The Olympic Opening Ceremony: Beautifully British

What did you think of the Olympic Opening Ceremony?

I loved it! It was so British - there simply isn't another country in the world who would have produced an opening ceremony such as this.

It was a confident presentation to the world of who we are. There isn't one defining British identity, there are so many different things that are uniquely British and so much of it was captured on Friday evening.

I'm sure parts of the show confused and even baffled some people around the world, but I don't care. It was like saying: 'This might not be want you want to see or expect from Britain, but this is who we are'


The Queen and James Bond make their journey to the Olympic stadium

I've watched every Olympic opening ceremony since Los Angeles in 1984. To be honest I can't remember many of them but I'll remember London's. Firstly because it took place 20 minutes from my house, but more importantly because I saw myself in the show.

I read earlier in the week that Danny Boyle wanted to produce a show that everyone in Britain would be able relate to and see something of themselves in the show.

I think he got it spot on.

The Games have only just begun, but I always knew this country would do a good job of it. Despite all the inevitable pessimism you find in this country, Britain know's how to put on a show and that's what we saw on Friday.

Four years ago in Beijing, the world was blown away by the scale of China's opening ceremony. Back in Britain we wondered how an earth we could possibly compete.

There was never any point in trying to emulate the Chinese. The 2008 Beijing Olympics was all about China announcing itself to the world. Britain and London doesn't need to do that. We just needed to be confident in ourselves and tell the world this is who we are.

One of the things I loved most about the ceremony was that unlike in Beijing, it was a laugh, their was fun and humour involved - things you don't always associate with opening ceremonies.

If you asked me to tell you what I loved the most, then it would have to be the music. The soundtrack was superb.

This county can rightly be proud of inventing Pop and Rock music and we had everything.

The Beatles, the Stones, David Bowie, Sex Pistols, The Jam, Eurythmics, Soul II Soul, Dizzie Rascal, Arctic Monkeys to name but a few. All very different but all so British in their own ways. It turned the ceremony into a house party the rest of the world was invited to.

Of course not everyone appreciated it. I read comments that some of the show was a bit random and was lost on foreign audiences. On Saturday morning, while shopping in Harrods, I heard one middle aged lady remark that the show was 'far too British'. I thought 'That's the whole point!'

And then we had some American commentators critising the left wing bias with Danny Boyle's inclusion of Britain's love of the NHS.

All a bit too 'Socialist' for American conservatives. Well so what, it's got nothing to do with them.

Looking back it was a great start to the Games in what's going to be an amazing and memorable couple of weeks for London and Britain.

London 2012: The Olympics in numbers

The time has almost arrived!

I'm getting ready for some serious Olympic blogging over the next couple of weeks. I found this great data visualisation video on the Guardian's website today.





It gives you loads of stats and figures on the London games. Have a look and see what you think.

London 2012: Schools have to get more kids playing sport

With the Olympics starting this Friday, they'll be an opportunity for millions of young people to be inspired by the exploits of Britain's athletes.

I read an interesting and slightly worrying statistic yesterday that said 40% of British medal winners at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing were privately educated.

Only 7% of the UK's population are privately educated, yet private schools are producing a disproportionate amount of our Olympians. Are we meant to believe that being privately educated makes you a better athlete?

I don't think so - but it suggests that the success of Britain's athletes in the next couple of weeks won't make much difference to many young people. Their chances of emulating our Olympic athletes will be down to the type of school they go to rather than sporting talent.

If you go to private school, sport plays a bigger part in your education. If you do have some sporting talent, there's a greater chance it will be identified and developed. This is no longer the case in many of our state schools.

As soon as the Olympics end next month, the talk of Olympic legacies will begin. How will the Olympics encourage more young people to participate in sports when so many schools don't seem to care about sport anymore?

Last week it was reported that two thirds of Britons don't take enough exercise to stay fit.

I think keeping fit and playing sports is a lifestyle choice, and it begins quite early in childhood. If you play a lot of sport growing up, you're more likely to keep it up during adulthood.

The fact that so many of our Olympic athletes are privately educated tells you that private schools still value and encourage sport in a way that state schools don't.

There's two negative effects to this. Firstly many kids at state schools miss out on the joys of taking up sport; and secondly it's not great for the health of the nation as less people grow up with habit of keeping fit which can lead to all kinds of health issues later in life.

Looking back at my own school days in the late in the late 1980s and early 90s, sport was a big part of my education. I was lucky to have the chance to play football, rugby, cricket, basketball, and athletics. Outside of school I did Karate and played badminton.

I didn't think that was anything special but I've started to realise that many school kids don't have the chance to play such a range of sports at school.

Critics of school sport fail to understand that sport is character building, and helps people in different areas of their lives.

You learn self discipline, new skills and techniques. How to work in teams, dealing with pressure, disappointment and achievement. I don't understand how others don't get this!

There's loads of different things which we hope the Olympics can encourage and inspire and I hope one of those things is that it get more kids playing sport as part of their school education.

Have we fallen in love with cycling?

It's the last day of the Tour de France today. For the first time in the Tour's 99 year history, we have a British winner in Bradley Wiggins.

Rather than ending 99 'years of hurt' it's more a case of 'wow we're actually pretty good at this cycling game!'





Bradley Wiggins explains what winning the Tour de France means to him

I've become a bit obsessed with the Tour de France in recent years. I was always aware of it, but probably like a lot of people I didn't really get it.

Last year I decided to make an effort to understand what it was all about. I spent an entire afternoon watching it until it all started to make sense.

Within a few days I was hooked, and I couldn't wait to get home after work for ITV4's highlights show at 7:00.

Now if anyone mentions peletons, prologues, time trials, and major journes it all make sense to me.

Cycling isn't traditionally a sport we really do in Britain. It's all very continental, a sport dominated by the French, Spanish and Belgium.

But perhaps things are changing. With Bradley Wiggins Tour victory, Britain's cycling track dominance in the last Olympic Games and more people cycling on the roads - maybe cycling is becoming a major sport in this country?

After watching last year's Tour de France I developed a new found respect for cyclists.

They're without doubt some of the toughest and hardest athletes around. This helps explain why I have so much respect and admiration for what Bradley Wiggins has achieved.

Watching this year's Tour, I've found him a compelling character. Forthright in his opinions during press conferences, outspoken against drug users, a bit of a neo Mod, and he speaks fluent French - he's become one of my favourite sport stars.

Sir Chris Hoy who won 3 Olympic gold in Beijing said Wiggins winning the Tour de France would be one of the greatest achievements of all time by a British sportsmen.

He's probably right, but Wiggins success is just part of the latest chapter in the growth of British cycling.

Britain dominated track cycling during the Beijing Olympics in 2008, but this wasn't some bizarre one off success; it was the result of years of development in the sport aided by lottery funding to push British cycling to the forefront of world cycling.

That track success was used as a springboard to launch Team Sky with the aim of delivering a British winner of the Tour de France which has now been achieved.

It's going to be fascinating to see what Wiggins success will mean for cycling in the future. Cycling's been growing for a number of years now, and the likes of Chris Hoy, Mark Cavendish and Victoria Pendleton have become household names. There's a real opportunity for cycling to develop in a way we've never seen before in this country.

Anyone who spends time in central London will know just how many people are cycling. Whether it's for leisure or as their main mode of transport, cycling is booming.

It's a great way to stay fit, it's economical, environmentally friendly and it's become fashionable to ride a bike.

There are downsides, particularly in London with the number of cyclists injured or killed on the roads. This is probably something which puts me off riding a bike in the city.

Despite this, cycling is enjoying a golden age both as a pastime and a professional sport in the UK, we'll have to see if it's just a passing phase or a breakthrough for the sport.

I'm now looking forward to the Olympics next week, with the Olympic road race taking place next Saturday. I'll think I'll pop down to the Mall to show my support for the likes of Cavendish and Wiggins.

London 2012: Just a week to go

It's just a week now until the start of the London Olympics.

Here in Stratford I've started noticing a lot of Olympic volunteers and security staff around the tube station on my way to work in the morning.

During the last few days, I've seen a lot of athletes in their USA Olympic kits embracing life in Stratford. There was an American athlete in my local Chinese takeaway this evening. All very exciting to see.

I've watched every Olympic Games since Los Angeles in 1984. When I think of the Olympics I see an event that takes place in other world cities - not something that happens 5 minutes from my house!

Part of me thinks the International Olympic Committee has got it all wrong. 'Are you sure you want the Olympics to take place in Straford? It's in Rio in 4 years time, isn't that where you really want the Olympic Games to take place?"

Of course Stratford is part of London, and there are few cities in the world that can truly rival London in terms of history and culture and it's fitting that the Olympics should be held here.

Despite all the negative stories that inevitably accompany events like the Olympics, I'm still quietly confident that London will produce something special.

I don't care about the predicted disruption to my day-to-day travel or any other inconveniences. I know I'm going to be in the middle of something special and I can't wait.