What’s on Danny Boyle’s iTunes?

A list of 86 tracks have been announced for the Opening Ceremony playlist. As you can imagine, this has got music lovers’ tongues wagging as people debate which tracks they would have included. The list includes God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, the Eastenders theme tune, Wonderwall by Oasis, Dambusters, Adele’s Rolling in the Deep and Underworld’s Born Slippy, to name a few.

Last week, Danny Boyle gave a press conference releasing details of his vision for the opening moments of the ceremony. It will be an ‘anarchic pastoral scene’ with real animals, depicting England as a green and pleasant land. He says he will be try to capture the humanity and warmth of Sydney 2000’s ceremony using wit and inventiveness, rather than sheer expense as was the case in Beijing.

Just don’t mention plans to add a new airport to London’s next-to-bursting sprawl or the HS2 high-speed rail link destined to cut across precious greenbelt land as it connects London to Birmingham. (They’re already linked). I joke, but actually, judging Danny Boyle and his Musical Directors Underworld at this stage would be like hopping in a time machine and telling Van Gogh his sketches of some sunflowers were a bit ropey. Either way, on the night of 27th July, I’m sure Danny Boyle will be added to the Queen’s New Year’s Honours List. Arise Sir Danny!