Reading: London Olympics
Advanced level (C1-C2)

If you were one of the hundreds of millions watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, I wonder what you made of it. Most British people I spoke to found something that impressed them but of course if you watched it on TV you could only see what was broadcast and imagine the atmosphere.

The ceremony had a historical theme and like all attempts at commentating on history, the main questions are about what you put in and what you leave out and in what light you show them. Perhaps the audience was meant to make up its own mind about pastoral England morphing into the Industrial Revolution? But who was the audience? Was the show for the domestic audience, that presumably knew most of the historical references, or was it designed for the viewers of the Olympics around the world? Perhaps it was both. The hospital bed scene seemed very much designed for British sentiment and Mr Bean and 007 for the world.

For me the highlight was the coming together of the petals of the cauldron: it was neither domestic nor international but simply beautiful. Whatever the ceremony was, at least it had some humour, which people often tell me is very British.