London 2012 Olympics: 'men with rhythm' have final chance to apply for opening ceremony role

"We need more men - particularly if you have rhythm! This means those of you who can dance but also drum, or do any sport, job, or hobby that involves keeping to time," the description specifies.

"Ceremonies volunteer performers simply need lots of enthusiasm, personality, a positive attitude, huge amounts of energy and a willingness to perform in front of a stadium audience and to millions of people around the world.

"However, to deliver Ceremonies of this scale to a world audience a substantial commitment is required. You must be able to participate in an audition in February and up to two or three rehearsal sessions each week of up to four hours per session from April 2012, and a number of all day rehearsals in the three weeks leading up to each Ceremony."

Men interested in strutting their stuff in the 'Greatest Show on Earth' should register their interest by completing the online application form.

The ceremonies will be directed by Danny Boyle, the man behind Trainspotting and Slumdog Millionaire and is rumoured to include music by Elgar and a performance from Sir Paul McCartney.

The Government recently increased the budgets for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games by an extra ?41m.

The injection of extra public money attracted criticism from some quarters but Locog chair Lord Coe has staunchly defended the decision.

"The opening ceremony will go out to four billion people. It will be the largest piece of television in history. The budget is across four ceremonies and the judgment was made, which I support, that this is a unique opportunity that has been independently assessed at being worth up to ?5 billion in advertising.

"This was a very clear declaration of intent that we want this to be a great show. There's no other opportunity to do that kind of thing to a global audience and I think it was a good decision."

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568303/s/1b8e3c21/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Csport0Colympics0C8995730A0CLondon0E20A120EOlympics0Emen0Ewith0Erhythm0Ehave0Efinal0Echance0Eto0Eapply0Efor0Eopening0Eceremony0Erole0Bhtml/story01.htm

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