Boyles Olympic dream: Cows grazing on meadows

The 2012 London Olympics will open with a glimpse of the British countryside,from cows and sheep to meadow and mosh pit.

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The 2012 London Olympics will open with a glimpse of the British countryside,from cows and sheep to meadow and mosh pit. A model of the set unveiled on Tuesday by Danny Boyle (right),artistic director for the July 27 ceremony,shows the Olympic Stadium in urban east London transforming into a rural idyll:

Cows and sheep

The Olympic set will include grass and fields,sheep,cows and horses,a cricket match,families on picnic and a hill modelled on Glastonbury Tor,a southwest England landmark. Below the hill spectators will fill a mosh pit,evoking the Glastonbury rock festival and other rural music events. At the other end of the stadium is a standing-room-only area that is meant to evoke the Last Night of the Proms. The meadow is surrounded by a circular parade ground for the 10,500 athletes and is nicknamed the M25. There are real clouds that can produce real rain.

Back to childhood

Boyle said the set will evoke the green and pleasant land of William Blakes poem Jerusalem and would be a reflection of part of our heritage but also depict Britains present and look to the future. The set is designed to evoke the site where the stadium stands: once countryside,then industrial land,bombed during World War II and now being regenerated as a park. Almost 3,000 props and 23,000 costumes will be used for the opening and closing ceremonies.

Ringing the bell

The opening ceremony will begin with the tolling of a 27-ton bell forged at the 442-year-old Whitechapel Bell Foundry. The bell is inscribed with a line from Shakespeares play The Tempest in which Caliban says: Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises.

witnesses to the spectacle

Some 10,000 volunteers have begun rehearsing for the opening which will be held in front of 60,000 spectators inside the stadium and a television audience estimated at 1 billion,with Boyle acknowledging the challenge of staging a large-scale show for live TV that also manages to capture the British sense of humour.

Spilled secrets

Boyle hopes to keep many details secret although some have already trickled out. Former Beatle Paul McCartney (in pix) will be the closing act and there will be a sequence celebrating the National Health Service. A pre-recorded segment has been filmed inside Buckingham Palace involving Queen Elizabeth II and Daniel Craigs James Bond.