Paralympic Opening Ceremony

What a wonderful, colourful, and most of all poignant ceremony it was. It rivalled, and maybe you could say surpassed the other one. The highlight for me, amongst many, was the singing of the National Anthem by the deaf choir, to Benjamin Britton's arrangement, Must say it was stunning, had me blubbing quite a bit. Well done to all concerned, and the icing on the cake, was the lighting of the flame by the lady who won gold in 1948. Good luck to all our athletes, just hope the weather stays stable.

Re: Paralympic Opening Ceremony

I actually enjoyed it more than the other Olympic opening ceremony well done to all concerned...

Benjamin Britten's arrangement of the National Anthem...

Re: Paralympic Opening Ceremony

Agree with both!

That horrendous Danny Boyle Left Wing rubbish that started the proper Olympics was well enacted by the people who performed it, but the theme was appalling.

Re: Paralympic Opening Ceremony

I can't agree here I thought the farming theme and then going into the the Industrial Revolution was fantastic. However back to topic last night was really good as far as I watched it as 10.30pm is my bedtime and it was only halfway through the athletes parade so nothing to keep me awake I'm afraid. I'm sure the rest was really great though.

Re: Paralympic Opening Ceremony

It was a fantastic display and well worth staying till the end, the overrun was perhaps inevitable and everything else seems to have worked well.
The ovation for the Brits was staggering and the guy who came down the wire with the flame was something else.

A good viewing audience as well by all accounts, over 11 million watched it in the UK which compares favourably with the first London 2012 games, which is as it should be given that both events are 'proper'.

We have to accept that Channel four will run adverts on a regular basis throughout 500 hours of live coverage but there seemed to be some odd moments chosen last night to sell us stuff most don't want or need. I would have thought that the significance of the athletes from Greece arriving in the stadium might have dawned on someone but sadly no.

Sorry to the vast army of Jon Snow's fans but I thought his performance as anchor role was appalling, he seemed to be on a different planet to the rest of us. It was like he was reporting from a war zone than the opening of the games

The theme was one of 'enlightenment' but was it really a prerequisite for him to keep on lecturing us all about how war torn certain countries are as they entered the stadium ?. Likewise, Krishnan Guru-Murthy, he clearly had done little homework and could have told us much more about the athletes and their particular sports instead of waffling.
His Canadian co-commentator kept trying but gave up as he continually got shut out. Not a great fan of Ms Balding but she could do a good stint here along with Mr Edwards so lets hope for a great games.