The low point had to be those awful never-been 'spice girls' riding on taxis. Other than that, it was just dull and embarassing, apart from the last three minutes (BBC) which could have sufficed for the whole bloody effort.
I have been following track and field since the mid 70s and I would opine that Mo Farah's 5000 is one for the books. Seldom have I seen such intensity on the track....well, that is of course until the next race of course!
My much better half was an elite diver and she said Tom Daley deserved the silver. Bit technical on the reasons but if she said it then he deserved it.
Plus the men's 800 meter final. Really high calibre sport these last two weeks. Really good stuff.
Great to see Brian May can still bring it. Nothing terribly exciting elsewhere.
Seems a little harsh on the Paralympians to extinguish the flame before their games, a convention in there somewhere that must be adhered to, I suppose.
The low point had to be those awful never-been 'spice girls' riding on taxis. Other than that, it was just dull and embarassing, apart from the last three minutes (BBC) which could have sufficed for the whole bloody effort.
Why'd you watch it? Just to criticise? Spice Girls- never liked them. But they were the biggest british girly band by a country mile. They were never, 'never-been'.
Watching the closing on the time delay but I am getting a very bad feeling that Jimmy Page is not going to be on the stage...instead Annie Lennox aboard some most un-seaworthy ship. How can they not have Page? Are they also going to start erasing Horatio Nelson from the history books as well? No Bannister, no Page? Granted he was at the closing in Beijing but is he not the first among equals among the musicians?
Last edited by Uncle Fred; 13th Aug 2012 at 02:28.
Indeed Wiggy. I am sure that you well remember the great runs of days past and would agree that Farah's trot was worthy of admission to the Pantheon. One almost has to step back to Virren's running to draw an equal at that distance. Of course Coe, Cram, Ovett et al did the same at the 1500 and 800. Absolutely brilliant.
Last edited by Uncle Fred; 13th Aug 2012 at 02:35.
BTW I'm still trying to find the context of Tom McKean's quote (and I paraphase) about the fact that on a run to the line he looked up the inside and saw that "little **** Coe" ).... somethings never change I guess, but these were a good games ...........
Well it confirms the rumours that the 30th Olympiad were NOT drug free!
Amy Winehouse & references to "Trainspotting" in the Opening Ceremony & George Michael and Russell Brand in the Closing Ceremony - to name but a few!
Do Glaxo-Smithkline have to keep their samples for xx years too?
But all-in-all a Bloody good effort by Danny Boyle to portray English-ness across the world. (I suspect an honour will be forth-coming (as well as an elevation to Lord Coe - if possible)) What a playlist.........(of merit): Jerusalem Danny Boy Flower Of Scotland Bread Of Heaven Chelsea Pensioners Grimethorpe Colliery Band James Bond & the New Bond Girl (what a coup) The Dambusters March NHS & GOSH KAOS Mike Oldfield Simon Rattle The Beatles (as a group & solos) The Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin Sex Pistols (albeit if they were censored at the Silver Jubilee) The Prodigy John Lennon (wish we could have seen more of the mask) The Kinks Madness Queen Bowie the models (I thought their trailers would stand up on end) The Pink Floyd (& Ed Sheeran) Fat Boy Slim (I wished the Octopus had turned into more Beatles) Jessie J (I wish I was that body stocking - Tinie Tampah's driver can't reverse in a straight line to save his life!!!) The Bee Gees ELO
& Human Cannon Eric Idle LPO LSO Take That Spice Girls The Who
& Tim Berners-Lee
(although I would have like to have seen (remaining) Queen perform their traditional finale trio of WWRU/WATC&GSTQ for the Closing Ceremony)
Can anyone think of anything DB missed out?????? X Double-Decker buses (can't find cross-out font) X Black London Taxis X Chicken Tikka Masala (See Eric Idle) X Union Jack X Royalty X Musical Exports X Movie Exports X Industrial Age X 1914-1918 War X 1939-1945 War X Welfare State X Iraq & Afghan Conflicts X Human Cannon more Monty Python Laurel & Hardy Chaplin Fish & Chips (& other regional delicacies - but how would you have done it?) 2011 Riots (hardly worth advertising on a global stage) Def Leppard (given the recent release of Rock Of Ages) Ozzy Osbourne (given his global reality series)
I think it was just a shame that a few front-members of certain bands couldn't be there for the show Dave Gilmour & Roger Waters Liam Gallagher Roger Daltrey (earlier) Paul McCartney (earlier & later) & Ringo Starr Stones Led Zep Bowie Queen (at start/end of ceremony) Barry Gibb (Closing Ceremony) - apologies if I'm too premature etc Evelyn Glennie (closing)
But I DID wonder about the Anthrax Attack on Eric Idle(???) but he did get a 4-letter word into the ceremony. Thought he might have made more of the fat lady singing!
But ultimately (FAO Lord Coe): Lots of cheer for the Volunteers, but None Whatsoever for the NON-VOLUNTEERS (i.e. Military) Most called at VERY short notice to fullfil YOUR (LOCOG) shortfalll Other than "The people who stood guard to keep us safe" So you lumped us in with the people who volunteered for G4S on minimum wage and failed to turn up!!!! Thanks for that!!!!
I was not one - I was on PODL but was almost called back to work pre-PODL because of Op Olympic
But my favourite moment: Opening Ceremony The Parade of nations Britain has conquered!
My Least favourite moment: Closing Ceremony Jessie J doing in 3 minutes what the IRA Failed to do in over 50 years... Murder Queen!
And in 2 weeks we have changed the world's impression of GB... They used to think we were good at music and sh1t at sport
Last edited by unclenelli; 13th Aug 2012 at 22:41.
Good heavens Wiggy. He ran that with no one setting him up? From that clip it looks as if he was alone for at least the last 1000 meters and perhaps more. That was simply will and determination.
They were trying to squeeze in too much into the closing ceremony/show. Hard to see a real "theme", other than a hodge-podge of music thrown together.
At least the gents' toilets would have been safe around Stratford Park whilst George Michael was on stage. Why have Kate Moss on display (she didn't even get to show off her iconic snorting of a line of coke)? And why was Naomi Campbell not in one of the more violent Olympic events as a participant?
What happened to performers like Amy MacDonald and Adele?
I read that HM the Queen was to be present at the closing ceremony and indeed the speeches started with "Your Majesty" as though they expected her to be there.
We were told that Prince Harry was there to represent her, but surely he is not entitled to the "Your Majesty" form of address, only "Your Royal Highness". Do you think HM had seen the list of performers and decided to watch it at home, with the corgis and a volume control? I was wondering all evening if we were going to get another Bond type entrance, as at the opening, which was just fantastic and showed her terrific sense of humour!
Not a great start to the closing ceremony: Some woman singing in an unintelligible Deep South accent*, a bad impersonation of Churchill (also unintelligible) and Elgar's Salut d'amour drowned out by tin bashing.
Lowlights of the evening: Russell Brand and others demonstrating to the athletes that you CAN be a druggy and succeed.
Nevertheless a GREAT staging of the Games - phew! Congratulations to ALL involved from the top down and SHAME on the journalists and politicians who attempted to make capital of decrying them before they started.
*Wonder if the next US ceremony will have someone singing in a broad Glasgow accent?
Russell Brand and others demonstrating to the athletes that you CAN be a druggy and succeed
First post-Olympic disqualification has already happened. Nadezhda Ostaptchuk, the shot-putter from Belarus, has been stripped of her gold medal following testing for illegal drugs.
).... somethings never change I guess, but these were a good games ...........
and others demonstrating to the athletes that you CAN be a druggy and succeed.
