0:00:04 > 0:00:07Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to London. To the games of the 30th
0:00:07 > 0:00:11Olympiad. Sheep and Shakespeare, Brunel and
0:00:11 > 0:00:19Mr Bean, with humour, cliche, spectacle and surprise, the heart
0:00:19 > 0:00:23in London has begun. (Bond music)
0:00:23 > 0:00:31The Queen's greeted with massive applause as she, apparently,
0:00:31 > 0:00:36parachutes into the stadium. And the Britain of self-
0:00:36 > 0:00:41depprication, and even the cock-up, is paraded to the world. What did
0:00:41 > 0:00:51it really tell us, and what did it say to the world. We have athletes
0:00:51 > 0:00:51
0:00:51 > 0:00:55and historians to try to make sense of it here. Good evening, good of
0:00:55 > 0:00:58you to join us, we are more than half way through the opening
0:00:58 > 0:01:02ceremony, we are offering here the first comment and conversation of
0:01:02 > 0:01:10all we have seen tonight .7 sheep was a brave way to kick off -- 77
0:01:10 > 0:01:15sheep was a brave way to kick off, on landscape that looked, momently
0:01:15 > 0:01:19by Hobbits, we have Shakespeare talked of by an engineer, sex
0:01:19 > 0:01:24pistols, Mary Poppins, and a sense of anarchy always present and a
0:01:24 > 0:01:28sense of humour, did it work, and what does it tell us about our
0:01:29 > 0:01:34Britain, and the Britain we want to project to the world. We will ask
0:01:34 > 0:01:38our panel what they make of it. Steve Smith first on what we think
0:01:38 > 0:01:41so far. The Oscar-winning director kicked
0:01:41 > 0:01:45off his Isles of Wonder spectacular with a film, a bird's eye view of
0:01:45 > 0:01:53the green and pleasant land of Jerusalem, that Danny Boyle is
0:01:54 > 0:02:00offering a worldwide audience, which could number a billion.
0:02:00 > 0:02:09Who better to ring in the ceremony, in the stadium, than Britain's
0:02:09 > 0:02:15newly-Laureled Tour de France champion, Bradley Wiggins.
0:02:15 > 0:02:19Oh no, it's Wallander, not Scandinavian gloom, but this was
0:02:19 > 0:02:27Kenneth Branagh in a different eulogise, dressed as the great
0:02:27 > 0:02:34engineer, Brunel, and in Bradley Wiggins side burns. In dreaming the
0:02:34 > 0:02:40clouds mere thought would open and show riches. The 19th century
0:02:40 > 0:02:50industrialist then read from Shakespeare's Tempest.
0:02:50 > 0:02:52
0:02:52 > 0:02:55I cried to dream again. In a, frankly, pagan moment, drummers
0:02:55 > 0:02:59summoned the shades of the country's manufacturing poor from
0:03:00 > 0:03:09their slumbers beneath the green hill. A potentially ticklish piece
0:03:10 > 0:03:14
0:03:14 > 0:03:19of theatric, no-one wants to die on a grassy knoll.
0:03:19 > 0:03:28But by now the Boyle production was warming to its theme. The white
0:03:28 > 0:03:34heat of the Industrial Revolution. Glowing hoops of steel slowly
0:03:34 > 0:03:44resolved themselves into a family geo.
0:03:44 > 0:03:54
0:03:54 > 0:03:57Mr Bond would like to see you. Not so long ago, and not so far
0:03:58 > 0:04:04from where I'm sitting, taking liberties with the Queen on film
0:04:04 > 0:04:12was a bad career move. Not so tonight for 007, Daniel Craig.
0:04:12 > 0:04:18evening Mr Bond. Eat that, Helen Mirren.
0:04:18 > 0:04:23Good evening, your majesty. Future historians may well decide
0:04:23 > 0:04:32that this was an extraordinary shaft of daylight, let in on the
0:04:32 > 0:04:42magic of royalty. Of course, this is not only Olympics year, but the
0:04:42 > 0:04:47
0:04:47 > 0:04:51Jubilee. And the 50th anniversary of James Bond at the cinema. In a
0:04:52 > 0:05:01pinch-me moment, the Queen appeared to parachute into Stratford. But
0:05:02 > 0:05:07
0:05:07 > 0:05:13surely she qualifies for the zil lane!
0:05:13 > 0:05:23Cut to the Queen wearing the same outfit, good continuity. There's
0:05:23 > 0:05:37
0:05:37 > 0:05:42If you had been watching the ceremony, and let's face, you were,
0:05:42 > 0:05:48and probably still r then you would have seen Boyle all-singing, all-
0:05:48 > 0:05:52dancing homage to the NHS a kind of bed pans and broomsticks.
0:05:52 > 0:05:56It seemed to owe less to the current state of the health service,
0:05:56 > 0:06:02and more to a sentimental view of this great institution. We think
0:06:02 > 0:06:12this is what Carry On Nurse looked like, to the characters in Boyle's
0:06:12 > 0:06:39
0:06:39 > 0:06:43And, as promised, or threatened, the coming slew of gold, silver and
0:06:43 > 0:06:47bronze, was inaugurated by old Golden Balls himself, the whole
0:06:47 > 0:06:54thing was like a box of chocolates, as someone once said, something for
0:06:54 > 0:06:58everyone, but one or two of the treats, ever so slightly tripped
0:06:58 > 0:07:03via enamel. Our guests are here to give their
0:07:03 > 0:07:08first reaction in just a moment. First O'Connell is a seasoned
0:07:08 > 0:07:11veteran of international spectacle, although more of the Eurovision
0:07:11 > 0:07:16variety. He joins us high above in the Olympic Park. Give us a flavour
0:07:16 > 0:07:20of what it felt like there, Paddy? You heard that 1948 of the
0:07:21 > 0:07:24"Austerity Games". I think this is about dexterity. I have been very
0:07:24 > 0:07:28moved. I know we're meant to be cynical, but as I walked here, I
0:07:28 > 0:07:32headed to the pub, because obviously there is a stadium, there
0:07:32 > 0:07:38is a second stadium it's called people outside without tickets. And
0:07:38 > 0:07:43I looked there, as it began. And I saw the countdown, and I saw the
0:07:43 > 0:07:49people watching, trying to work out what we think of ourselves, so when
0:07:49 > 0:07:53the Queen was then parachuted in, apparently, when Mr Bean played
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Chariots of Fire, when the 7/7 victims were themselves some how
0:07:58 > 0:08:03remembered, this crowd was very caught up at all times, trying to
0:08:03 > 0:08:05work out. The world's watching us, but perhaps, what do we think of
0:08:05 > 0:08:10ourselves. Extraordinary scenes outside the stadium as well as
0:08:10 > 0:08:14within. You mentioned the cynicism, or the scepticism, did you see
0:08:14 > 0:08:17people struggling with whether they were going to mock it, make fun of
0:08:17 > 0:08:21it or embrace it. Was that something you felt in the pub?
0:08:21 > 0:08:25that is what people said to me. There was a Frenchman behind me, he
0:08:25 > 0:08:29was having a joke with me, he later accused me of spilling my beer on
0:08:29 > 0:08:34him, but there was a sense of, well show us what you've got, is it just
0:08:34 > 0:08:39cynicism, or is it a thousand years, is it the inventor of the internet.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42Is it people, is it places, can you possibly punk your leader? You took
0:08:42 > 0:08:46the Queen and you apparently showed her in a helicopter. We know the
0:08:46 > 0:08:49Chinese couldn't do that, with all the Communist Party, but what we
0:08:49 > 0:08:54don't know, I suppose, is whether we did have a single message, and
0:08:54 > 0:08:56you have got lots of very bright people. But let me tell you, as I
0:08:57 > 0:09:00walked to your Newsnight studio, there are people in the road
0:09:01 > 0:09:04sharing their laptops with each other. They are gathering around,
0:09:04 > 0:09:12they want to see something, for goodness sake, at least it's not
0:09:12 > 0:09:16Liberty, that's what I heard! -- LIBOR, that's what I heard.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20Let's get on to the question of message, what did we take away, how
0:09:20 > 0:09:24did we do and what did it all mean? In the Newsnight living room, we
0:09:24 > 0:09:32were told the best place to see it was from the living room. We have
0:09:32 > 0:09:35the former Paralympic swimmer, and the singer song righter Mika, the
0:09:35 > 0:09:41columnist, Grace Dent, and critic Laurie Penny, who thinks the whole
0:09:41 > 0:09:46thing is a waste of money and Dan Jones. We will come to that in a
0:09:46 > 0:09:52second, let's quick off with the message, you said you were watching
0:09:52 > 0:09:55it and enjoying t you found it odd? I found it a little bewildering,
0:09:55 > 0:10:02historically was a mish-mash and jumble, everything mashed up
0:10:02 > 0:10:07together. We had the Industrial Revolution, Shakespeare, the
0:10:07 > 0:10:12Internet, everything thrown in. It struck me as a foreigner's eye view
0:10:12 > 0:10:15of British history. To watch it as a native of these Isles felt very
0:10:15 > 0:10:19confusing. Did you understand how the history was chosen. We started
0:10:19 > 0:10:24in the green and pleasant land, presumably so we could then play
0:10:24 > 0:10:30Jerusalem, and then there was this very selective look at history of
0:10:30 > 0:10:38100 years? It was a choreographed history, certainly, It felt like
0:10:39 > 0:10:42the greatest hits, Now That's What I Call History 57. I don't think
0:10:42 > 0:10:48there was a narrative, I don't think there was a point in looking
0:10:48 > 0:10:53for a serious narrative, it wasn't an exposition rather than that.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58What about you? I loved it, I saw a narrative, I'm sorry to be dragged
0:10:58 > 0:11:04away from it. I felt emotional from the moment I got here when the Red
0:11:04 > 0:11:08Arrows went over the studio. I felt emotional seeing the Suffragettes
0:11:08 > 0:11:12coming on and the time given to the NHS, the whole thing with the Queen
0:11:12 > 0:11:15and James Bond, I've really enjoyed this. To say there wasn't a
0:11:15 > 0:11:22narrative. It has been a slight mess at times, with people running
0:11:22 > 0:11:25on and off, that is what we do in Britain. Sometimes it is a bit of a
0:11:25 > 0:11:29chaos, but there is a message there. The message at the moment, for me,
0:11:29 > 0:11:33is just how kind the British people are. They have all went out and
0:11:33 > 0:11:36done that for free. So many people have given their time. What do you
0:11:36 > 0:11:41make of the spectacle, the choreography of what we saw. There
0:11:41 > 0:11:46was that sort of dependance on video and live, was the balance
0:11:46 > 0:11:50found? Actually, I personally loved it, I thought it was funny, full of
0:11:50 > 0:11:54heart, I thought it was full of all the right things that it needed to
0:11:54 > 0:11:58be. Especially after Beijing. I think that the videolinks were
0:11:58 > 0:12:02probably the star, but they were so good because they were made
0:12:02 > 0:12:08relevant, by all the theatre that happened inbetween. What's so good
0:12:08 > 0:12:12about it was that actually it was anarchy but it was functional
0:12:12 > 0:12:16anarchy. This mass, bizarrely, you had thousands of people on this set,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20but it felt more human than any other Olympics ceremony I have ever
0:12:21 > 0:12:24seen. There was everyone, there was no stars showing up for the fact of
0:12:24 > 0:12:28showing up, everyone that came had a part. James Bond, Mr Bean, the
0:12:28 > 0:12:34Queen, everyone had a reason for being there. It took its time. I
0:12:34 > 0:12:39think it was really charming. I think theatrically it was really
0:12:39 > 0:12:46impressive, it was disarming. I wasn't prepared to enjoy it and
0:12:46 > 0:12:51find it funny. I did. The Chinese did a spectacle that was clinical
0:12:51 > 0:12:56and beautiful, and choreographed to the most minute precision, and you
0:12:56 > 0:13:01know, they did all this beautiful stuff with orchestrated concrete
0:13:01 > 0:13:05blocks, and we did it with NHS beds and a lot more heart. It was
0:13:05 > 0:13:08completely a success. There were a lot of political messages coming
0:13:08 > 0:13:11through, we saw the NHS, the Suffragettes, the immigration, what
0:13:11 > 0:13:16was your take on that? I thought this was brilliant, actually, I
0:13:16 > 0:13:23have to say, I was deeply surprised by it. I thought it was, what
0:13:23 > 0:13:27surprised me was how dark it was, essentially. You did have at one
0:13:27 > 0:13:32stage Voldemort coming on and attacking the NHS, it is not that
0:13:32 > 0:13:35subtle. There was all the messaging at the start, the green and
0:13:35 > 0:13:38pleasant land, the singing of Jerusalem, then the Industrial
0:13:38 > 0:13:43Revolution, the dark and fiery, and the choosing of the Shakespeare
0:13:43 > 0:13:47quote, that was very interesting. The bit that was read out was a
0:13:47 > 0:13:50quote from Caliban, who is obviously the slave character in
0:13:50 > 0:13:56The Tempest, it was one of the most perfect bits you could have chosen
0:13:56 > 0:14:01to read out at the beginning of the Olympic ceremonies, "be not afraid
0:14:01 > 0:14:05this Isle is full of noises, so when I woke I cried to dream
0:14:05 > 0:14:11again.", I thought it was very deep, intellectual and dark. It was
0:14:11 > 0:14:15brilliant fun. I was disappointed when the athletes came on. I was
0:14:15 > 0:14:18like, oh no, it's sports. We are playing the middle bit, where it
0:14:18 > 0:14:22was a sort of Mary Poppins, children jumping on the hospital
0:14:22 > 0:14:28beds, and quite interesting, in a number of parts, I know, in London
0:14:28 > 0:14:32what I see on the social websites, people started chanting NHS, it
0:14:32 > 0:14:37became a political moment. Would you have seen this as a left-wing
0:14:37 > 0:14:41message coming through? I think it has been done very cleverly. I
0:14:41 > 0:14:45think the spectacle has been staged so that anybody can see what they
0:14:46 > 0:14:48want to see in it. I think a lot of people were very heartened by the
0:14:48 > 0:14:52inclusion of the NHS. This is something a lot of people are proud
0:14:52 > 0:14:56of in Britain. When we have been having a lot of messaging about
0:14:56 > 0:15:00British pride wha, Britain is about, suddenly we have -- and what
0:15:00 > 0:15:03Britain is about, suddenly we have something nearly everyone is proud
0:15:03 > 0:15:07of in Britain, the National Health Service, which is under attack at
0:15:07 > 0:15:12the moment. Under financial pressure. It is kind of like it is
0:15:12 > 0:15:15the biggest sociocultural thing to shout about. This health service is
0:15:15 > 0:15:21a perfect global platform to shout about it in the way they did. I
0:15:21 > 0:15:26liked that a lot. I will come to you Rachel, Laurie was saying she
0:15:27 > 0:15:31was disappointed when the sporting bit came on. Oh yeah, this is about
0:15:31 > 0:15:34sport, I forgot. There was even a sense when we saw the chariots of
0:15:34 > 0:15:38fire, and Mr Bean pushing through, that it is a country that doesn't
0:15:38 > 0:15:42want to take itself too seriously. Is that a message as a sportwoman
0:15:42 > 0:15:48you want to take away right now? think it is good that they are
0:15:49 > 0:15:52showing all different sides, but obvious low, as a sports person --
0:15:52 > 0:15:56obviously as a sports person we see the Olympics and the Paralympic as
0:15:56 > 0:16:01the pinnacle of a person's career. You have worked very hard to get
0:16:01 > 0:16:07there. To an athlete the opening ceremony isn't about comedy, and
0:16:07 > 0:16:11fun, it is about realising that you have become an Olympic athlete, I
0:16:11 > 0:16:16have become a Paralympic athlete, the moment where they walk out is
0:16:16 > 0:16:19where it really hits you, wow this is what I have trained all that
0:16:19 > 0:16:24time for. Would you liked to have seen a little bit more sparkle,
0:16:24 > 0:16:29maybe even finesse, rather than that sort of fallback, if you like,
0:16:29 > 0:16:33on to a very British trait of humour? I think it had the mix of
0:16:33 > 0:16:38both. You had all the music, and you had a lot of sparkle within
0:16:38 > 0:16:42that. That kind of brought out a lot of the atmosphere for the crowd
0:16:42 > 0:16:45to really get behind, and hopefully start now supporting the athletes
0:16:45 > 0:16:49and really get them going. Then the comedy was for the other people,
0:16:49 > 0:16:54sat at home, who maybe aren't into the sport. This opening ceremony
0:16:54 > 0:17:00allowed everybody to get involved, because it had all the different
0:17:00 > 0:17:04contrast. When it played for laughs, Grace, it was also playing to our
0:17:04 > 0:17:08exports. Mr Bean is probably the easiest character to export around
0:17:08 > 0:17:12the world, because you don't need language, right? There is no
0:17:12 > 0:17:16denying how important Mr Bean is around the world. He there is no
0:17:16 > 0:17:21denying that, we can't get away from that! I think it is just, but
0:17:21 > 0:17:25it is true, he is everywhere you go, people know him. To me, I saw Rowan
0:17:25 > 0:17:30Atkinson, I thought amazing, he is a bit of a national treasure sure.
0:17:30 > 0:17:37When he started to do the Mr Bean bit it lost it for me, I was never
0:17:37 > 0:17:41a fan. The crowd loved it. It lost it for you because? Personally
0:17:41 > 0:17:45because, a little bit corny. I have never been the person to sit down
0:17:45 > 0:17:48on a bank holiday and watch a Mr Bean special, there is a lot of
0:17:48 > 0:17:53people in the audience that watch Mr Bean. The point is, this is
0:17:53 > 0:17:58about showing the underdog as well, we are very good at helping losers,
0:17:58 > 0:18:02and I'm wondering whether you know that is necessarily the message we
0:18:02 > 0:18:06want to project now? I think there were lots of profoundly moving and
0:18:06 > 0:18:09very funny moments. I thought it was an opening ceremony that hung
0:18:09 > 0:18:14together. I didn't think there was a lot of sport in it, I was
0:18:14 > 0:18:19surprised by that. Quite often with the opening ceremony of a sporting
0:18:19 > 0:18:24event you would have a sporting motiff, but at the same time it is
0:18:24 > 0:18:28bigger than sport, it is the greatest party on earth. I just
0:18:28 > 0:18:32felt things were sort of jumbled, there were great bits you could
0:18:32 > 0:18:36"cherrypick", I loved the bit about the NHS, that was Danny Boyle
0:18:36 > 0:18:41sticking his neck out. That was important and historically the most
0:18:41 > 0:18:45impressive moment in T we had a quick run through of green and
0:18:45 > 0:18:49pleasant lands, the industrial heritage of East London. But that
0:18:49 > 0:18:52NHS bit would have really resonated with a lot of people. Sticking his
0:18:52 > 0:18:55neck out because he would have upset people with that? A lot of
0:18:55 > 0:18:58people. He is also pointing out what an important part of British
0:18:58 > 0:19:04history that has become. I don't think a lot of people would
0:19:05 > 0:19:11necessarily always look to 1948 and think about it as history. The last
0:19:11 > 0:19:15games were 1948, the establishment of the NHS. Was it, would you take
0:19:15 > 0:19:21away a left-wing reading of British history. It wasn't a celebration of
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Thatcherism, it wasn't, it was quite selective in the, if you like,
0:19:24 > 0:19:29its protest movements more than anything else? Absolutely, even the
0:19:29 > 0:19:35Queen, her part of it was to play the site kick of Bond. I think
0:19:35 > 0:19:42plaudits to Elizabeth II, what a sense of humour, and game approach
0:19:42 > 0:19:47to T to take part in that. I think that was really the wow moment in
0:19:47 > 0:19:51the way as well. It is sort of a left-wing approach, but I didn't
0:19:51 > 0:19:56think it was overbearingly so, so much that it would have turned
0:19:56 > 0:19:58people off. It was an inclusive ceremony. Inclusive was something,
0:19:58 > 0:20:03interestingly enough, was what Danny Boyle spoke about earlier. He
0:20:03 > 0:20:07said he wanted an intimacy about it, and not just spectacle, what about
0:20:07 > 0:20:12the music, Mika, there were a few areas where you thought you were
0:20:12 > 0:20:17going to get a tune, and you got, dare I say it, a medley. Did that
0:20:17 > 0:20:22jar for you, or did it work? actually think the music was quite
0:20:22 > 0:20:27good, given the circumstance, often with Olympic ceremonies the music
0:20:27 > 0:20:32can come across as extremely corny. The world were a lot of songs in
0:20:32 > 0:20:35that mash-up, it was constantly changing. I think dizzy rascal
0:20:35 > 0:20:45probably had the most sustained presence during that thing. It was
0:20:45 > 0:20:46
0:20:46 > 0:20:53subsequently a bit of a pay-off, he had a presence and made a point.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56Was it too much? It was a little bit jukeboxy before the Dizzie
0:20:56 > 0:21:01Rascal moment. The weakest part for me was the bit about the phone and
0:21:01 > 0:21:07the woman. I thought that was corny, in many ways. I just thought it
0:21:07 > 0:21:17wasn't very necessary. It was essentially a huge excuse for them
0:21:17 > 0:21:21to bringen to Tim Berners-Lee. focus shifts and then you have
0:21:21 > 0:21:26Emilie Sande singing with this extremely beautiful choreography in
0:21:26 > 0:21:31the most simple form, that was eat motional climax of the piece. The
0:21:31 > 0:21:36interesting about it is Danny Boyle approached this -- emotional climax
0:21:36 > 0:21:41of the piece. The interesting thing is Danny Boyle approached it from a
0:21:41 > 0:21:45cinematic man, he made statements that intertwined with each oh the
0:21:45 > 0:21:49most important thing about what he does in his films and what he
0:21:49 > 0:21:52achieved in the ceremony is it was disarming. We looked at the social
0:21:52 > 0:21:55network stuff there, and the phone and the tweets and all the rest of
0:21:55 > 0:22:02it. Do you understand, would you call that quintessentially British?
0:22:02 > 0:22:08Yeah, I would. I would, sure, OK, fine, there were scenes in it, you
0:22:08 > 0:22:18had Wayn, he's World cut into it. It is clash, it is patchwork, it is
0:22:18 > 0:22:25these are the London Games they represent the UK, he did this
0:22:25 > 0:22:27strange tripy, slightly stonery opening ceremony, by other people's
0:22:27 > 0:22:31standards and other countries would be considered way too uncommercial,
0:22:31 > 0:22:34but fundamentally that is British. You had a lesbian kiss in there
0:22:34 > 0:22:38from Brookside, little details of that, would that have happened
0:22:38 > 0:22:41anywhere else in the world, I don't think so, personally.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Grace? I was going to say I thought the phone part was possibly the
0:22:46 > 0:22:49weakest bit. I loved the idea of celebrating youth and celebrating
0:22:49 > 0:22:52everything we have achieved in music, and celebrating the way we
0:22:52 > 0:22:55party, the way we have fun, I thought that was amazing. I don't
0:22:55 > 0:22:58understand, the mobile phones with everybody communicating with each
0:22:58 > 0:23:04other, that was let down slightly, because it looked like a mobile
0:23:04 > 0:23:09phone advert, but a very bad one. From 15 years ago. Does Twitter
0:23:09 > 0:23:14really look like that. Nowadays mobile phone companies spend so
0:23:14 > 0:23:19much on adverts, suddenly it was a bit. It came together suddenly we
0:23:19 > 0:23:23were all sitting watching and then Dizzie Rascal appeared, and it was
0:23:23 > 0:23:26amazing. Hold those thought, we are going to cross back to Paddy again,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30because Paddy the ceremony is in full swing, I know Grace will
0:23:30 > 0:23:34particularly want to know what she's been missing. Take us through
0:23:34 > 0:23:42a few of the highlights of what we might not have seen, and any news
0:23:42 > 0:23:47on the torch? Grace and Mik a -- Mikah will be horrified to know one
0:23:47 > 0:23:52of the African teams came on to strains of the Pet Shop Boys. It
0:23:52 > 0:23:56took everybody by surprise. There are reports from BBC London
0:23:56 > 0:24:01colleagues that there have been some arrests of cyclists making a
0:24:01 > 0:24:04peddling process, we don't know, many more details about that. One
0:24:04 > 0:24:08Conservative MP on Twitter saying it was a bunch of old lefties, and
0:24:08 > 0:24:12not enough about Shakespeare. I think it does emphasise that you do
0:24:12 > 0:24:16need to have an argument about what kind of Britain we are, and all the
0:24:16 > 0:24:20chattering classes can get very excited. But the whole point of
0:24:20 > 0:24:24this ceremony is to hand over after seven years from an old bus in
0:24:24 > 0:24:28Beijing to the faster, higher, stronger athletes, who have given
0:24:28 > 0:24:32their life for this moment. In the end, the rest of us just shut up
0:24:32 > 0:24:35and watch people performing at the peak of their life's performance.
0:24:35 > 0:24:40Paddy, thank you very much. Peak of your life's performance,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43you know what that feels like, Rachel. You have been part of these.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47It was very noticable how many young kids were in the whole
0:24:48 > 0:24:53ceremony, the whole event, really, because that's the key part of the
0:24:53 > 0:24:59legacy, isn't it? That is what we said, when we won the bid to host
0:24:59 > 0:25:03the games, it was lot about legacy. To say that everyone who has taken
0:25:03 > 0:25:06part in this event tonight are volunteering, to get young children
0:25:06 > 0:25:11to volunteer, that is such a big thing. We have that throughout the
0:25:11 > 0:25:15whole games, with the games makers as well. They are really doing what
0:25:15 > 0:25:18they said and creating legacy. this is about the next Britain,
0:25:18 > 0:25:22what is that Britain, what does this ceremony tell us about our
0:25:22 > 0:25:28country, do you think? I think it told us we are trying to work out
0:25:28 > 0:25:33what we are. It is a process at the moment. You only have to look
0:25:33 > 0:25:36around and raet read a newspaper, there is great sense -- and read a
0:25:36 > 0:25:40newspaper, there is a great sense of uncertainty about the British
0:25:40 > 0:25:44character and what it is and will be. That was reflected in the
0:25:44 > 0:25:48ceremony, there was a confusion and jumble and no path. You were
0:25:48 > 0:25:52agreeing with that, you were brought up in Lebanon? I represent
0:25:52 > 0:25:56that. I was brought up in Lebanon, France and most of my time in
0:25:56 > 0:26:00London. I am this patchwork, I speak two language, but then again
0:26:00 > 0:26:04so do millions of people here, and identify themselves as a Londoner.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07I identify myself as not only a Londoner, but part of the UK. I
0:26:07 > 0:26:12agree with you. I think it is definitely trying to figure out
0:26:12 > 0:26:17what it is. That was represented. You said before that you were
0:26:17 > 0:26:21surprised and impressed with it. You came to the Olympics with a lot
0:26:21 > 0:26:25of angst and anger about the money being spent and what we were doing,
0:26:25 > 0:26:32in austerity times, right? That is not necessarily the case. I think
0:26:32 > 0:26:35definitely that was worth the money. That was a fantastic show. I think
0:26:35 > 0:26:38it illuminate a great deal about what Britain is saying about itself
0:26:39 > 0:26:42at the moment, which is, we are not sure. This is a time of angst and
0:26:42 > 0:26:45uncertainty, and there are lot of different stories to be told, it is
0:26:45 > 0:26:48about people. That is what I found really, really interesting about
0:26:48 > 0:26:53this show, is, despite the huge numbers of people involved, you
0:26:53 > 0:26:58know, the camera came in tight on individual people, individual
0:26:58 > 0:27:02stories, some of them quite corny, but loot of people's individual
0:27:02 > 0:27:08stories in real life tend to be corny. Would you say it is about a
0:27:08 > 0:27:12proud Britain? I thought there was a great deal of humility about T I
0:27:12 > 0:27:16was impressed is there wasn't a celebrity overload. Watching the
0:27:16 > 0:27:20torch go around the country, I saw Jennifer Saunders running with it
0:27:20 > 0:27:24the other day, I thought, fine, isn't it this about ordinary people
0:27:24 > 0:27:29having a chance to carry the torch. In the ceremony today there were
0:27:29 > 0:27:35very few celebrities. They said all the nurses were actually nurses?
0:27:35 > 0:27:39thought there was a sense of had you millity to the whole --
0:27:39 > 0:27:46humility thing. It was taking the piss out of itself, it had the
0:27:46 > 0:27:51bravery and humility to take the pis out of itself -- piss out of
0:27:51 > 0:27:55itself, even the Queen. foreigners and those watching go
0:27:55 > 0:27:59away and say that is a Britain struggling with its self-confidence,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02is that a bad thing? Will they, I don't think they will. We weren't
0:28:02 > 0:28:07struggling there. Going forward, though, one thing I have noticed
0:28:07 > 0:28:11over the last few weeks, months, it is a Britain dragging back the idea
0:28:11 > 0:28:15of the flag, dragging back the idea of being proud of being British,
0:28:15 > 0:28:19and for our own purposes, or nice and good people's purposes. We can
0:28:19 > 0:28:24be proud to be British. And all of us, the whole multicultural society
0:28:24 > 0:28:27here, doing it right now, here. is interesting what the flag has
0:28:27 > 0:28:30now done, and the sense of Britishness has really become, I
0:28:30 > 0:28:35don't know if you feel that? I was on the train down to London today,
0:28:35 > 0:28:39and there was so many people coming in, flag leggings, and flags all
0:28:39 > 0:28:44over them. And with the Jubilee as well this year, you just think,
0:28:44 > 0:28:49people are going absolutely crazy for this new fashion of wearing the
0:28:49 > 0:28:54flag and the GB. I'm sorry we have run out of time. You lot haven't,
0:28:54 > 0:28:58come and join us in the Green Room, we will finish off the winddown,
0:28:58 > 0:29:03that is all from Newsnight tonight. We leave you with a glimpse of how
0:29:03 > 0:29:10far we have come since we last hosted a top-teir international
0:29:10 > 0:29:16sporting tournament who can forget George, the wobbly dragon, a broken