God Save the Queen
James Bond and the Queen. A match made in heaven. How Danny Boyle persuaded the Queen to do the tongue in cheek scene for our Olympic opening ceremony, we will never know. But what we are in no doubt about is that our magnificent octogenarian Majesty has a terribly cheeky sense of humour.
After reading the UK press we all are pretty much united in saying the ceremony was fabulous. I then read what our international friends thought of our display as well as all my foreign friends' comments on Facebook. The words quirky, unusual, weird, bizarre, hilarious and wonderful have been bandied around willy nilly, but then, isn't that exactly how we would like to be portrayed? An independent Isle, forward thinking, democratic, inventive and innovative, steeped in traditional values and history... But with a magnificently creative and slightly eccentric side. I think so, and Danny Boyle was the perfect choice to bring all those qualities to life.
A few years ago, my friends and I were in the West End of London. We were attempting to go to see a movie but hadn't booked tickets and it was sold out. We were milling around and saw all these barricades and security guards. Me being me, I asked the nearest security guard what was going on and he said it was the premiere of Danny Boyle's film "127 Hours". We had apparently missed all the stars on the red carpet as they were already inside the theatre but then, just as we were wondering what to do, Danny Boyle strolled out of the cinema. He had probably seen his own film a few dozen times and thought he could sneak out and pop home for a cup of tea or something. But as he stepped back onto the soggy red carpet he looked very disappointed that the crowd had already left. We felt so sorry for him and without thinking I suddenly shouted out "Dannnnnyyyyy. We love you." He looked around at us, gave us a huge grin and waved. He then saw a bunch of fans at the end of the barrier and strolled over to sign autographs.
It was my moment. I demanded a pen and paper from my friend and ran down to join the small crowd. I realised everyone was being very well behaved and polite and so I thrust my pen and paper through to the front and loudly said "Danny, could you sign this please?" Everyone slightly recoiled from my booming request but Danny turned and signed my scrap of paper. I hadn't seen the film so couldn't comment on that and he was probably sick to death of questions about Slumdog. It had only just been announced that he was creative director of the Olympics so the only thing I could think to say was "Danny, how are your plans coming for the Olympics?" He looked a bit gobsmacked to be honest and just smiled and said "Early days. Early days."
Well Danny, you did us proud. What's funny is that to this day, every time we hear his name we still shout out "Daaaannnnnyyyyy" as if we were back in the West End. I have a funny feeling it may be Sir Danny soon. Oh and that reminds me, to my lovely friend who leant me the pen and paper, can I have the autograph back please? Might be worth a bob!
After reading the UK press we all are pretty much united in saying the ceremony was fabulous. I then read what our international friends thought of our display as well as all my foreign friends' comments on Facebook. The words quirky, unusual, weird, bizarre, hilarious and wonderful have been bandied around willy nilly, but then, isn't that exactly how we would like to be portrayed? An independent Isle, forward thinking, democratic, inventive and innovative, steeped in traditional values and history... But with a magnificently creative and slightly eccentric side. I think so, and Danny Boyle was the perfect choice to bring all those qualities to life.
A few years ago, my friends and I were in the West End of London. We were attempting to go to see a movie but hadn't booked tickets and it was sold out. We were milling around and saw all these barricades and security guards. Me being me, I asked the nearest security guard what was going on and he said it was the premiere of Danny Boyle's film "127 Hours". We had apparently missed all the stars on the red carpet as they were already inside the theatre but then, just as we were wondering what to do, Danny Boyle strolled out of the cinema. He had probably seen his own film a few dozen times and thought he could sneak out and pop home for a cup of tea or something. But as he stepped back onto the soggy red carpet he looked very disappointed that the crowd had already left. We felt so sorry for him and without thinking I suddenly shouted out "Dannnnnyyyyy. We love you." He looked around at us, gave us a huge grin and waved. He then saw a bunch of fans at the end of the barrier and strolled over to sign autographs.
It was my moment. I demanded a pen and paper from my friend and ran down to join the small crowd. I realised everyone was being very well behaved and polite and so I thrust my pen and paper through to the front and loudly said "Danny, could you sign this please?" Everyone slightly recoiled from my booming request but Danny turned and signed my scrap of paper. I hadn't seen the film so couldn't comment on that and he was probably sick to death of questions about Slumdog. It had only just been announced that he was creative director of the Olympics so the only thing I could think to say was "Danny, how are your plans coming for the Olympics?" He looked a bit gobsmacked to be honest and just smiled and said "Early days. Early days."
Well Danny, you did us proud. What's funny is that to this day, every time we hear his name we still shout out "Daaaannnnnyyyyy" as if we were back in the West End. I have a funny feeling it may be Sir Danny soon. Oh and that reminds me, to my lovely friend who leant me the pen and paper, can I have the autograph back please? Might be worth a bob!
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Burrell