Thanks to Luke who sent me some shots of the Olympic Opening Ceremony. They are taken from a video sequence during which a helicopter flew over the Thames from source to London. You had to be keen eyed to spot Abingdon during the live opening ceremony. All I saw was the cooling towers of Didcot Power Station then Henley. But Luke’s screen shots show that there was aerial footage of the town.
Luke says “Incidentally, a couple of months ago we received a letter through the door from the BBC notifying us that they were filming with a helicopter on selected dates and that they hoped this would not be of too much disturbance.”
During the ceremony, footage was also shown of a young Abingdon School rowing team training on the river. Some of those lads could be gold medal heroes in 2016 in Rio (just 1464 days away).
Lloyds TSB, one of the official sponsors, have created their own Google Street View on facebook, following the flame.
In it you can pick yourself out of the crowd to tag or to blur. Also, if you have two or three hours to spare you could see whether the official estimate of 15,000 people lining the streets in Abingdon is accurate. Try lloydstsb 2012 torch view as a starter. Then “Find and Tag yourself along the route.”
Good spotting whoever captured those shots. Abingdon Freewheeling cycling club managed a bit of guerilla marketing by getting our banner on the TV coverage of the Women’s & Men’s Time Trial including a shot with Bradley Wiggins aka Wiggo swooping by us. Blink and you’d miss us but we’re there :O)