So, I think I have just about recovered myself from last nights Olympic Opening Ceremony, it was a late one......as I watched the ceremony in the jam packed Big Top Circus tent at Camp Bestival.
I guess the critics are divided by this one and no one can really put their finger on why. For me, I thought Danny Boy, sorry Boyle, hit the nail on the head. His brilliantly choreographed ceremony was a fantastic show of light, sound and above all Britishness. Deliciously British in fact. Ok, so it lacked the numbers and sheer presence of the Chinese efforts in Beijing, but they were all on pain of death if they cocked up, whereas the thousands of volunteers that laughed, danced, drummed, glowered, leaped, sang and celebrated their was through the later history of Britain summed up our great nation; we may not always get it exactly right, but we are not afraid of trying. Who would have thought that a celebration of 'The Isles of Wonder' would include belching smoke chimneys and the NHS.....but it worked, more than that, it really worked and I think Boyle highlighted the real defining moments of our history. (Take heed Mr Cameron the NHS is one of our nation's greatest assets - let's preserve it not destroy it)
Without the Industrial revolution we would not have had an Empire so great, without the industrial revolution Britain would never have led the world in industry, ship building, commerce and banking. So nice one Danny.
The surprise highlight, of course, was Bond. The crowd in the Big Top at Camp Bestival roared with delight when her majesty herself turned around and greeted the pouting Daniel Craig as the iconic Mr James Bond.
The other thing that struck me about last night was just how important Britain has been to the music industry around the world. The sounds of the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and the new millennium have all, arguably, been defined by British bands and I for one will be buying the opening ceremony soundtrack!
A slight crack when they wheeled out the ex-Beatle, in the form of Sir Paul McCartney. Time for him to hang up his voice I humbly suggest as he properly failed to hit a number of the notes from his own songs (as he also failed to do during the Jubilee Concert, not so long ago). How about giving Sir Elton a chance instead? He has a number 1 album out right now and would have got the crowd going much better than a flat rendition of 'Hey Jude'!
Danny Boyle is a grass roots genius and he created a ceremony that touched the hearts and minds of our multi-cultural class layered nation perhaps only 20% of the world 'got it' but all of Britain regaled across Facebook and Twitter and declared themselves 'Proud to British'.
For me, I experienced was a delightfully quant, quirky and quality show. Now is the time to celebrate the sport and shout for our Team GB Athletes. Here's hoping we do well as a nation, at least I am sure all our athletes, like Danny Boyle, will give it a damn good try.
As we all know, if you never try, you never understand succeed. For those who never try, there can be only failure. Go Team GB!