2012 Summer Olympics opening and closing ceremonies Ruslan

2012 Summer Olympics opening and closing ceremonies Ruslan Golev

The opening ceremony was held on the 27th of July and called "Isles of Wonder". Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle was its artistic director, with music direction by Rick Smith of Underworld.

The Games were officially opened by Queen Elizabeth 2, accompanied by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. It was the second Games the Queen had opened personally, the first being in 1976 in Montreal.

The ceremony included a short comic film starring Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond and the Queen as herself, and another starring Rowan Atkinson as Mr. Bean.

Live musical performers included Frank Turner, Mike Oldfield, the London Symphony Orchestra, Arctic Monkeys and Sir Paul McCartney who performed “Hey Jude" as the closing act .

The ceremony transmitted live on BBC1 attracted a peak viewing audience of over 27 million in the UK (about half of the population).

The closing ceremony was held on 12 August. It featured a flashback fiesta to British music with The Who closing the performance.

The ceremony also included a handover of the Olympic flag by Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, to Eduardo Paes, Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, the host city of the 2016 Summer Olympics.