I never thought I’d write anything at all in praise of beach volleyball. But the very idea of holding that Ur-beach-bum event in the stuffily hallowed sanctum of London’s Horse Guards’ Parade, just round the corner from Bucky Palace, was terrific.
Such deliciously nutty brilliance was totally lost, of course, on the commentators at NBC, the network currently holding the whole of the United States hostage to its primitive Flag-Waving-for-Idiots take on the Olympics. Samuel Johnson, please return from the grave: patriotism as the last refuge of scoundrels indeed.
NBC’s so-called newscasters only seem aware that there might be one or two non-American athletes in London when one of them threatens to deprive an American of gold. And of course they were totally stymied by the opening ceremony. They’d been expecting all the usual pomp and circumstance. They were well primed on all the stock kitsch images of Englishness. But kids on giant hospital beds? Dozens of Mary Poppinses? Suffragettes? Dark Satanic mills? “William who…? Blake? A poet?”
The London Olympics has slyly subverted the Chinese big-state staging of 2008 (an uncanny reminder of the 1936 Berlin Olympics). From the little I’ve seen (I’d have seen more except that would only lead to my posting madly to #NBCfail on Twitter), there’s a lovely tongue-in-cheekness to it all. And a real celebration not of nationalism, but of athleticism, no matter who wins.
No wonder those couch potatoes at NBC don’t get it.
Hi there AT,
We didn’t see the NBC bits, but some amusing comments about it have turned up in the UK media to great amusement. It seems that the NBC team had not done enough research on what was what.
We saw the last Tech rehearsal of the opening ceremony and it was just good fun with lots of British references. Cynics were entranced. Oh the bloke in the Top hat with whiskers was Isambard Kingdom Brunel the great engineer, somebody tell NBC please. Each Tech rehearsal was just a part of the whole. To me what was magic was the Technical transformation from the 18th or early 19th century pastoral scene, fields, sheep, two cattle, two goats, geese, and cart house and cart to the Dark Satanic Mills of Blake’s Jerusalem poem / song we learnt as kids and that has become an unofficial anthem of sorts. The dark satanics were represented by the giant chimneys, smoke, metal founding and people as drudges. Later came more modern references. The sheer technical graft and genius to work the transformation was breathtaking.
I didn’t see the Opening Ceremony on TV but those who did see the whole who I spoke to were very taken by the whole thing.
Friends of ours who took park in the Heath Service (NHS) part of the Ceremony with moving lit up beds, patients with dancing nurses and doctors were high on the experience which came off very well after many months of practice. To us this part was a celebration of our NHS as well as a splendid spectacle.
Now for the Closing ceremony.
best wishes
Huw Price
On re reading that Cart house, should of course be a cart horse.
Huw Price
Yup, in the US, where health care for all is branded as socialized medicine (Reds not just under the bed but in it!), celebrating the National Health Service totally stumped NBC.
I loved those super-cool doctors and nurses, watching closely to see if Rosie was among them. Great that friends of hers were.
As always, Darling. SPOT ON!
well, maybe
the dark satanic mills was fabulous, the nhs too long, although yes it is
always to be honoured….
and what happened to Shakespeare and Dickens
and please give us a break from paul mcCartney.
summing it up, the beginning was brilliant, the end not so good.