BBC NEWS: Olympic ceremony plans

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At 55, the director Danny Boyle already has a 30-year career behind him marked by audacity and imagination. He started out in the theatre and TV then moved with success into the cinema: Trainspotting, Sunshine and the Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire are all his: it's notable that each is totally different. So when the London Olympics took on Danny Boyle to create this year's opening ceremony they knew to expect the unexpected.

The traditional walk-through of competing athletes will still happen but it'll be preceded by an hour's pageant called 'Green and Pleasant' which will be unlike anything seen at any Olympics. The set will transform the huge Olympic stadium into a recreation of the British countryside, with rolling meadows and a bucolic village green. There'll be horses, cows, geese and three sheepdogs.

Danny Boyle says it will be the starting point of a definition of what modern Britain is, not just London. Danny Boyle says that four years ago Beijing was the highpoint of a certain type of ceremonial spectacle. What we see next month will be more inclusive and warmer. As a director Danny Boyle has always shown a talent for avoiding the obvious so we can expect further surprises to come.