I've never seen any of the previous opening ceremonies, but I thought this was great.It avoided the cliches of Henry VIII, etc and at times seemed to be a dramatisation of "The Making Of The English Working Class". The music I thought really effective was Evelyn Glennie and her 1000 drummers - must have been really powerful live.The whole thing seemed very english ( in spite of the n.irish,welsh and scottish contributions) and I thought they achieved a good balance between the acceptable face of patriotism and good humour.
I quite like these sporting spectaculars ( as long as its not f..ing football) because I've recently taken up the cello and I know I'll progress in leaps and bounds over the next few weeks.I always play while such things are on - The Tour de France is always good in this repect - hours of it every day.There's six hours of cycling today - what's not to like?!