The London Games Opening Ceremony has been hailed as a “whimsical, riotous and very British” triumph by viewers from around the world, who heaped praise on Artistic Dir Danny Boyle’s tribute to Britain, according to Tedmanson & Karim of the LONDON TIMES. A billion people are “estimated to have tuned in” to the three-and-a-half-hour show. The Opening Ceremony “appeared to be an instant hit with many.” Its “British sense of humour and vibrant soundtrack” were celebrated by viewers from other countries who “flooded social media sites” such as Twitter and Facebook with praise over the Ceremony. Queen Elizabeth’s cameo appearance was “a particular highlight for the non-British audience” (LONDON TIMES, 7/28). In London, Matthew Engel wrote that the Opening Ceremony produced entertainment of “unprecedented ingenuity and wit,” which was also “a match visually” for the ’08 Beijing Opening Ceremony. However, Boyle “understandably got carried away.” Well, “who wouldn’t be?” There was “a stadium to command, a vast and not inflexible budget, and an expected global audience of a billion.” Future Olympics need to find “a less ambitious and less punishing way to start than this.” That said, “it was a sensational evening” (FINANCIAL TIMES, 7/28). Also in London, Gillespie, Ungoed-Thomas & Mansey wrote that the Opening Ceremony “had everything: thunderous music, dancing beds, cycling doves and a first-time actress who stole the show.” The public “had been promised magical moments,” and they got them “by the bucketload.” The “outstanding one” came when the Queen appeared in her first acting role and uttered the immortal words, “Good evening, Mr. Bond,” to Daniel Craig in a scene filmed at Buckingham Palace. Gillespie, Ungoed-Thomas & Mansey opined: “Did his gamble pay off? The simple answer is yes. London really had done it” (SUNDAY TIMES, 7/29). In London, Tristram Hunt wrote that Britain “ebbed and flowed, succeeded and failed in equal measures, but offered an attractively contradictory, complicated, and above all creative conception of these Isles of Wonder” (GUARDIAN, 7/28). In Toronto, Reguly & Waldie wrote that “the message wasn’t just that Brits are an odd folk; it was that Britain’s past is more important than its future.” They continued, “But what a past! Your country should be so lucky.” The Ceremony began with “a flat start,” but had “a lovely texture and momentum, not too fast, not too slow, dazzling in parts, never overwhelming, always anchored by the best British music and the best-known names in literature and culture” (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/27).
