London's up next

"As the song nears its conclusion, former England captain Beckham will appear on another lift...and will kick a football into the crowd of athletes, sparking a live link-up to the handover party outside Buckingham Palace"


Well, there are only 4 years to go now until London hosts the Olympic games. It's been quite a show out in China, and we could never hope to compete on that scale. However, having spent several hours yesterday on the mall outside Buckingham palace, I must say I have new faith that Britain can pull off a pretty fantastic games.

They're setting up there for the big handover party on Sunday, involving the Feeling (!), James Morrison (!!) and Scouting for Girls *!!(!). Still, aside from that, it looked very cool. We don't really realise in this country the global iconic power of British landmarks such as the palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, St Paul's, Wimbledon, Number 10, and even the Weather. How many similar landmarks in Beijing have such worldwide recognition? It's by building the games around our history and understated organisational and small-scale technical brilliance, and not shouting about it too much, that we can put on something fantastic.

Anyway, here's the (BBC's) description of what's happening at the Beijing leg of the London handover on Sunday. It's fantastic stuff:


"London's set will start with a red London double-decker bus driving around the Bird's Nest stadium.

The bus will be backed by a musical sequence which combines elements of the shipping forecast, Jersualem, Greensleeves and harmonies based on the chimes of Big Ben.

Hoy, Pendleton and Reade, dressed as everyday Londoners, will then follow on their bikes.

Three dance groups will also be involved - the Royal Opera House, street dance theatre group ZooNation and CandoCo, a company which specialises in mixing performers with and without disabilities.

The dancers will surround the double-decker when it comes to a halt at a bus stop, and a 10-year-old girl from east London, Tayyiba Dudhwala, will emerge to receive a football from another girl, Erika Tham.

The bus will then transform itself, with the top half folding down in segments to show a privet hedge cut into shapes of the London skyline: Tower Bridge, Battersea Power Station, the Houses of Parliament, while a phalanx of black umbrellas will be unfurled alongside.

Then X-Factor winner Lewis will emerge from the roof on a rising column to sing an RnB aria before guitarist Page emerges for the duo to perform a new version of Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'.

As the song nears its conclusion, former England captain Beckham will appear on another lift, accompanied by Tayyiba, and will kick a football into the crowd of athletes, sparking a live link-up to the handover party outside Buckingham Palace."


from:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/london_2012/7577999.stm