central, you know, middle of the stadium, you appeared, dressed as isambard kingdom brunel...gar. yes. all very english. very english! there'd been a great tragedy for the great, great actor, mark rylance, who was due to do that role and so, he had to pull out. danny boyle called me — he's the director of the ceremony, and a brilliant director and a great man — and he said, "would you do it?" and i said, "well, yes, ok — what was it you need me to do?" and he said, "come down to the stadium and i'll show you". i went into the stadium for the first time and it seemed like all of england was rehearsing. it was absolutely packed with people doing pirouettes andjumping and dance routines, and danny wove his way through it — like the pied piper, he seemed to know everybody�*s name. and then he leads me up to one end of the stadium, and to a high mound and says, "let's have a go at this "piece — it's caliban from the tempest. "the isle is full of noises." he said, "i want this, "the single human voice "at the beginning of this ceremony." and so, we did it. and i was looking at this