They worship Baal, they chose darkness rather than light. What the hell do you like this ceremony? Nasty as they are, they are doomed, just like ancient civilizations.

It was a full technical rehearsal to make sure everything was going to be safe. Even all the food outlets were open. The stadium audience was, as I understand, made up of volunteers for the Paralympic ceremonies and lots of other local volunteers and NHS staff.

@@MumzyJ From when they lit the rings this is the Wednesday rehearsal. There was one on the previous Saturday with very few people there and the Monday rehearsal was full capacity and each volunteer performer was given two tickets for friends/family to watch.

@@DanLoudShirts hi there. I don't remember which day of the week this was. The whole rehearsal process of ceremony rehearsals was shrouded in secrecy. It was amazing how each little section was rehearsed and we only had slightly more of an idea of the scale of things once rehearsals moved from Three Mills to Dagenham. I only knew what I was officially told.

@@MumzyJ Def the Wednesday. They only lit one ring on the Monday. I know as I am a Pandemonium Drummer. The only things that were not part of the dress rehearsals was James Bond, Rowan Atkinson and the Cauldron lighting. The main elements of the ceremony were reheared at the three dress rehearsals. Pandemonium, NHS, ThanksTim, Akram Khan.

@@DanLoudShirts thanks for this information. I was in the Paralympic opening ceremony, so it was a great experience having the opportunity to be there. Now and then, I discover that people I know were also Pandemonium drummers.

It was meant to. The scriptwriter for the ceremony, Frank Cottrell Boyce (one of Britain's best current writers for children) was inspired to become a storyteller at about the age of 8, by the intermission in the film of _Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_ (if the intermission does not exist on streamed versions, that would be regrettable because it's a superb narrative device)

It was a spell cast.

The NHS has certainly kept me alive!

The way the rehearsals were organised was that every element was kept a secret. I had a close friend taking part in this ceremony and she would not tell me anything at all. Even my section, in the Paralympic ceremony, had no idea what else would be going on during our slot. Note that I posted this video long after it was taken. Hope you enjoyed it.

Hi Tom. It's a pleasure to have shared it with you.

Tom Mitchelmore same, i was only 7/8 there and now i’m 14 looking back it’s crazy

Can you find out if he's happy to have this vid online still please.

ha ha. In all honesty, it was me.

I suspect the ring firing effect was simply cued up to happen too early here. It's fairly obvious that the "proper" time placing was what happened on the night itself. I think this was from the Monday tech run, I was at the Wednesday one, when the effect was much closer to where it should have been.

Monday was an early cue, Wednesday was a failed fuse but come Friday...spot on!

Thanks honey. I just enjoyed a quick look myself. I'm still out of action but pop in when I can. Looking forward to being back in the new year.

I've just spent a lot of time in hospital too after an accident and my treatment is ongoing. Never felt so grateful to have the NHS.

Thats cool but what is the relevance to the Olympics?

@@feriedust4402 Each country that hosts the Olympics has it's own creative cultural performance as part of the ceremony. This one was representing British History and culture. This was just one section and it celebrated the work of Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital. Just look at videos of any other country's opening ceremony.

How was it kept a secret and did they run the James bond video?

@@johnnywhite58 for one thing, everyone had to sign a NDA and surprisingly, a lot of people didn't reveal what their scene was. Then, most sections of each scene did not know what else would be going on, or what the overall effect would be. Only the Bond music was played and all we saw was someone sweeping the stage.

That's so interesting. Thanks .