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Firm’s top-secret Olympic cauldron delight (From York Press)
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Firm’s top-secret Olympic cauldron delight
10:50am Tuesday 31st July 2012 in News
By Mike Laycock, Chief reporter
Stage One sales director Simon Wood with a prototype of the copper petals which were used in the London 2012 Olympics opening ceremony
THE Olympic cauldron which astonished a TV audience of one billion people around the world was constructed in top secret at a business near York.
Scores of staff at Stage One in Tockwith were involved in making the 16-ton cauldron, made up of 204 copper petals – one for each of the countries taking part in the Games.
The cauldron, which was given the personal approval of Prime Minister David Cameron, was lit at the climax of the opening ceremony in London on Friday night.
As athletes entered the stadium each national group was accompanied by a child carrying a petal, engraved with the country’s name. The petals were taken backstage and attached to stainless steel rods, and later lit by seven young athletes. The petals were then raised into the air to merge into one huge flame.
Simon Wood, Stage One sales director, said employees were sworn to secrecy throughout the project to build the cauldron, even keeping family members in the dark.
To aid with the secrecy, the cauldron was nicknamed Betty – apparently after a dog belonging to a colleague of London-based designer Thomas Heatherwick – while the base was called Frank.
Stage One, which operates around the world creating staging, scenery and effects for events, has previously worked on other Olympics-related projects, including the Athens Olympics opening ceremony and the Winter Olympics in Canada. More recently, it made the Olympic rings which have been installed on London’s Tower Bridge.
But Mr Wood said seeing the cauldron being lit at the opening ceremony of a London-based Olympics had been an especially thrilling moment for him and other staff members, most of whom watched the ceremony on TV at home like everyone else, although director Jim Tinsley and managing director Mark Johnson were in the stadium.
Mr Wood said: “It was somewhat nerve-racking. “All the hydraulics had been tested, but there is always the possibility of something going wrong. It had to go right.
“It was a one-off opportunity to show the world what Britain is capable of.”
He said the firm had won the tender to do the work about a year ago and the petals had all been sent off to London about six weeks ago.
Comments(20)
A user
says...
11:24am Tue 31 Jul 12
Ignatius Lumpopo
says...
11:25am Tue 31 Jul 12
Will.I.Aint
says...
11:37am Tue 31 Jul 12
Blimp
says...
11:56am Tue 31 Jul 12
jimmy120883
says...
12:24pm Tue 31 Jul 12
http://www.harrogate
-news.co.uk/2012/07/
30/olympic-cauldron-
built-in-harrogate/
RingoStarr
says...
12:25pm Tue 31 Jul 12
RingoStarr
says...
12:25pm Tue 31 Jul 12
matroom
says...
12:34pm Tue 31 Jul 12
Platform9
says...
2:08pm Tue 31 Jul 12
Whats all this London Olympics malarky?
Oncebitten
says...
3:53pm Tue 31 Jul 12
Well done Stage One.
R'Marcus
says...
5:26pm Tue 31 Jul 12
MrsHoney wrote:I second this.
It was one of the best things about the opening ceremony. Very original and beautiful with a lovely meaning behind it (and I'm not usually soppy about these sorts of things - lol).
The design is very unusual, and its assembly is origin.
Well done to the designers and mechanics.
TerryYork
says...
5:33pm Tue 31 Jul 12
fear your government
says...
5:53pm Tue 31 Jul 12
jimmy120883 wrote:it was actually built in an old air craft hangar just outside tockwith.
It was built in a shed i n Harrogate!
http://www.harrogate
-news.co.uk/2012/07/
30/olympic-cauldron-
built-in-harrogate/
rose_of_york
says...
7:17pm Tue 31 Jul 12
When they were carrying them round with the teams I though the commentator said "copper kettles" so was half expecting the cauldron to be a giant teapot!
expubcrawler
says...
8:35pm Tue 31 Jul 12
Magicman!
says...
2:37am Wed 1 Aug 12
MrsHoney
says...
8:59am Wed 1 Aug 12
rose_of_york wrote:Well it would've been very British - lol.
The best bit of the opening ceremony - well done. When they were carrying them round with the teams I though the commentator said "copper kettles" so was half expecting the cauldron to be a giant teapot!
The cauldron was a beautiful piece of sculpture, very cleverly designed and the idea behind it of all the nations coming together was just brilliant. You're quite right Magicman, it will be hard to beat. I wonder what they'll do with it afterwards? Will it stay at the stadium? I think it would be nice if it lived outside of London to be honest.
fear your government
says...
7:57pm Wed 1 Aug 12
MrsHoney wrote:i can tell you what happens to the cauldron...
rose_of_york wrote:Well it would've been very British - lol.
The best bit of the opening ceremony - well done. When they were carrying them round with the teams I though the commentator said "copper kettles" so was half expecting the cauldron to be a giant teapot!
The cauldron was a beautiful piece of sculpture, very cleverly designed and the idea behind it of all the nations coming together was just brilliant. You're quite right Magicman, it will be hard to beat. I wonder what they'll do with it afterwards? Will it stay at the stadium? I think it would be nice if it lived outside of London to be honest.
each team upon finishing the competition will take their copper piece home as a momento.
and i would imagine the rest will be scrapped.
PinzaC55
says...
2:02pm Thu 2 Aug 12
That's a relief.
MrsHoney says...
11:21am Tue 31 Jul 12