Flashback to 2002: Manchester heralds start of a glorious sporting spectacular
It was the biggest sporting event staged in this country since the 1948 Olympic Games in London.
A capacity crowd of 38,000 cheered as 5,000 athletes from 72 countries made a flag-waving entrance in a blaze of colour, music and stunning choreography to mark the start of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002.
Sir Steven Redgrave banged the Malaysian drum, a traditional gift from the last hosts, to introduce the two-and-a-half-hour ceremony, which was watched by a global audience of one billion.
Manchester-born sprinter Darren Campbell, who carried the flag for England's 650 athletes, accompanied Commonwealth 200m butterfly champion James Hickman who declared the oath on behalf of all the competing athletes.
The Jubilee Baton was handed to Wolverhampton's Denise Lewis to start the Baton relay.
The Olympic, world and European heptathlete champion jogged her way through the 5,000 athletes before passing the Baton in turn to yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur, three-times Kenyan world champion middle distance runner Moses Kiptanui, 10-times gold medallist Australian swimmer Susie O'Neill, Britain's greatest Olympian Redgrave, five-times world and Olympic champion Donovan Bailey and finally, amid deafening cheers, to David Beckham.
In a moving moment, England's World Cup captain, wearing a silver sequinned tracksuit with a Union Jack on the back matched by an equally dazzling blond mohican haircut, delivered the Baton to the Queen accompanied by six-year-old Kirsty Howard. Kirsty, from Manchester, captured the nation's hearts when she was given just six weeks to live in February 1999 after being born with her heart back to front.
Ahead of the ceremony, the Commonwealth Games Jubilee Relay Baton had been making its way around the country.
A long-serving Brownie pack leader from Far Forest, near Bewdley, was one of 2,500 unsung heroes nationally chosen for the honour
Pat Knott, a postal worker at Kidderminster's Bull Ring Post Office, had been Brown Owl at Far Forest Brownies for 17 years.
She was nominated by a parent to carry the baton for just over half a mile on the A44 Bromyard to Worcester route,watched by family, friends, and all 24 of her Brownies.
Pat's supporters all wore t-shirts donated by the Monday Night Theatre Group from Stourport.
"I was very surprised to be nominated. It's a great honour. I will be a part of history and will never have the chance to be part of something like this again," she told the Star.
Jack Humphries, of Shrewsbury, carried the baton along a short stretch in Bridgnorth. The 10-year-old was nominated after he was diagnosed with cancer at just 13 months of age – and fought back to health to climb the famed Three Peaks at the age of nine in 2001.
Janet Hankey will be stepping out on Sunday when she carries the Commonwealth games baton.
Janet, 36, of Cockshutt, near Ellesmere, a local government officer with Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council, ran with the baton in Darley Dale, Derbyshire.
When applying to run with the baton, Janet had to write in no more than 80 words why she was eligible for the task, detailing information about her fundraising walks and swims for the British Heart Foundation, donating 32 pints of blood and her sporting involvements.
William Turner, aged 15, carried the baton along the Compton Road to Wolverhampton Grammar School, where he was a student.
Crowds turned out to see him run and cheered him on with encouragement from Town Crier Alan Myatt.
"The baton is heavier than you think but I got used to it,"he said. "There was a lot of people cheering when I came into the grammar school. It helped having people to cheer me."
Nicola Woodhead, aged 15, a student at St Edmund's School in Compton ran 500 yards along Bridgnorth Road. "It was one of the biggest things that I have ever done,"she said.
The Queen praised Manchester's great sporting tradition in her message to the Commonwealth before declaring the Games open.
The athletes left the stadium to the accompaniment of a 21-gun salute from the 103rd Regiment of the Royal Artillery before another extravaganza celebrating the Spirit of Manchester.
Among those taking part in the ceremony were performers from the Midlands, including 13-year-old Naomi Breese, from Walsall, who sang alongside fellow members of the City of Birmingham Youth Chorus.
Meanwhile Jamie De Souza, a student from Stourbridge, had been selected to perform in the closing ceremony.
The 16-year-old ballroom and Latin American dancer had achieved a top ten national ranking in both categories with his partner Victoria Bennett from Manchester.
The King Edward VI College student, was thrilled when he heard they had been picked to join a team of dancers from hundreds of hopefuls after auditions in Manchester.
Also in the news...
The world’s largest collection of memorabilia from the 1939 Hollywood epic Gone With The Wind was up for auctiongoing under the hammer. A petticoat worn by English actress Vivien Leigh who played Scarlett O’Hara, was expected fetch at least £5,000 at the sale at Christie’s in New York. An early version of the movie script was valued at between £3,000 and £4,000, while a copy of the novel signed by author Margaret Mitchell was expected to make £7,000.
The items had been collected for more than 40 years by Herb Bridges, 72, from Georgia, USA, who had exhibited them across the US as well as in Japan, France, and Canada.
He finally decided to sell up to invest in his grandchildren’s education.
Gone With the Wind won eight Oscars, including one for Leigh for her portrayal of the feisty southern belle who survives the American civil war but loses “the only man she cares for” - Rhett Butler, played by Clarke Gable.
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