes lighting the flame was a touch of genius and the beacon itself I found amazing as the petals all rose to form the olympic torch. I've seen a fair few of these over the years and this was by far the most dramatic and elegant.

I wish the Queen had looked and sounded a little less grumpy than she appeared to be on the night. Yes, she was a good sport taking part in the Bond spoof but she could have smiled as she took her seat in the stadium.

Finally, as someone else here has already mentioned, it really is time that Macca saw what so many others surely can't help but see and finally start declining invitations to "perform" at these events. I'm not a critic as such... I just don't want to see a great musician becoming a figure if ridicule. Oh.... and what the hell happened at the start of Hey Jude ??? I recorded the whole thing and haven't watched any of it again yet but I think his band started the song about 4 bars before Macca did !

Humax problem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-19015855

+1 on both counts.

Don't forget that there's talk of the Spice Girls reforming to play at the closing ceremony, so the depths haven't been fully plumbed yet! Still, we do have those rooftop missiles.

will they be collectable in a few years?