The Happy Wonderer

I was standing in the grounds of Belfast City Hall on Friday night when a familiar tune kicked in. Like a many other people, I looked up to the big television screen for context and there was David Beckham in a speedboat, lashing along the Thames, en route for the Olympic stadium, fixing to deliver that torch. The soundtrack was 'I Heard Wonders' by David Holmes and it sounded just about perfect. Not everybody may have noted the reference, but within seconds, the Twitter and Facebook accounts were fizzing with approval. Mr Holmes was representing.

Later, I was at the Stiff Kitten watching General Fiasco when Alex Trimble from Two Door Cinema Club had his moment in the stadium. I watched it afterwards on iPlayer and this was also excellent cheer. It was a new song by Rick Smith from Underworld called 'Caliban's Surprise'. Which was itself a neat reference back to Shakespeare's lines from 'The Tempest' that Kenneth Branagh had used to usher in the ceremony. Both Shakespeare and Danny Boyle may have had a different island in mind from our own, but only the most contrary cuss could not feel included in this ceremony.

There was a very different scenario in Belfast, 1982 when Northern Ireland beat Spain in the World Cup. I was in the Eglantine Bar and the entire place turned to the TV screen and broke into a chorus of "Are you watching, Jimmy Hill?" The feeling was that the team had won in the face of UK media indifference - a panel of commentators that was often partisan, Anglo-centric, male, middle-aged and just about capable of acknowledging the "plucky Irish". That night's result in Valencia had felt like a double victory. And boy, did we gloat.

So I was a little fearful of the Olympic ceremony, that the nations would be patronized and that the capital would be over-bearing. But Danny Boyle brought everyone into his production and worked a new narrative through his sustained sense of wonder. It rocked and it was unconventional. Caliban, the outcast, the put-upon, misunderstood islander, is surely smiling.