User:Stronach/Pandemonium

Articles, blogs and accounts by and about participants - overwhelmingly volunteers - in the "Green and Pleasant Land" and "Pandemonium" (Industrial Revolution) sections of the Isles of Wonder opening ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games, 27 July 2012.


 * IF YOU HAVE AN ACCOUNT, BLOG, INTERVIEW, PODCAST ETC YOU WOULD LIKE LISTED HERE, PLEASE LET ME KNOW ON MY USER PAGE AND I WILL ADD IT HERE****

Compiled February 2013

FOP = field of play, the infield.

"Green and Pleasant Land" villagers
Green bibs with MED. More than 500 volunteer performers, including 34 animal handlers. 300 or 350 in this section.
 * Alma, Alex From Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire; senior sales assistant; female; 54
 * Anderson, Valerie Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Bennett, Julie On Maypole West (ie in Hampshire), with schoolchildren from Nightingale Primary School. 'My group was made up of people from as far away as Newcastle (she commuted to London each time taking a night coach leaving at 2am) and Cardiff but also a couple from Dagenham and Chelmsford. There was a great range of people.' From Dulwich, London; female
 * Durant, Michelle Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Ferguson, Suzan Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Hall, Henry Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Henderson, Joyce Charging rambler.
 * Instrell, Kay In County Cornwall section, watching the children at the east maypole, which represented Wales (daffodils on top). A Maypoler East. 'I have a fused ankle after an industrial injury many years ago and I walk with a limp. Due to this and the audition being based on following a dance routine, (which I couldn’t do) I never expected to get a part. There were other people with disabilities ( did you notice Nadia the guide dog?) and I was told that we represented a normal population.' 'We will hear more from Kay Shortly' on myceremony.co.uk website.
 * Jayakumar, Pavithra Cricket match audience (ie in Berkshire). London; student at UCL; female.
 * Jefferson, Louise One of the twelve 'Inner Family' group featured inside the house in the 'Thanks Tim' section (filmed in advance): all twelve formed a picnic group in the Green and Pleasant Land section so that they could actually take part live in the ceremony.  From Australia, female.
 * Joyce, Kelly Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Lovett, Jonathan A rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group, featured in close-up on the tv coverage gawping at the Industrialists. From Barnet; former newspaper arts editor; male.
 * Mackay, Nick Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Medeiros, Chris Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Moon, Russell A footballer. From Ipswich; consultant headteacher; male. Wrote a book, Days of Wonders: Inside the 2012 Opening Ceremony.
 * Moore, Kate Dressed as a teacher looking after children in the field. From Belper, Derbyshire; a nurse; female; 49
 * Otley, Noel A rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group, standing on a bridge watching the cricket match. From Brentwood, Essex; college principal; male; 61.
 * Ryan, Tim A cricketer (ie in Berkshire). From Melbourne, Australia; IT and insurance professional; male; 30
 * Scott, Chris Cricketer
 * Stasyuk, Oksana Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Travellato, Gabriel Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * Vaughan-Ohagan, Non Rambler in the 12-person Stasyuk group.
 * (surname not given), Udara A cricketer (ie in Berkshire), From Sri Lanka; male.
 * 25 children from Nightingale Primary School 'We found out early on that we would be dancing around the Hampshire maypole, in front of the royal box ... Early on, we met and worked with the adult volunteers, four of whom (Julie, Annetta, Alice and Audrey) were assigned to walk onto the Field of Play with us. In the end, Ms Coupe and Ali came too.'

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

 * Branagh, Kenneth

Industrialists
Known as 'The Brunels'. 50 of them. Black bibs with BRU.
 * Chamberlain, Rikki "I was one of the ‘Brunel’s’ comprising 10 professionals and 40 volunteers who, as Isambard Kingdom Brunel, were the architects of the ‘pandemonium’ section of the show. Kenneth Branagh was the head Brunel who gave the speech to start the show." A professional actor; male.
 * Frances, Phil From Harlow, Essex; electrical engineer and karate teacher ; male; 50.
 * Smith, Adam

Drummers
Also marshalled the athletes during the parade. Green bibs with MAR.

Key team

 * Dolbear, Mike One of the three key team who auditioned and trained the drummers (helped by 21 drum captains)

Drummers

 * Ashcroft, Tom
 * Aversano, Dan
 * Bird, James
 * Bond, Helen MAR 296
 * Brown, Kat MAR 734, Group 27
 * Cave, Louise
 * Cook, Stephen   The 1,000 Pandemonium drummers were split into 50 teams of 20 drummers.  Cook was in Group 49.
 * Cowie, Janine
 * Farmiloe, Margaret
 * Gentle, Cally
 * Hollands, Laura'
 * JK
 * Kwan, Emily
 * Langston, Danny
 * Menon, Seema
 * Olabre, Patricia Mesina Group 51.
 * Port, Louise
 * Richardson, Julie
 * Santos, Christine Nimfa Josef
 * Sargent, Claire
 * Searle, Lewis
 * Thompson, Steve His group was in Block 127 of the stadium
 * Walsh, Peter
 * Watkins, John
 * (surname not given), Ray MAR 306
 * '(surname not given), Russ

Working men and women
Blue bibs with WMW. Mill workers etc. Helped by the Warriors (pink bibs with CRW).

Berkshire
Area of the FOP with the cricket pitch; a chimney and a beam engine there later in the sequence.
 * Lewis, Travers Highams Park, London; performing arts technician; male
 * Singer, Anja Comment in comments section

Cornwall
39 people in Cornwall, 'led by our dance captain and unofficial ‘Mayor’, Ben' WMWs in low 90s - 110s, 120s.
 * Drum, Kathleen One of six turf movers - other five were men. 'The other members of our group had hedges to move, or were smelters, forgers or weavers; we had Astroturf and lots of it!'
 * Hepburn, Brad American male, uploaded several videos to YouTube as user drbjsh, giving name and county. WMW 112.
 * surname unknown, Dan Hidden camera WMW (male), uploads to YouTube as OlympicHiddenCamera, film shows him de-turfing the inside of the Ring. He is the front man on the second roll of turf out of the Ring.  Name Dan from comment in comments field made by another County Cornwaller, Brad (drbjsh) at

Devon

 * Cameron, Dan

Essex
Area with sheep and a maypole. Dance Captain Polly Bennett. Essex one of the largest groups.
 * Freeman, Bill WMW 368
 * Hughes, Keith
 * Palmer, Trevor WMW 388
 * Ryan, Christopher
 * Sheahan, Phillip WMW 367
 * West, Mel Female drama teacher, rehearsed in a group of 190 under mass movement coordinators, Mez and Claira, and dance captain Polly.
 * Wong, Andrew
 * (Surname not given), Bill
 * (Surname not given), Sabrina WMW 365

Fife

 * Hall, Thomas "Fife looked after a large section, which had the crucible, the waterwheel, two chimneys and a section of the smelting trough in, we had to take off a mixture of turf, grass, fences, hedges, handrails and gates." "[Fife was] expertly marshalled by Katie (Mass movement), Diane (Choreography), Helen and Pete (Stage Management)."
 * Hampson-Ghani, David Comments on a YouTube video (http://www.youtube.com/user/anorakman10 commenting on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhOIMPBy9Iw) that he was WMW 509 in Fife County.
 * Voakes, Brian

Gloucestershire

 * McManus, Sean County G. Gloucestershire's area included the waterwheel and its stream. Smallest team 20, largest 190.

Hampshire

 * Gummer, Louise Covers up to but not including the performance itself.  WMW 600.

Jersey

 * Johnston, Colin WMW 874.
 * Reeve, Michael WMW 865.
 * See Anonymous in Forgers and Smelters section

Kent

 * Cooke, Declan  WMW 957.  50 in Kent.
 * See Offord, Olly in Soldiers section
 * Risley, David WMW 952
 * Willars, Dean
 * Anonymous In the same county as Declan Cooke

Unspecified county

 * See Arestis, Stefan in Forgers and Smelters section
 * Badal, Jimmy
 * Bain, Alasdair
 * Bell, Martin Peasant 783
 * Cox, Daniel
 * Duncan, Fiona A weaver
 * See Goodrick-Clarke, Peter in Forgers and Smelters section
 * Hameed, Muj
 * Jackson, Annette From Wapping, London; female.
 * Locke, Christopher  Two YouTube films/stills by him, uploaded by Simon March: WMWs in his group 231-376 that I can see; 'The Beam Team'.  Locke is from the Falkland Islands, commuted 4 times from there to rehearsals.
 * See Lovejoy, Jeffery in Forgers and Smelters section
 * See MacMorland, Matthew in Soldiers section
 * See O'Neale, David in Forgers and Smelters section
 * Scott, Vanessa
 * Shafi, Mohammed
 * Shannon, Colin WMW 253.  Possibly a miner?
 * Smallman, Etan
 * Smith, Neil
 * Thomas, David
 * Winchester, Deb
 * Youngs, John
 * (surname not given), Chris "In my little group there were people from Mexico, Taiwan, New Zealand, Trinidad, Jamaica and South Africa. The Brits among us were also travelling long distances to be there; one was coming from Liverpool and paying the train fares and hotel costs from his own pocket just to be a part of it. My little group contained a travel agent, an accountant, someone who works for the government on environmental issues, an ex-Royal Air Force pilot, a glass artist, a fraud investigator and an immigration officer. And what a terrific group of people they are. I will miss them all."

Warriors
Pink bibs with CRW. Nicknamed 'Warriors', (also known as miners) some 200 men brought in at a later date to help with heavy turf and structures, who came out of the Tor.
 * Archer, Alan A warrior, "We met Danny Boyle who was the director of the show, and he introduced us to Vicki Igbokwe (mass cast coordinator) and Carla Trim-Vamben (mass cast assistant), who were going to be working with my group containing 200 people."
 * Baros, Tim   A miner. WMW 917.
 * Carandang, Benedict  A "warrior"; miner. 200 coal miners; came out of the Tor; numbers in low 100s (111-129 visible, pink bibs).
 * Creswell, Nicholas A "warrior", one of 200, in group A2. (pink bib 001-200ish) Came up through the Tor
 * Dean, Charles A miner.
 * Robertson, Stephen "a "warrior" - one of 200 labourers scuttling out of the mocked-up Glastonbury Tor".
 * Walmsley, Thomas "We were in the group of men who came out of the hill and pulled up the grass and made it into the industrial revolution wasteland."

Forgers and smelters
The smelters had the wooden 'hoes' for scraping the impurities off the top of the steel as it flowed along the channel; the forgers were those with hoods, goggles and a sledgehammer who surrounded the ring channel and stood under the pyrotechnics.
 * Arestis, Stefan A forger. Moved some turf (ie was also a WMW), before changing costume and becoming one of 25 forgers; stood under the central ring as it rained fireworks.
 * Goodrick-Clarke, Peter A smelter, also earlier a WMW
 * Holmes, Alex A forger. 'I had to go to the centre to forge the Olympic rings as pyrotechnics exploded all round us. It was pretty cool (although obviously quite hot): we had to wear fireproof overalls and leather face masks ... You will always remember being there in the middle and hearing the applause – not being an individual, but just being part of it.'Forger', Alex Holmes, 24 ... I'm part of the industrial revolution section and about 15 minutes am one of the forges making the rings as this amazing pyrotechnic display goes on above our heads. The best bit is that Danny Boyle has told us that this is going to be the image that people will see beamed around the world, the one they will remember."  Heading wrongly states the words are by "Forger" Matthew Copeland, accountant, from Bognor Regis.
 * Lovejoy, Jeffery A smelter. Also a 'worker in the farming segment' ie a WMW (Dirty face make-up means he can't have been a Green and Pleasant Land villager fast-changeing to a smelter)
 * O'Neale, David . A smelter. Moved some turf (ie was also a WMW).

Soldiers

 * Offord, Olly A WMW in Kent. "I got to stand beneath the Olympic rings as they were forged together" is rather ambiguous - might suggest he was a forger too, but that would mean two costume changes on stage - no-one else had three parts.  Website links to further information don't work.
 * MacMorland, Matthew A WMW, then a soldier.
 * Anonymous A WMW in County Jersey, then a soldier, one of 22. Parts 2 and 3, 'Rehearsal' and 'The Big Night' marked as 'coming soon' on website.

Suffragettes
Grey bibs with SUF. 50 of them. Led by:
 * Pankhurst, Helen (great grand-daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and grand-daughter of Sylvia Pankhurst)
 * Butler, Sarah
 * Feloy, Ann 50 Suffragettes.
 * Haddad, Aceil SUF 46
 * Spokes, Ruth

Others in the track parade
Windrush / Nostalgia Steel Band / Carnival / Jarrow March / Pearly Kings and Queens / Chelsea Pensioners / Sergeant Peppers / newspaper boys / Grimethorpe Colliery Band etc. ???colour bibs with NEW for the Newspaper boys, ??? colour bibs with HIS for others.
 * Eliot, Henry Sergeant Pepper Beatle
 * Hryciw, Matt Jarrow marcher
 * Poulter, Kevin Sergeant Pepper Beatles: John Lennon
 * Rostant, André Steel band player with the Windrush
 * Watt, Chris Sergeant Pepper Beatles: John Lennon (one of the nine John Lennons).
 * (surname not given), Peter Porter in the Windrush section

Creative team and technical crew

 * Danny Boyle Gave no interviews after the ceremony; apart from a talk at Liverpool Hope University that he and Frank Cottrell Boyce gave on 10 October (uploaded on to YouTube in early March 2013), the first anyone heard his thoughts about it were when the BBC DVDs with his and Frank Cottrell Boyce's commentary track came out on 29 October 2012.  Then more radio silence (he was working on post-production on Trance) until his interview on Front Row (BBC Radio 4) with Mark Lawson on 10 December 2012.  First major print interviews were in the Daily Mail on 3 March 2013 and The Guardian on 9 March 2013, both because of promotional duties for Trance.  Also gave an interview to London schoolkids, uploaded on BBC website on 11 March 2013.
 * Frank Cottrell Boyce Video interview (Olympics from 11:20); collaborative effort: "I am the writer on the Olympic opening ceremony, I wasn't the writer of the Olympic opening ceremony."  10 October 2012 talk by FCB and Danny Boyle at Liverpool Hope University.

Choreography

 * Toby Sedgwick Interview before the ceremony, so not too many details: Brief interview after.
 * Steve Boyd Head of Mass Movement Choreography Website has videos of rehearsals etc

Mass Leaders
 * Nathan Wright
 * Nikki Woollaston female stage manager giving main IEM (in ear monitor) instructions to the WMW, as heard on the click track.
 * Rocky Smith
 * Gina Martinez
 * Soha Frem
 * Bryn Walters

Mass Coordinators
 * Ben Clare
 * Laura Gill
 * Vickie Igbokwe
 * Jeanefer Jean-Charles
 * Tash Khamjani
 * Katie Pearson
 * Barbarana Pons
 * Wendy Steatham

Mass Assistants
 * Edwina Allen
 * Taylor Anthony
 * Polly Bennett
 * Rachelle Conroy
 * Mez Howard
 * Sean Mulligan
 * Brenda Newhouse
 * Darragh O’Leary
 * Joseph Pitcher
 * Richard Pitt
 * Simone Sault
 * Carla Trim-Vamben
 * Claira Vaughan
 * Jayde Westaby