Boyle was offered a knighthood in late 2012 , but turned it down , saying " I 'm very proud to be an equal citizen and I think that 's what the Opening Ceremony was actually about . " The ceremony was identified by some commentators as precipitating a new mood in the United Kingdom : it " had barely finished before it had become a byword for a new approach , not only to British culture but to Britishness itself . Politicians would soon be referring to it , using it as shorthand for a new kind of patriotism that does not lament a vanished Britain but loves the country that has changed . Boyle 's ceremony was hailed from ( almost ) all sides ... for providing a nation that had grown used to mocking its myriad flaws with a new , unfamiliarly positive view of itself ... It was , perhaps , this lack of cynicism that people responded to ... So used to British irony and detachment , it felt refreshing to witness an unembarrassed , positive case for this country . Boyle himself says this was the most important thing he took away from the Olympic experience : " How important it is to believe in something . You might make a fool of yourself and people will go , ' How can you believe in that , you stupid idiot ? ' But if you believe in something , you carry people with you . " Business leaders also took inspiration from the event , admiring its risk-taking and creative freedom , as well as the trust placed in and loyalty inspired from the workers and volunteers . In February 2013 the BBC 's Head of Drama Ben Stephenson told an audience of writers , commissioners and producers that he " wanted them to seek inspiration from the opening ceremony of the London Olympics " which , he said , " had scale and brilliance and , above all , had succeeded not in spite of its Britishness but because of its Britishness , delighting viewers here and around the world by rooting itself in the authentic stories and spirit of these islands . " Steve Coogan told Frank Cottrell-Boyce that he felt it was " like the emperor 's new clothes in reverse ... it made irony and postmodernism feel tired and past its sell-by date " , and Russell T Davies told Boyce : " It changed my idea of the possible . " Reviewing the 2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony at Sochi , Russia , Owen Gibson of '' The Guardian '' observed that with his ' complex , intimate snapshot of " who we were , who we are and who we wish to be " ' , Boyle ' rewrote the rule book for opening ceremonies '
2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
2014 Winter Olympics opening ceremony
2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony