With its hilariously quirky Olympic opening ceremony, a wild jumble of the celebratory and the fanciful; the conventional and the eccentric; and the frankly off-the-wall, Britain presented itself to the world Friday night as something it has often struggled to express even to itself: a nation secure in its own post-empire identity, whatever that actually is. A maypole, still a staple of May Day celebrations in Britain, was part of the opening ceremony, conceived and directed by the filmmaker...

he Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics will be held at 9 pm BST on 27 July 2012 and will be called "The Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle is the artistic director who is co-ordinating and designing the opening ceremony. The games will be officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. London is going to host Olympics Game third time. It has already hosted the Olympic Games two occasions, in 1908 and 1948. The Opening Ceremony is a celebration...