2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony The 2012 Summer Paralympics opening ceremony was held on 29 August 2012, starting at 20:30 BST and marking the official opening of the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, England. The show – named Enlightenment – had Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings as its artistic directors, leading a team that included Jon Bausor as set designer and Moritz Junge as costume designer. Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the Games. The ceremony was performed in the Olympic stadium in London in front of a capacity audience of 80,000 people. Students from local schools who are part of
2008 Summer Olympics opening ceremony watched Olympic Opening Ceremony ever held in a non-U.S. city by an American audience, a record previously held by the Lillehammer Games of 1994. It was the biggest television event in the U.S. in 2008 since the Super Bowl, and it also surpassed the ratings for the 2008 Academy Awards ceremony and that year's finale of "American Idol". In the United States, NBC concluded its broadcast with a message saying that their coverage of the opening ceremony was dedicated in memory of Jim McKay, longtime Olympics broadcaster with rival ABC, who died on 7 June. ABC "loaned" McKay to NBC