Olympic ceremony Teletubbies, The Olympic Stadium is to be transformed into a ‘green and pleasant land’ complete with meadows and farmyard animals for the Games’ opening ceremony it has been revealed. Artistic director Danny Boyle plans to wow the world’s sports fans by turning the 62,000-seater stadium in Stratford, east London, into an idyllic view of the British countryside in one of the largest sets ever built.However, photos of the ‘Green and Pleasant’ set released today show that at first glance it looks more like Tinky Winky’s Teletubbyland than the traditional rolling hills of England.
Over the next 45 days, the set will be created and will include meadows, fields, rivers and landmarks such as the Glastonbury Tor.
It will feature families taking picnics, sport being played on the village green and farmers tilling the soil while real farmyard animals graze – including twelve horses, three cows, two goats, ten chickens, ten ducks, nine geese, 70 sheep, and three sheep dogs.
Each of the four nations will be represented by their national flower – the rose of England, the thistle of Scotland, the daffodil of Wales and flax from Northern Ireland.
The £27million production will be showcased at the opening ceremony, titled ‘Isles of Wonder’, inspired by Shakespeare’s play The Tempest, on July 27 and is expected to be watched by one billion people.
It open with the ringing of the largest harmonically-tuned bell in the world, produced by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, measuring two metres tall by three metres wide and weighing 23 tonnes.
Circling the meadow will be a strip made to look like water that will act as a parade ground where the competing athletes will walk during the ceremonial sections of the opening.
Film director Mr Boyle has reserved a role for NHS nurses in the show to celebrate the National Health Service, and there have already been 157 cast rehearsals, showing the scale of the work.
He said: ‘The ceremony is an attempt to capture a picture of ourselves as a nation, where we have come from and where we want to be.
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