RoverAndOut

An interesting opening ceremony. Positives? Loved how it showcased Paris as a city, winding down the Seine was a genius idea, showing off Notre Dame, the Louvre, the bridges, the Eiffel Tower, etc. Breaking up the athlete's parade was really clever too, as that's 1.5-2 hours that drags usually (and was probably much more interesting to them too). The horse on the Seine was very impressive and the explosions of blood at Les Invalides were brilliantly effective. The cauldron looked incredible, and when it rose in the air, it was jaw dropping - gave Thomas Heatherwick's 2012 design a run for its money. Celine Dion was an incredible showstopper, was wondering if she was going to appear. Negatives? It was a bit faffy and scattergun. The problem with plonking things on the side of the Seine is that they lose the tightness of a stage or screen performance (Lady Gaga and the Can Can fell foul of this in particular - maybe because it was still light? Not sure). The torch relay somewhat descended into farce. We had Zizou holding it at the start but then get stuck on a train and pass it to some kids, they get in a boat with a weird masked figure (was it the same one who continued all the way to the Trocodero?) and the figure then hands it...back to Zizou, who still got there in time anyway (he may as well have hung onto it on the train!). He then hands it over to Rafael Nadal, who isn't French (albeit, I guess he's an honorary Frenchman, given he has 16 French Open titles - I probably wouldn't begrudge Roger Federer a small role in a London ceremony either!) and he then gets on a speedboat BACK DOWN the Seine (where the torch has just come from!) with Carl Lewis, Serena Williams and Nadia Comaneci (who the BBC struggled to identify and seemingly weren't being provided with real-time updates as to who people were). So that's 4 non-Frenchies, 2 Yanks and 2 tennis players. Weird. Then we finally get to the French torch bearers but they seemed to be struggling slightly with what I was thinking all along: that there isn't a standout French sporting icon who could light the cauldron (I suppose the closest would be Mbappe, but he has no Olympic connection to speak of). I can name lots of successful and famous French sporting figures, but mostly famous in their own fields and sports, rather than on a global scale. So instead, they included hundreds of slightly famous figures, in the hope everyone recognised at least some of them. I'm guessing Yanks probably know Tony Parker, who I've never heard of, I knew Amelie Mauresmo and was expecting Renaud Lavillenie to make an appearance (which he did). But it was all a bit ridiculous as we ended up with an army of torch bearers trekking through the Paris night. The cauldron saved the day, though. And the weather was atrocious, which is hardly their fault, but did lend a damp and flat air to proceedings despite all the energy. Imagine a warm, bright July night, it would have been spectacular. That looks like a lot more negatives than positives, but to be fair most of it is my analysis of the torch relay. And I did enjoy it, and applaud them for attempting something ambitious and different and it will be interesting to see if Los Angeles try to incorporate any of their city into the 2028 Opening Ceremony. Now onto the sport - I absolutely love the Olympics!

27th July 34 Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa — One Kiss +2 33 Lewis Capaldi — Someone You Loved 32 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper — Shallow 30 Lil Nas X — Old Town Road 28 Jess Glynne — I’ll Be There 26 Stormzy — Vossi Bop 26 Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid — Eastside 26 Ariana Grande — Thank U, Next 24 Ed Sheeran ft. Khalid — Beautiful People 24 Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello — Señorita 24 Ava Max — Sweet But Psycho +2 22 Calvin Harris & Sam Smith — Promises 21 Demi Lovato ft. Clean Bandit — Solo 20 Drake — In My Feelings 20 Dave ft. Fredo — Funky Friday 20 Ariana Grande — 7 Rings 20 Ed Sheeran ft. Stormzy — Take Me Back To London 18 Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds — Three Lions 17 Ariana Grande — Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored 15 Drake — Nice For What -1 14 Rudimental ft. Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen — These Days 08 Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran — River 08 Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber — I Don’t Care 06 Drake — God’s Plan -5

27/07/24 42 Bronski Beat — Smalltown Boy 38 Queen - I Want to Break Free 38 Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time 35 Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams 35 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill 35 Tina Turner - What’s Love Got to Do With It +4 34 Nik Kershaw - The Riddle  33 Ultravox - Dancing with Tears in My Eyes 30 Tina Turner - We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) 26 Madonna - Like a Virgin 21 Stevie Wonder - Part-Time Lover  20 Bananarama - Robert De Niro’s Waiting  17 The Commodores - Nightshift  16 Elton John - Nikita  16 Baltimora— Tarzan Boy 14 Dee C. Lee - See the Day  14 U2 - Pride (In The Name of Love) 12 Madonna - Material Girl 09 Colonel Abrams - Trapped 07 Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor! -6

Yeah, Macron just "turned up". Amateur.

A pick on a previous Scavenger Hunt round I recall! Now we just need Addis Ababa to host and Agnes Keleti to make an appearance!

I'm glad it seems to be tethered, it's the biggest Chinese Lantern in the world!

The oldest French medallist I think they said on BBC. 100 years old, won in London 1948.

You can tell how much it meant to her at the end. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to do it again, now she's just closed an Olympic Opening Ceremony.

Sounds great. Lovely to see.

Far be it from me to support 30p Lee in any way, and he's wrong on the broad point that Reform should be everywhere (they couldn't do it even if they wanted to with 5 MPs), but smaller parties do appear on Select Committee's don't they? Caroline Lucas was on one as the only Green, Plaid and the Lib Dems had committee roles in the last Parliament. They won't get a seat everywhere, but I assume they'll get a couple of seats somewhere. I'm not an expert on parliamentary procedure so don't know how exactly it's decided, beyond more MPs = more seats.

Yes, i was surprised when I realised this had got as far as it had given his questionable history. The song is weird too, I didn't know it, but it doesn't really work without the music video I wouldn't think.

26/7/24 34 Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa — One Kiss 28 Lil Nas X — Old Town Road 26 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper — Shallow 25 Lewis Capaldi — Someone You Loved 24 Demi Lovato ft. Clean Bandit — Solo 24 Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid — Eastside 24 Jess Glynne — I’ll Be There 24 Stormzy — Vossi Bop 24 Ariana Grande — Thank U, Next 24 Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello — Senorita +2 22 Ava Max — Sweet But Psycho +2 22 Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds — Three Lions 20 Rudimental ft. Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen — These Days 20 Drake — In My Feelings 20 Calvin Harris & Sam Smith — Promises 20 Dave ft. Fredo — Funky Friday 20 Ariana Grande — 7 Rings 20 Ariana Grande — Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored 20 Ed Sheeran ft. Khalid — Beautiful People 20 Ed Sheeran ft. Stormzy — Take Me Back To London 17 Lil Dicky ft. Chris Brown — Freaky Friday 16 Drake — Nice For What 14 Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran — River 14 Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber — I Don’t Care  11 George Ezra — Shotgun 11 Drake — God’s Plan -6 No point trying to fight it when TQR has got one in his sights (well, Dido and Carly Simon aside...)

26/7/24 34 Cyndi Lauper - Time After Time 34 Bronski Beat — Smalltown Boy 32 Nik Kershaw - The Riddle 32 Queen - I Want to Break Free 31 Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill 30 Tina Turner - What’s Love Got to Do With It +4 30 Ultravox - Dancing with Tears in My Eyes 29 Giorgio Moroder & Philip Oakey - Together in Electric Dreams 26 Tina Turner - We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome) 26 Madonna - Like a Virgin 25 Baltimora— Tarzan Boy 22 Colonel Abrams - Trapped 21 Stevie Wonder - Part-Time Lover 20 The Commodores - Nightshift 20 Dee C. Lee - See the Day 20 U2 - Pride (In The Name of Love) 19 Bananarama - Robert De Niro’s Waiting 19 Elton John - Nikita 17 Thompson Twins - Doctor! Doctor! 16 Madonna - Material Girl 14 Spandau Ballet - Only When You Leave 09 Bronski Beat & Marc Almond - I Feel Love (Medley) 00 Ashford & Simpson - Solid -6

OK, well I'll surprise even myself here by saying I don't think it's that bad. There's at least half I can sack off without even thinking but I don't mind about 10 of these (including Shotgun ). Didn't think I'd be able to say that in 2018-19. 25/7/24 30 Calvin Harris & Dua Lipa — One Kiss 26 Lil Nas X — Old Town Road 24 Lady Gaga & Bradley Cooper — Shallow 24 Lewis Capaldi — Someone You Loved 24 Jess Glynne — I’ll Be There 24 Stormzy — Vossi Bop 24 Ariana Grande — Thank U, Next 22 Demi Lovato ft. Clean Bandit — Solo 22 Benny Blanco, Halsey & Khalid — Eastside 22 Shawn Mendes & Camila Cabello — Senorita +2 20 Baddiel, Skinner & The Lightning Seeds — Three Lions 20 Drake — God’s Plan 20 Rudimental ft. Jess Glynne, Macklemore & Dan Caplen — These Days 20 Lil Dicky ft. Chris Brown — Freaky Friday 20 Drake — Nice For What 20 Drake — In My Feelings 20 Calvin Harris & Sam Smith — Promises 20 Dave ft. Fredo — Funky Friday 20 Ava Max — Sweet But Psycho 20 Ariana Grande — 7 Rings 20 Ariana Grande — Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored 20 Ed Sheeran ft. Khalid — Beautiful People 20 Ed Sheeran ft. Stormzy — Take Me Back To London 16 George Ezra — Shotgun +2 14 Eminem ft. Ed Sheeran — River 14 Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber — I Don’t Care 08 LadBaby — We Built This City -6

We can but hope he's playing the same game as Keir Starmer. Starmer had to talk the left's language to win the leadership and move the party closer to the centre to win the election. Tugendhat needs to talk the right's language to beat the loonies and bring in some common sense. Honestly doubt he could win without saying something about leaving the ECHR.