Deeping wrote:Don’t know what was so right and British about the Freddy Mercury guy, they showed a video of a dead guy who was born in India, gay, and died of aids. Should we be proud of this person or am I not seeing it right?

Born in Zanzibar actually.....akin to many of 'our' sporting heroes...eg Kevin Pietersen

MrGrumpy wrote:

Deeping wrote:Don’t know what was so right and British about the Freddy Mercury guy, they showed a video of a dead guy who was born in India, gay, and died of aids. Should we be proud of this person or am I not seeing it right?

Born in Zanzibar actually.....akin to many of 'our' sporting heroes...eg Kevin Pietersen

I stand corrected, still – not British at birth so how does he represent Britishness, if there is such a word, and convey it to the world?
I think the ceremony was wasted on me as I did not understand what they were trying to say.

Deeping wrote:

MrGrumpy wrote:

Deeping wrote:Don’t know what was so right and British about the Freddy Mercury guy, they showed a video of a dead guy who was born in India, gay, and died of aids. Should we be proud of this person or am I not seeing it right?

Born in Zanzibar actually.....akin to many of 'our' sporting heroes...eg Kevin Pietersen

I stand corrected, still – not British at birth so how does he represent Britishness, if there is such a word, and convey it to the world?
I think the ceremony was wasted on me as I did not understand what they were trying to say.

I doubt that few of us can trace our ancestry very far back before we discover we aren't really "British" after all.

The problem with modern Britain is, I think, that we have still not really found our collective identity after empire. But to me this Olympics went a good way towards it. If you didn't get it, that's ok. Maybe something else will help you.

nicked this off modern vespa

https://fbcdn-video-a.akamaihd.net/cfs- ... 8e60380d46

Deeping wrote:Don’t know what was so right and British about the Freddy Mercury guy, they showed a video of a dead guy who was born in India, gay, and died of aids. Should we be proud of this person or am I not seeing it right?

Freddie was born in Zanzibar and grew up in India until his mid-teens...

Bradley Wiggins was born in Gent (Belgium)... but we don't hold that against him (do we?)

im suprised they didnt have the rollin stone's..... surely the most successfull british band ..but...with all that young fanny in the stadium it would have been a job keeping mick jagger away from it.... and yes i also thought posh spice looked a miserable witch...not the kind of gal one would look forward to coming home to every night.... jessie j... superb singer...and even better..her unbelievable arse..... i enjoyed it...

Deeping's comment about Freddie Mercury is about the stupidest thing I've ever read on this forum. So he was gay.... that's not a crime nor does it matter one jot to who he was if he died of AIDS contracted at a time before it was fully understood... George Michael is also gay of course, but George Michael was also find high on drugs in charge of driving a car on more than one occasion. Why wasn't he mentioned in the comment?

I was really hoping they'd show more Freddie footage as I think he was fabulous. Yes he was flamboyant and had a very vigorous sex life but that's hardly illegal. Lennon and the rest of the Beatles spent a lot of time high on drugs, as I'm sure a lot of the featured artists from those decades probably did.

loonymoon wrote: I was really hoping they'd show more Freddie footage as I think he was fabulous. Yes he was flamboyant and had a very vigorous sex life but that's hardly illegal. Lennon and the rest of the Beatles spent a lot of time high on drugs, as I'm sure a lot of the featured artists from those decades probably did.

I'm with Carmen on this one.
Freddie Mercury was certainly flamboyant, the ultimate showman. Never got to see Queen live, but the shows I saw on TV and video, he was good!!

Unless it affects someone else, I fail to see what somebody's sexuality has to do with anyone else.

Yes, a lot of those earlier bands were on drugs, (some of 'em probably still are!) but whose to say these modern so-called 'stars' aren't? Or is there another explanation for their behaviour?

loonymoon wrote:Deeping's comment about Freddie Mercury is about the stupidest thing I've ever read on this forum. So he was gay.... that's not a crime nor does it matter one jot to who he was if he died of AIDS contracted at a time before it was fully understood... George Michael is also gay of course, but George Michael was also find high on drugs in charge of driving a car on more than one occasion. Why wasn't he mentioned in the comment?

I was really hoping they'd show more Freddie footage as I think he was fabulous. Yes he was flamboyant and had a very vigorous sex life but that's hardly illegal. Lennon and the rest of the Beatles spent a lot of time high on drugs, as I'm sure a lot of the featured artists from those decades probably did.

I think you missed my point, maybe I wrote it badly. I thought the closing ceremony was to promote Britain to the rest of the world and what it stood for. I sited FM as not typically British, was I wrong in your opinion. I said they showed him on a video, why not use a performance of some who is here with use, live as it were instead of a recording? Promoting Britain for what it is now not what it was by using an old recording.

scorpakid wrote:im suprised they didnt have the rollin stone's..... surely the most successfull british band ..but...with all that young fanny in the stadium it would have been a job keeping mick jagger away from it....

Rumour has it that the Rolling Stones motto was/is "No snow no show..." Now, I could be wrong, but you cant buy a lot of 'snow' for a £1!