The BBC's Olympics titles transform the landscape of the United Kingdom into a giant sporting arena
The BBC has unveiled the title sequence and marketing campaign for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
A 60-second trail was broadcast during half-time in the Euro 2012 final.
Based on a "Stadium UK" concept, the animation will be seen on television coverage and used on computers, mobiles, tablets and connected TV.
The track, First Steps by Elbow, will be available as a digital-only download from 27 July with all profits going to BBC Children in Need and Sport Relief.
The UK is seen as a giant stadium with Olympic athletes preparing and competing in a range of landscapes.
Scenes include:
- Swimmers battling it out in lanes created by buoys on a net cast by a fisherman
- A BMX rider preparing at the edge of a cliff
- Track cyclists racing around quarries
- Sprinters and gymnasts going through their paces on streets
BBC 2012 marketing head Louisa Fyans said the challenge had been to create a campaign reflecting the BBC's unique role as the UK's Olympic broadcaster and the scale of the Olympic Games.
"Animation enabled us to deliver to this brief and helped us create something really special for the BBC's London 2012 campaign," she added.
The concept was devised by creative agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R. The animation was created by Passion Pictures and it was produced by Red Bee Media.
Alison Hoad, joint chief executive of Rainey Kelly, said national anticipation had been building since London was awarded the Games in 2005.
The agency had tried to capture national pride and excitement by depicting the UK as one huge stadium, with an "epic" anthem scored by Elbow.
The band's lead singer, Guy Garvey, said: "The Olympic Games is about the coming together of people to celebrate our best athletes and it was as important to have a sympathetic theme for the losers as it was for the winners."
The track was performed with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and the NovaVox gospel choir.
Elbow have waived all fees and royalties and retailers will not take profits from the download.
The full 2min 40secs version of the the trail will be broadcast at 19.30 BST on Tuesday 3 July on BBC One with 60, 40, 30 and five second edits used throughout the campaign.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London Sees A 43% Rise In Rough Sleeping - Londonist
A report by a homelessness charity has shown a 43% increase since 2011 in people sleeping rough in London.
Broadway said 5,678 people slept on the streets between March 2011 and April, up from 3,975 the previous year despite Boris Johnson’s pre-election pledge to end rough sleeping by the end of 2012. London Assembly member Darren Johnson described the mayor as ‘dangerously complacent’ in a press release:
“The mayor has failed to defend London against cuts to homelessness services, cuts to housing benefits, and a poorly regulated rental sector. The tragic consequence of these problems during a recession is more people sleeping rough.
“The mayor’s aim of ending rough sleeping is a distant dream if things continue in this direction. When I have raised these concerns in recent months the mayor has been dangerously complacent, unwilling to call for radical changes.”
The ease of which people can find themselves homeless can be scarily mundane — with London’s rents becoming more and more unaffordable, it only takes one lost job, one housing benefit cap and no money for a deposit for someone to find themselves without a roof over their head. Analysis of government figures by Homeless Link show an national increase of 44% in people becoming homeless because of an end to their shorthold tenancy. The group also highlight a service that is ‘dangerously close to the wire’ due to increased demand at the same time as funding is reduced. In April, homelessness charities claimed that Boris Johnson had skimmed £5m of government funding from his budget for support for rough sleepers.
Homeowners are just as much at risk — homelessness charity Shelter recently identified the London Borough of Barking & Dagenham as a repossession hotspot. Government proposals to remove housing benefit for people under 25 could also lead to a new wave of the homeless young.
Let’s just take a moment to remind ourselves of what Boris’s manifesto said about homelessness:
I have secured investment and launched a range of initiatives to ensure that, by the end of 2012, no one should be living on the street, and no one who arrives on the street should spend a second night sleeping rough. This year I will expand No Second Night Out (NSNO, and establish a second hub which enables outreach to be done indoors rather than on the streets. I will also work to ensure that the new London Health Improvement Board works with health commissioners to improve the outcomes for homeless people.
Is it working? The Broadway report says that of the 3,825 people sleeping rough for the first time in London, 2,696 (70%) spent only one night on the streets before being moved to hostels, residential treatment centres and private rented accommodation under the No Second Night Out campaign. Which is obviously great, but two of those come with inherent problems. Residential treatment centres will only house someone for long enough to resolve their drug or alcohol dependency issues meaning the person could be homeless again at the end of their treatment.
Private rented accommodation is also fraught with difficulties — Crisis highlighted some of the practical problems, for example, a homeless person being housed in an unfurnished flat. Their report also examined fears that landlords would increase the rent or evict them, both very real possibilities and as we mentioned above, often the reason the person is homeless in the first place.
Concerns have also been raised over NSNO’s definitions of rough sleeping. The Guardian reported in February that outreach workers refused to assist a homeless man because he was inside a McDonalds restaurant at the time they were alerted to his presence. Elsewhere in London, rough sleepers are not recorded as such because they sleep on night buses.
Broadway chief executive Howard Sinclair said:
“The overall level of need shows how essential it is for us all not only to respond swiftly once people lose their homes, but also to turn our attention to preventing homelessness and family breakdown.”
Photo by essexdiver in the Londonist Flickr pool.
Source: londonist.com
City of London Festival, Mansion House, London - Financial Times
After the celebrations of the past month any further talk of jubilees may seem excessive. Founded in 1962, the City of London Festival is 50 this year and is fortunate that its jubilee was timed so that it just missed being trumped by its regal counterpart, especially as they shared some of the same City landmarks.
This year’s festival opened last week with a service and concert in St Paul’s Cathedral. From the beginning the aim has been to spread music through the streets and historic buildings of the City, especially those not usually open to the public. This year’s 50th anniversary programme includes more than 100 free outdoor events and among the most prestigious of the indoor venues is Mansion House, home of the Lord Mayor of London.
It is always a pleasure to attend a concert in the Egyptian Hall, not least as the acoustics are surprisingly good given its barrel-vaulted design. Seating about 350, it is ideal for a medium-sized band of period instruments and this concert featured the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, conducted by Edward Gardner, hot-foot from a blistering performance of Britten’s Billy Budd at the London Coliseum the night before.
The central attraction, albeit brief, was one of this year’s festival commissions. In theory, Tansy Davies’s Delphic Bee is a site-specific piece, as it takes its inspiration from the beehive on the roof of Mansion House, but it is unlikely that this could have been divined from any of its four short movements. The interest here was in hearing the striking sonorities that can be drawn from a nine-piece wind ensemble of period instruments – venomous (perhaps buzzing?) horns in the first movement, cocky bassoons in the third. Delphic Bee did not add up to much, though.
On either side, Gardner and the OAE played some uplifting Mendelssohn. Alina Ibragimova was the elegant soloist in the Violin Concerto, her slim, vibrato-lite tone spinning silken lines, and in the faster movements she really put on some pace. Gardner and the orchestra just kept up with her and in the Symphony No.4, the “Italian”, countered with some sprightly Mendelssohn of their own. Their final “Saltarello” left the City of London speed limit standing.
Source: www.ft.com
London borough pension funds "small, not beautiful" - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - London's borough councils need political impetus to reform an illogical pension fund system for their employees which is squandering money in administrative and management costs, the head of one of the capital's largest funds told Reuters.
The idea of pooling London's 34 separate local authority pension schemes to create a single fund with around 30 billion pounds ($47 billion) in assets was pitched to council leaders three months ago as a means of shaving some of the 30 million pounds annual administrative costs.
On Monday a debate will be held by British think-tank Demos between several council leaders and academics on the benefits and drawbacks of such a merger.
"Some people believe small is beautiful, others believe in economies of scale," said Mike Taylor, chief executive of the London Pensions Fund Authority, which manages over 4 billion pounds and is one of the main proponents of the plan.
"We believe that 50 years after the London boroughs were set up it's time to review the arrangements, particularly for the pension funds which seem one of the more illogical arrangements to have 34 funds doing the same thing in London."
The initiative comes at a time when pensions funds around the world are having to adjust to major shifts in demographics as people live longer as well as dwindling asset returns as markets whipsaw in thrall to the current financial and economic crises.
But any change is likely to take some years as well as much effort. Taylor says that at a time of major change in public sector pensions as the recommendations of a government-sponsored review are implemented, he would look at a target date of 2016.
Before a plan can even properly be conceived political consensus needs to be reached by the leaders of London's councils and then a proper cost benefit analysis can be commissioned, says Taylor.
He said leaders are due to get together for a formal summit in September or October to discuss the proposals further but anecdotally they have not yet been endorsed by a majority.
Opponents argue that autonomy over investment decisions for each individual pot of money might be taken away. But Taylor suggests that more needs to be done to persuade local leaders that within a pooled structure there could be several investment options.
He also says that in addition to the administrative and management costs that could be saved with a larger pool of assets, the option of an in-house manager would also be possible enabling greater investment choice and further synergies.
Proponents have also suggested that a pooled pension fund could then invest around 7.5 percent of its assets or around 2 billion pounds into infrastructure funds, which would be a welcome boost to government efforts to raise money for UK infrastructure projects.
The Pensions Protection Fund (PPF), the national lifeboat for struggling pension funds, and the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) is hoping to raise 2 billion pounds from 10-12 pension schemes to launch a government-backed infrastructure fund in January 2013.
This has also raised concerns that any pledge towards infrastructure projects might be politically motivated given the UK government's drive to attract funds into the sector.
"Infrastructure is the carrot to combine the fund," said Taylor.
"There are many opportunities for local infrastructure projects provided the investment case remains paramount."
($1=0.6429 pounds)
(Editing by Greg Mahlich)
Source: uk.reuters.com
London 2012: Eriksson would have picked David Beckham - BBC News
Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson is surprised David Beckham has been left out of Team GB at this summer's Olympics.
Beckham, 37, revealed that he had been left out of the 18-man squad, with Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards chosen as the over-age players.
"I would have picked him, put him on the bench at the very least," said Eriksson.
"He is an icon, he should be involved in the Olympic Games in some way."
Beckham who currently plays in the MLS with LA Galaxy, was watched twice by Team GB boss Stuart Pearce, who is set to name his final squad next week.
"I hope he will be involved in some way in the Olympic Games, it's important," added Eriksson who was speaking to the BBC Radio 5 live programme Sportsweek.
Giggs excited by Olympics
"It is the Olympic Games, it is Great Britain, it is England, it is London."
Former Manchester United team-mate Ryan Giggs, who is set to feature in the London 2012 football squad, has also admitted he is disappointed that Beckham will not be there with him.
"As a former team-mate and as a friend of David's I am immensely disappointed for him, but he will take it on his chin and carry on with his career. It's just one of those things that wasn't meant to be.
"It's Stuart Pearce's job to pick a team that he thinks can win. That's what he's done - unfortunately David's not in that 18. Like I said, as a friend I wish he was, but I'm sure the lads who are picked will go out and do the best they can."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
London 2012 Olympics: Usain Bolt again beaten by Yohan Blake - The Guardian
Usain Bolt had to endure the bitter taste of defeat for the second time in the space of three days as he was again bested by training partner Yohan Blake, in the men's 200m final, as the curtain came down on the National Trials at National Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica.
Blake clocked a new personal best of 19.80 ahead of Bolt, who finished second in 19.83 and Warren Weir, who was third in a time 20.03.
Only two days ago Blake shocked Bolt, and most of the track and field world by claiming the Jamaica's men's 100m crown in a world-leading time of 9.75 on Friday and looked a good bet to claim the sprint double, comfortably dipping below 20 seconds in the event's semi-finals on Saturday.
Bolt, the double Olympic champion, once the symbol of track and field invincibility, looked well short on form and miles away from his world record of 19.19, beginning to grimace 15 metres from the line as he looked to keep pace with Blake, who had inched ahead down the stretch.
Bolt got a fair start and covered most of the field by the 80 metre mark, but Blake, who has the second fastest time ever over the event, 19.26, was able to keep pace and that set up a battle of wills down the stretch. Before Sunday's defeat Bolt had lost only twice in three years and had not lost in his favoured 200m event for the better part of five years.
In the women's 200m final Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce made a bold statement ahead of the London 2012 Games, as she not only beat reigning Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, but more impressively showed plenty of power and top end speed down the stretch, typically the weakest part of her race.
Fraser-Pryce clocked a personal best 22.10, ahead of Olympic silver medalist Sherone Simpson, 22.37, and Campbell-Brown, who was third with a time of 22.42. Fraser-Pryce, as has become customary, had a solid start but was tracked well by Campbell-Brown who caught up ahead of the 100m mark.
Perhaps not yet in top shape, Campbell-Brown duelled with Fraser-Pryce the rest of the way, but struggled to keep up with the powerfully striding athlete down the stretch and eventually wilted under the pressure, which allowed Simpson ease by to claim the second spot.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
TOWIE: Chloe Sims and Jessica Wright show off their curves and Essex tans in similar plunging dresses - Daily Mail
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They both hail from TOWIE so they've got their Essex looks perfected down to a T.
But it seems both Jessica Wright and Chloe Sims have adopted styles a bit too similar to each other.
That was certainly the case when they both stepped out to party the night away last night.
All white on the night: TOWIE's Chloe Sims and Jessica Wright headed out in similar plunging white mini-dresses for separate nights out this weekend
They headed out separately, with Jessica hitting Liverpool with boyfriend Ricky Rayment, and Chloe choosing to let her hair down in London with best pal Lauren Pope.
Both girls had a common theme with their get-ups as they wore similar ensembles.
They showed off their Marbella tans as they revealed their ample curves and legs in short white dresses with their dark hair worn down.
Chloe wore a white and beige geometric patterned bandage 'Polly' frock from Celeb Boutique.
Girls' night out: Chloe Sims was joined by Lauren Pope, who wore a Bullet For My Valentine rock T-shirt with a white mullet skirt
On show: Chloe flaunted her Marbella tan and cleavage in the revealing dress as she stepped out in London to Jewel Bar
And she was styled to perfection as she flaunted her large chest and had her make-up crafted on.
She headed to a party at Jewel Bar in the capital as she was joined by Lauren Pope, who covered up slightly more in a Bullet For My Valentine rock T-shirt.
She wore it tucked into a white mullet skirt as she walked along with Chloe.
Letting their hair down: Chloe shared this photo on Twitter of them dancing closely with each other
Dressed up: Jessica Wright, meanwhile, was in Liverpool to launch her new single Dance All Night and wore a similar outfit to Sims'
Surprise! She was shocked when boyfriend Ricky Rayment decided to show up and support her at the event
And they had clearly had a good night as Sims took to Twitter to share a picture of themselves dancing closely in the club.
Meanwhile, Jessica headed to Moniques Bar to launch her debut single Dance All Night.
She opted for a white peplum dress and white heels with gold studs for the appearance and was treated to a surprise when boyfriend Ricky showed up.
Happy couple: Ricky and Jessica looked loved up as they posed for photographs on their way to Moniques Bar
The loved up pair grinned for cameras and were seen as they cuddled and kissed.
She wrote on Twitter afterwards: '@RickyRayment surprised me in liverpool last night little cutie, now were both off to work miss him already xxxx.'
Jessica then added: 'Liverpool done! On way to final gig of the weekend then home. My bed is gona feel like a dream tonight.'
Night out: Lauren Pope showed off her legs in a mullet skirt while Chloe went for a tight mini-dress
And she seemed to be pleased with the reaction she got on Twitter following the PA.
Mark Wright's sister added: 'Thank you for all being so nice... I'm so grateful going through my tweets and havin so much support I'm a lucky girl xxxx.'
Party time: Frankie Essex was also out and about in east London wearing a gold and black printed bodycon dress at the same time
It was a busy night on the town for the TOWIE stars as Frankie Essex also let her hair down for the night.
But she also headed out separately as she turned up to the Doll House club in east London.
Frankie wore a figure hugging gold and black bodycon 'Lacey' dress also from CelebBoutique.com as she showed up with friends.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Chloe is the epitome of the perfect woman! Gorgeous, sexy figure and so talented. My daughter loves her and so do I.
- Harriet & Blah Blah Nyborg, 8 Mountainview, 02/7/2012 00:49
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