Master of the Ceremonies

"Ric was the architect of the opening ceremony for Sydney 2000. Many people regard that as one of the greatest opening ceremonies of all time. There were problems with Cathy Freeman lighting the flame because something went slightly wrong at the end. I think Ric probably regarded that as the longest two minutes of his life. He started out with Australia’s bicentennial celebrations in 1988. He was involved with Barcelona in 1992 and the book tells a lot of little anecdotes behind the development of the ceremonies. He’d previously worked on the 1982 Commonwealth Games as well. They had this giant kangaroo called Matilda that came into the arena. Birch reveals in his book that the ‘driver’ of said kangaroo was not exactly in the best condition. He’d apparently been smoking something. It’s quite an irreverent book. It’s very interesting, but it’s written in an informal style and goes through the tribulations of getting these ceremonies right. Everybody sees the opening ceremony on TV. Everybody thinks that it just happens. If you get a great opening ceremony, it sets the tone for the games. London certainly did that. Ever since Moscow in 1980, the ceremonies have been something to set the tone. It’s been something that people are impressed by. Everybody still remembers Rocket Man from Los Angeles 1984. This book shows that there is a lot of hard toil, sweat, blood and tears put into these Olympic ceremonies behind the scenes."