Five gold rings

Your reflections on the Games Opening Ceremony, and what it meant to you

Hold up – until recently, Rowan Atkinson’s ‘Mr. Bean’ was a reason to feel superior to foreigners, because they found him funny when we didn’t. But, at the Olympics opening ceremony, he stood for our famous British sense of humour, the best in all the world. Now I’m confused. Are we supposed to find him funny or not? Because, personally, I think he isn’t, no matter where you’re from.
Chris Buckley, Kemp Town

I loved that half-hour long celebration of sitting on our backsides watching rubbish telly, getting trollied and then copping off with someone. It made me proud to be British.
Elizabeth Windsor, London

I must say it was most remiss of God not to put in a personal appearance. After all, there were quite a few hymns, and it did cost a lot of money and take an awful lot of effort. I suppose He had His reasons, but could He not at the very least have sent down just His feet to ‘walk upon’ Boyle’s recreation of our ‘mountains green’? He is magical and can readily do that sort of thing, and it would have been the cherry on the cake.
Rev Timothy Mayhew, Trinity Church, Hollingbury

When they hoisted aloft those five gold rings, my heart almost burst with pride for this wonderful country of ours. So imagine my disappointment when there did not also emerge from the furnace four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree. No wonder the rest of the world was confused.
Doris Everett, Hangleton

Have your say

NOW THAT IT;S ALL OVER, WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE GAMES?

Why do we insist on using a pretend gun to start races with? This makes us look like sissies. I’d like to see a real gun being used, preferably a powerful handgun such as a 44 Magnum. If health and safety got their way we’d be using rubber javelins and papier mache shots for shot putting as well! I hope to see a real gun the next time London gets the Olympics – if nothing else it might make the athletes run a bit faster!
Alexander Palace, Hove

As a Pearly King, I was disgusted by the underuse of Pearly Kings and Queens in Danny Boyle’s so-called “opening ceremony”. Out of a total of three hours screen time, only 30 seconds was devoted to the spectacle of Pearly Kings and Queens marching up and down in their pearly costumes and doing the Lambeth Walk. When will the people in charge of this country realise that there is a great demand for Pearly Kings and Queens?
Jason Pearly-King, Mile Oak

I very much enjoyed the women’s volley ball event at this year’s games. Speaking as a feminist, I think it is very important that women have events in which they can build profiles as high as their male counterparts. To ensure that this continues I would suggest that the Olympics committee introduces some new women-only events, such as mud-wrestling, foxy-boxing, cat-fighting and so on.
Terry Crisps, Falmer