The 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremony will take place on the 27th July at the London Olympic Stadium. The Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics will be called 'The Isles of Wonder’. Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle will be the artistic director for the opening ceremony.
It was confirmed in February that Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh will officially open the games at the opening ceremony. A short film starring Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond will be screened during the television coverage of the ceremony. During the closing ceremony of the 2008 Olympics, the Olympic Flag was formally handed over from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London. This was followed by a section highlighting London, One month later, the Olympic and Paralympic flags were raised outside the London City Hall.
In June 2012, Boyle showcased the London Olympic opening ceremony preview, which promised a huge set of rural Britain consisting of "A village cricket team, 12 horses, 10 chickens, 70 sheep, a model of Glastonbury Tor, two mosh pits, and the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world" along with a real cloud that will rain. It is supposed to showcase the mystic landscape of Britain, both rural and urban. There would be mosh pit at each end of the set, with one having people celebrating a festival and another people at the last day of the prom. A replica of the Glastonbury Tor will adorn a side of the set with a huge bell. Boyle has promised an opening ceremony where everyone will feel involved, he also said "I hope it will reveal how peculiar and contrary we are – and how there's also, I hope, a warmth about us." The set would contain real grass, real soil and ploughs. The use of real animals has drawn criticism from PETA. Boyle wrote a reply to PETA assuring them of the genuine care of the animals.
A. R. Rahman, an Indian musician who worked with Boyle on the drama film Slumdog Millionaire (2008) and the biographical film 127 Hours (2010) – both directed by Boyle – said that he has composed a Punjabi song for the opening ceremony that would be a part of a medley, which would showcase Indian influence in the UK, according to Boyle's wishes. Another Indian musician, Ilaiyaraja's song from Tamil-language film Ram Lakshman (1981), has also been chosen as part of the medley.
A countdown clock in Trafalgar Square was unveiled, 500 days before the games. The same location hosted one of a number of events to mark a year before the games. Final countdown to the start of this year's summer games in London has begun with the ceremony of lighting of Olympic flame in Ancient Olympia in Greece. The official mascots for the 2012 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games were unveiled on 19 May 2010; this marks the second time (after Vancouver) that both Olympic and Paralympic mascots were unveiled at the same time. Wenlock and Mandeville are animations depicting two drops of steel from a steelworks in Bolton. They are named Wenlock, after the Shropshire town of Much Wenlock, which held a forerunner of the current Olympic Games, and Mandeville, after Stoke Mandeville, a village in Buckinghamshire where a forerunner to the Paralympic Games were first held.
