The Olympic Stadium #1YearOn - The Anniversary Games

On Sunday I went back to the Olympic Park and the Olympic Stadium for the Anniversary Games and the parathletics.  It was a great to see so many people on the train heading the same way, with loads of them decked out in Olympic clothes with Olympic bags, old folks and youngsters all going back to relive the memories. For some, it was probably their first trip, taking the opportunity to go to the Stadium while they still can. A little frison of excitement went through the coach as we passed the Stadium and we all knew where we were.

Once we'd got through the ticket barrier and the searches it was time to look around as we got closer to the Stadium. The 'wings' on the aquatic centre have been removed and it's being re-built but it still leans out over the walkway to the Stadium. What I wasn't prepared for was the desolation on the other side of the park where it's all been flattened and buildings and landscaping removed as they prepare to rebuild the area. That was a bid sad but I'm sure it'll delight us all again.

The Stadium is missing its external decoration, the vinyl stripes that covered the outside of the structure and we're left with the bones of the place. That was a bit of a surprise since it looks very different with no decoration but it's still fully functional and still so easy to get in and out of. It's great piece of design. And on Sunday it seemed even better since our seats were just in front of the finishing line so we had a great view of the climax of all the races. Wherever you sit in the Stadium you get a great view but sitting over the finishing line provides a spectacular view.

And what races and competitions. I saw people doing their thing who were on Royal Mail stamps last year! I saw Hannah Cockcroft, Jonnie Peacock and David Weir win Gold last year and they were there again yesterday. Hannah won and then commented that she could go faster and David Weir won an astonishing One Mile race with him speeding out ahead of the field and finishing with nearly half a lap between him and the rest of the race. Jonnie didn't win but he was beaten by two world records so that's nothing to worry about. I also saw Richard Whitehead win the 200m, zooming past from the back as ever to win wearing his golden blades and with his arms raised. In the post-race interview he told us about running from Lands End to John O'Groats for charity. He'll do it too.

On the field we had Dan Greaves (with the excellent Twitter name of @DiscusDan) and Aled Davies on shot-put and, of course, many others. I was proud of all of them and cheered everyone, especially those coming last since they finished the race and deserve praise. The cheers were shared out across everyone by a crowd excited to see extraordinary performances right in front of us.

A little moment of joy was scanning the track to see where the Olympic rings had been painted on the track and seeing them again. The television coverage makes it look like there's nothing there but I could clearly see the marks of the rings on the track and, a little nearer the finishing line, the marks of the agitos Paralympic sign. They're very faint but a year later and they're still there! You can't get rid of all signs of the Olympics from the Stadium no matter how hard you try. As far as I'm concerned it will always be the Olympic Stadium.

All too soon it was over, the races had finished and the final medal ceremony was completed and it was time to leave. A last few photos and out into the park again, over the exit bridge and walking through the building site outside the Stadium, saying a farewell to so many memories of London 2012 and now, of course, 2013. The Olympics is the Games that keeps on giving.

And, of course, I wore my London Ambassadorial trilby. Some things are important!

The Plastic Bag Awards 2012

It's time for the annual Plastic Bag Awards, the Baggies 2012.

2012 has been a special year for us in London with the Olympics and Paralympics over the summer and, before that, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee. So much has been going on from Shakespeare plays being acted by actors from all over the world in their own languages at the Globe to pop-up themed musical festivals all along the Thames. As every year, there are revivals and tours, new records released and exhibitions of the great and beautiful. In other words, a lot to choose from.

Best Theatre - Play

The five nominees for best play are:

• She Stoops To Conquer
• What The Butler Saw
• Timon of Athens
• The Last of the Haussmanns
• Much Ado About Nothing

Three of the nominees were from the National Theatre ('She Stoops', 'Timon' and 'Haussmanns') and, of these, I'd pick 'Haussmanns' as the best production, both cheeky and funny with great characters. That came close to winning but the Baggie goes to the wonderful 'Much Ado About Nothing' starring Meera Syal in the innovative Indian version of the play that made me laugh out loud (and I never laugh at Shakespeare, especially the comedies). Meera showed her true acting skills once again, a great actor as well as comedian and writer, wringing every little bit of humour and emotion from the piece. This was the fourth time I'd seen Meera on stage and she keeps getting better. Well done!

Best Theatre - Musical

I didn't see many musicals this year and some of those wouldn't be nominated for a Baggie (such as the time vortex that was 'Starlight Express'). The nominees are:

• Matilda The Musical
• Torch Song Trilogy
• Come Dancing - The Concert
• The Harder They Come - The Concert
• Taboo

'Matilda' was a joy and it was lovely to relive happy memories with the concert versions of 'Come Dancing' and 'The Harder They Come'. It was also good to see 'Torch Song Trilogy' but the award goes to another revival, 'Taboo'!

I saw 'Taboo' a few times in its original run so it was good to see the current revival at the Brixton Clubhouse since it's the Broadway version with some subtle (and not so subtle) changes.  The cast were excellent and it was a delight to see Paul Baker in the role he made his own years ago, playing Philip Sallon. Sam Buttery was great as Leigh Bowery and Katie Kerr delivered a heart-wrenching 'Il Adore' as Big Sue. The production was due to close before Christmas but it's been extended, with a new cast, until March. A hugely enjoyable show with some great songs and performances. See it if you can.

Best Theatre - Entertainment

This is sometimes my favourite Baggies category for all the 'performances' that don't really fit anywhere else and this year was particularly rich in performances.  The nominees are:

• Matthew Bourne's Early Adventures
• Geo Wyeth @ Soho Theatre
• Rain of Poems
• The Unthanks - Songs From The Shipyards
• Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty

Matthew Bourne features twice with his 'Early Adventures' as part of his celebration of 25 years of his New Adventure company and with his new production of 'Sleeping Beauty'. Geo Wyeth is a New York singer, composer and performance artist and had a short season at the Soho Theatre in early summer. The Rain of Poems was a terrific event - and great fun - on the Southbank with poems printed on cards being thrown out of a helicopter in an artistic/political performance about dropping poems on cities rather than bombs. The Unthanks gave a marvellous live performance playing the soundtrack to a film about the growth and death of the shipyards on the Tyne.

All of these have their own merits but the Baggie goes to the magical Matthew Bourne's Sleeping Beauty and its gothic tale of faeries and vampires. The sumptuous design, the story-telling and the twists and turns in the plot made it a joy to behold. I've already got tickets to see it again...

Best Gig

I didn't go to that many gigs in 2012 but did seem to go in multiples - three Amanda Palmer gigs, two Maximo Park gigs and two Buffy Sainte-Marie events (gig and a talk).

• Buffy Sainte-Marie @ Queen Elizabeth Hall
• Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra @ Koko
• Ray Davies @ The Fairfield Halls
• Maximo Park @ Shepherd's Bush
• The Human League @ The Royal Albert Hall

It's always a joy to see Buffy, particularly when she does an extended set and plays some of the songs we rarely hear. Amanda moved to a new level at Koko with her most professional gig yet and Ray Davies and Maximo Park both produced the goods as ever. But, the Baggie has to go to the Human League for their sheer professionalism, the amazing lights and staging, great sound and a set full of hit songs from the last three decades. From the second song the whole audience - including me - stood, clapped and sang along. Well done to Phil, Susan and Joanne - again!

Best Live Performance

I like to single out that special live performance, a performance that brings a song to life adding something above and beyond the recorded version. The nominees are:

• Maximo Park - Hips And Lips (@ Heaven)
• Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra - The Killing Type (@ Art Show)
• Buffy Sainte-Marie - Generation (@ Queen Elizabeth Hall)
• Ray Davies - Come Dancing (@ 'Come Dancing - The Concert' at Theatre Royal Stratford)
• Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra - The Bed Song (@ Koko)

Paul Smith's playing along to 'Hips and Lips', acting out the song for the first time at the launch at Heaven made me hear that song differently every time since then. Amanda opened her Art Show at Village Underground by scraping two knives together as the opening to 'The Killing Type', a perfect opening to a show. Buffy was magnificent singing 'Generation' a song I've never seen her play live before, with her band (aka Bruthers Of Different Muthers) adding an electric backing. Seeing Ray Davies sing 'Come Dancing' is always worth a trip out.

The Baggie goes to Amanda Palmer for her astonishing and emotional performance of 'The Bed Song' at Koko. The band left her on alone on stage as she played her piano and she told us her tale of unsatisfied love down to not talking. It's a tender song and that was a special performance. Thank you Amanda.

Best New Album

This was a very difficult category to judge - how can you compare the first PiL album in 20 years with the first ever record from Viv Albertine or the latest from Maximo Park, an album from Joey Ramone 10 years after he died or the latest crowd-sourced album from Amanda Fucking Palmer? It's impossible, right? We've had a goodly load of great new music this year - and I'll include new albums from Madonna, The Unthanks and Alphabeat in there too - but someone has to win the Baggie...

• Public Image Limited - This Is PiL
• Joey Ramone - Ya Know?
• Maximo Park - The National Health
• Amanda Palmer & The Grand Theft Orchestra - Theatre Is Evil
• Viv Albertine - The Vermillion Border

The judging panel decided to award the Baggie by a smidgeon to Viv Albertine for the excellent 'The Vermillion Border', full of innovative songs, a slight sideways look at life and a great under-produced sound.

Best New Song

Out of the thousands of new songs this year I've picked just five:

• Madonna - Give Me All Your Luvin'
• Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra - Do It With A Rockstar
• Amanda Palmer and The Grand Theft Orchestra - The Bed Song
• Tom Tom Club - Downtown Rockers
• Viv Albertine - I Want More

There's a tendency to either love or hate Madonna and me, I go for whether I like the songs or not, and I fell for the leading single from her latest album 'Give Me All Your Luvin', a great return to danceable pop rather than dance music. It was a treat to finally have some new songs from Tom Tom Club and I love 'Downtown Rockers' that name-checks the late 70s punk scene in New York (I also love how the girls pronounce it 'rockerzzzz'). Viv's album opens with the powerful 'I Want More' - 'no compromise, I want more!'.

The panel shortlisted two Amanda Palmer songs from 'Theatre Is Evil', 'Do It With A Rockstar' and 'The Bed Song'. The latter is a well constructed and emotional journey through a relationship that is beautiful and heart-felt and 'Do It' is a raucous and mad tale of need and threat and desperate lust. Amanda gave away 'Do It With A Rockstar' to people who'd backed her Kickstarter campaign back in May and, later, to anyone in exchange for your email address. I've listened to it countless times and then thoroughly enjoyed the video. So naturally it wins 'best song' since it ticks so many boxes. I would.

Best Exhibition

There's been a mixed bag of exhibitions this year with two great Picasso exhibitions and 'Bronze' at the Royal Academy and a rather ok-ish Pre-Raphaelite exhibition that didn't work for me (and so isn't nominated). Luckily I managed to catch the fascinating Yoko exhibition at The Serpentine and the small but perfectly formed punk exhibition at the Hayward, 'Some Day All The Adults Will Die'.

• Picasso and Modern British Art @ Tate Britain
• Yoko Ono To The Light @ Serpentine Gallery
• Picasso's 'Vollard Suite' @ The British Museum
• Bronze @ The Royal Academy
• Some Day All The Adults Will Die @ Hayward Gallery

The Baggie needs to go to either one of the Picasso exhibitions or to 'Bronze' and the panel decided it should go to 'Bronze' for the wide range of exhibits, the interesting way of collecting them together into themed rooms and for including ancient and modern works together. It lost points for the lighting but gained points for including the magnificent Piggy from Florence.

Olympics and Paralympics London 2012

2012 was an astonishing year for London and the whole country with the Olympics and Paralympics. The summer started off gloomy and wet and then the sun came out for the Olympics and stayed till the end of the Paralympics before the rain returned. It was a magical time in which London changed, people smiled and talked to strangers and I became a London Ambassador dressed in my pink and purple uniform.

I can't possibly choose a single Olympian or Paralympian to receive a Baggie so, instead, have nominated different aspects of London during the Olympics and Paralympics. These are:

• Transport for London Signage
• London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony Rehearsal
• The Olympic Stadium
• London Ambassadors
• The Gift of the Gods - Shot-put
• Olympic Rings on Tower Bridge
• Beverley Knight - I Am What I Am

I loved the way Transport for London plastered pink signs everywhere in the Tube network and stations pointing the way to Olympic venues rather than signposting to different Tube lines. I loved those pink signs. I was privileged to see one of the rehearsals for the Olympics opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium  and will treasure that memory forever, just as will my experience of being a London Ambassador on the Southbank, walking up and down the south of the Thames handing out maps and guides and directing people to wherever they wanted to go.

London was dotted with art and oddness over the summer and one of my favourites was the 'Gift Of The Gods' installations around town in the strangest places. The 'gifts' were giant shot-put balls dropped from a great height that cracked the pavements and stood there as a testament to the powers of the gods ... all an installation of course, but great fun. I couldn't help but tear up the first time I saw the Olympic Rings hanging from Tower Bridge - that meant it was all finally real and was going to happen, the Olympics in London! I was both surprised and delighted by Beverley Knight appearing at the end of the Paralympics opening ceremony singing a newly arranged version of 'I Am What I Am' that worked so well and put Bev on the world stage.

The judging panel knows it's being a daft and a bit out there but it's gone for the London Transport signage if only because it was there every day, right in front of anyone travelling around London. I miss it.

And there you have it, the Baggies 2012.  I wonder what's in store for 2013....?

Remember Olympic TfL?

The joys of the Olympics and Paralympics may be fading as we move into autumn, but you can still enjoy the memories.

Do you recall those cartoon posters Transport for London plastered everywhere, particularly on the Tube, reminding us not to travel, to travel by different routes, to walk, to cycle, all rather than use public transport as normal? Well, you can now download them if you want and keep as a reminder of a great summer.

They're on the Get Ahead Of The Games website so pop on over there and have a chortle at your favourite (or least favourite) poster. You won't be seeing them again any time soon!

Two Glorious Golds - Richard and Ellie

It's Super Saturday at the London 2012 Paralympic Games and ParalympicsGB have won lots of medals of all three colours. There have been some amazing performances today but I want to single out two that made me cheer out loud watching them on telly - Richard Whitehead in the 200m on the track and Ellie Simmonds in the 400m freestyle in the pool. Both were very special performances.

Richard Whitehead is a passionate marathon runner who also now holds the world record for the 200m. He's a double amputee with an ungainly running style that just works for him. It was amazing to see him at the back and then just glide through the field to the front and keep pulling away from everyone else to win in style and set a new world record. Afterwards, he said he runs like Dame Kelly Holmes - from the back. It was just astonishing to see him overtake all the other athletes, most of whom were single amputees and power through the finishing line. And it was lovely to see him celebrating afterwards, doing his lap of honour and refusing to leave the track without hugging his family and fiancé.

The other joy was seeing Ellie Simmonds in the pool for the 400m freestyle. She's only 17 and won two Gold medals in Beijing four years ago. Could she defend her Gold?  Of course she could! She not only retained her title but she set a new world record in doing so!  It was tense up until the last 100m when, every time she looked about ready to take the lead they came up to a turn and she's so small she always ended up second again. And then she did it, went up a gear and turned first and started pulling away bit by bit, extending her lead and stomped on the race. It was hers - she did it! I cheered and clapped and cried. The pool will erupt with cheers for your medal ceremony and you'll have earned every single cheer. Well done lass!

There's so much more to come ...