Licence to thrill! London welcomes the world with spectacular three-hour Olympic Opening Ceremony celebrating Great Britain.

By Jonathan McEvoy

Good evening, Mr Bond. Welcome, world. The Olympic Games arrived in London on Friday night with peals of bells, tableaux of drama and paroxysms of cheers that split the black velvet sky.

And with those four words of introduction from The Queen to Daniel Craig’s 007 in a scene recorded in Buckingham Palace, corgis in attendance.
The artistry could do nothing but lift the spirits and set the tone for 16 days of magical competition across 26 sports. Yet for all the creative flair to be marvelled at, the vision of Britain sent out from here across the world at times bordered on left-wing propaganda.

Danny Boyle, the opening ceremony’s ringmaster, has a creative mind of manic genius. He also has a history of gritty films and grim themes. For all his Oscars and Baftas, the Slumdog Millionaire director was a risky appointment for this seminal event.

Lighting up the world: The Olympic Games were opened in the most spectacular of fashion with a three-hour show celebrating all that is great about Britain and its past

Lighting up the world: The Olympic Games were opened in the most spectacular of fashion with a three-hour show celebrating all that is great about Britain and its past

NHS beds dominated the infield for so long that it seemed more a political message than a tribute to our hardworking nurses. The Jarrow marchers were given a prominent role. Churchill featured only fleetingly. Still, Boyle’s £27million creation dazzled, winning him thousands of new Twitter followers by the second.

But the stars of this show — the one that stretches out before us over the most lavish sporting fortnight this island has ever staged — are the athletes. So who better to start the ceremony than our Tour de France hero, Bradley Wiggins, wearing the yellow jersey, ringing the bell before popping back to get ready for Mark Cavendish’s road race challenge on Saturday morning? By 9.05pm he had exited the stage and was tucked up in bed for his next endeavour.

And they're off: At 20:12 the Red Arrows flew over the Olympic Stadium as excitement reached fever pitch ahead of what proved to be a remarkable show

Once the Jarrow marchers and the rolling kaleidoscopic scenery had delivered their brilliant tapestry, it was the athletes’ turn to parade in. All 204 nations, predominantly in alphabetical order, though with Britain as hosts last into the stadium.

We now think of what Sir Chris Hoy, the proud flag bearer and the 240 who marched behind him can achieve. The first desire is to believe in the Olympic oath that was uttered by Britain’s Taekwondo star Sarah Stevenson, who lost both her parents as she prepared for the Games.

On behalf of the 10,500 fellow London Olympians, she pledged to compete ‘for the glory of sport and the honour of our teams’ by abiding by the rules and spirits of the movement we celebrated here.

Ringing in the Games: Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins started proceedings inside the stadium

From there, it was on to centre stage where rural Britain was celebrated with a nod to a pre-industrial time

She will, no doubt, compete free of stimulants but not everyone will be honouring her commitment. Nine drugs tests were failed in the build-up to Friday night’s extravaganza. More will have cheated their way to London.

But it is the fun of competition, the joy of sharing in the best day of someone’s life, of watching the super-human effort of the Bolt and Phelps and the rest, of history being made, that beckons us.

Moving forward: From the green, green, grass sprung chimneys to symbolise the industrial revolution

The success of the Games will be determined to an extent on how many British medals are won - 19 golds from Beijing is the yardstick. But there is more than that parochial concern to concern us.

As a nation we are heirs to a rich tradition that forbids such short-sightedness. Greece, as the home of the ancient Olympics, has the greatest right to laud its sporting heritage in this quadrennial setting. Yet London has hosted the modern Games three times, a singular distinction and one that was touched upon by no less than the president of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge.

As the revolution whirred on, the fire that drove it came together in the sky and on the ground. The result was a spectacular Olympic ring formation

‘There is something that you can say and that no other place in the world can,’ he said. ‘It is that Great Britain was the cradle of modern sport because you invented it in the second half of the 19th Century,’ he said.

That was during the time of those dark satanic mills that formed so crucial a part of Boyle’s production. But it was in the public schools of Britain — notably at Rugby School — that the sporting transformation was taking place. No wonder Boyle failed to find a way of expressing the fact.

Honoured: The great of Great Britain was then given its moment, with remembrance of those who lost their lives in conflict

What an entrance: Her Majesty Elizabeth II (definitely not an actress) parachuted in to the stadium with James Bond

It was Rugby’s great headmaster, Dr Thomas Arnold, who said: ‘First religious and moral principle, second gentlemanly conduct, third academic ability.’

It was his philosophy of Muscular Christianity — of competition and exercise breeding good in the young — that so influenced a French boy reading a translated version of Tom Brown’s School Days.

That boy was Pierre de Coubertin, and he happened to found the first modern Games in Athens in 1896. Organised sport to engender good behaviour and raise aspirations is central to the Olympic credo.

Read between the lines: Children played a prominent role, first through literary characters and then with Great Ormond Street Hospital and the NHS

Bean there, done that: There was even time for a bit of comedy with Rowan Atkinson and his famous Mr Bean character

It is as relevant to Hoy and his team-mates who marched in their flashy Elvis-style white jackets as it was on the playing fields of Victorian Britain.

The Olympic torch’s journey summed up so much that we can celebrate as a nation. It travelled its final stages to the Olympic Stadium along the Thames from Hampton Court Palace to the Tower of London aboard the Diamond Jubilee barge Gloriana.

Sing up for Britain: A mega mix of each musical era rang out as performers paid homage to the digital revolution of the last three decades

On route: David Beckham's role became clear midway through as he delivered the flame via speedboat

The flame began on Mount Olympus, when it was lit by vestal virgins with a mirror and the sun’s rays, was transported around Greece and flown over on BA Flight 2012 to start its 70-day, 8,000-mile trek across Britain. Sure there have been too many celebrity stooges brought in to run a leg of it.

I stand accused of a variant crime, kindly allowed to run as a ‘torch correspondent’ courtesy of Coca-Cola. But for all that, the torch relay was meant to honour every community’s great contributors. It was a thank you to those who make up the Big Society.

Seeing crowds lined eight deep on either side of the road, with all ages and conditions of man was among the most moving scenes I experienced on this long road to London. That was genuine and told of a deep, wide national affection for what was unfolding.

Flying the flag: More than an hour of the ceremony showcased all 204 nations and the 10,500-odd athletes competing over then next two weeks

Some doubt whether the flame is the actual one lit in Greece all those weeks ago or if a Vesta was used to relight it on some dusty roadside. Actually, it has been carefully guarded night and day and, anyway two spares from the same kindling landed in Cornwall on that BA flight, so perhaps it is after all.

David Beckham was seen with the torch on Friday night, a poster boy excluded from competition. The best argument for his inclusion in the football squad has always been that he was desperate to be an Olympian in every facet of the experience. That was hardly true of everyone his sport.

And, lo and behold, who should have missed out on the ceremony but the team captain Ryan Giggs and his fellow Welshman Craig Bellamy. Injury necessities or wilful absences?

Rousing: Sebastian Coe made a speech

The Queen declared the Games open

Special guest: Muhammad Ali featured

Flaming brilliant: David Beckham handed the torch to Steve Redgrave, who in turn past the glory moment to the next generation

London 2012 is massively different from the other Games the country hosted, in 1908 and 1948. They are bigger; Britain’s place in the world post-imperial.

‘One hundred years ago we were everything,’ said Boyle pre-show. ‘I hope there is an innate modesty in what we do. You have to learn your place in the world.’

In fact, the best of British always was modest but with bold ambitions. It is still so as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, presented with brilliance and bias as midnight closed in over east London, begin.