London 2012: breathtaking, brash and bonkers...an utterly British Olympic opening ceremony

The Olympic rings reached new heights as they were sent into space to capture the astonishing London 2012 opening ceremony.

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The Olympic rings light up the stadium during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics Photo: AP

Brilliant, breathtaking, bonkers and utterly British. Danny Boyle captured the spirit, history, humour and patriotism of an expectant nation last night as he pulled off an Olympic opening ceremony like no other.

From a bucolic vision of our green and pleasant land to a riotous medley of Britpop’s greatest hits, Boyle’s tour de force was a love letter to his homeland that left 65,000 spectators choking with pride.

To cap it all, London 2012 literally reached stratospheric heights as five Olympic rings were lifted by giant balloons from the stadium into space. Pity the person who has to try to better this in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Where Beijing 2008 had precision, uniformity and control, London 2012 had James Bond, 600 NHS nurses and 40 live sheep.

Boyle’s £27 million creation crackled with wit; the sight of a stadium full of people wearing 3D glasses and head-banging in time to the Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant was certainly not one the organisers saw coming when London was given the Games seven years ago, but it was gloriously madcap nonetheless.