Film producer Danny Boyle said the ceremony would be called ‘The Isles of Wonder’ and would be based on a line from Shakespeare’s play The Tempest.
A huge bell has been commissioned from the Whitechapel Bell Foundry for the show. Boyle said: "It will be the largest ringing bell in Europe and it will open the ceremony and the Olympic Games. It will welcome the athletes to the city. The bell will be inscribed with the line from the Tempest."
He added: "We hope that the bell will hang in the park long after we’re all gone, for whenever the next Shakespeare arrives. Hopefully that will remind them that we had a great opportunity here to celebrate the Olympic sprit."
Boyle will work with British music duo Underworld who are producing the music for the ceremony, .
Boyle admitted he had wanted to keep details of the ceremony secret, but was releasing some because he knew information would come out before the event. "All the volunteers will have cameras and Sky News will have helicopters over the stadium while we’re rehearsing," he said. "But we have a couple of things that we’re hoping to keep back from people, which will delight them on the evening."
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