Hats off to Danny Boyle...

I approach events like the opening ceremony of the Olympics with a fair amount of cynicism and, to be fair, when it started off, my initial thoughts were, "Hold on, this is like the school nativity play – a little bit amateur," but oh was I mistaken! The whole thing developed into something amazing, culminating for me when the Olympic rings, like molten metal, hovered over the stadium. Brilliant! And what I liked most of all was the way the actors – particularly Kenneth Branagh, who seemed to be reprising his role as Gilderoy Lockhart from the Harry Potter movie, kept up the 'acting' throughout. There must have been a temptation for all involved to be caught off guard by BBC cameras, but no, everybody kept the faith, so to speak, throughout. Loved the industrial revolution bit, loved the music most of all, especially Mike Oldfield. What a coup! Oldfield is reclusive at the best of times so how Boyle persuaded him to come out and play a bit of Tubular Bells I don't know.

The absolute best bit of the lot, though, was Daniel Craig, as Bond, in Buck House. I was thinking, "no, it won't be the real Queen, it can't be," but it was! Brilliant!

I didn't stay up beyond watching a few of the athletes enter the stadium and besides, there was something good over on BBC 4. In fact, there was a great documentary about a heavy metal band called Anvil that I would have loved to watch again (I saw it about a year ago, possibly longer) but it was getting late and there's some cycling to do, in a minute or so!

In a nutshell, Danny Boyle turned out a great show. It tailed off a bit towards the end, but up to the rings, the bit with the Queen, the industrial revolution stuff, Kenneth Branagh, JK Rowling – brilliant.

Cycling arrests near Olympic Park

Scuffles, apparently, between police and cyclists, according to a BBC report. The organisation involved  was Critical Mass, click here for more.

For details of the story, click here.

Cycling's good for you – it's official!

An article on today's BBC website argues that cycling is incredibly good for you because you can build a ride into your daily routine. Check out the details by clicking here.