Chinese junk to be part of UK Queen's flotilla
Source: Agencies |
May 18, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A CHINESE junk, Venetian gondolas and a boat rowed by Olympic champions will be part of the 1,000-vessel flotilla on London's River Thames as part of a pageant to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's diamond jubilee next month, organizers said yesterday.
The queen, who is celebrating 60 years on the throne this year, will also be accompanied by a host of musicians playing everything from Bollywood songs to James Bond theme tunes when up to 1 million spectators gather along the Thames on June 3.
"This will be a historic event in the life of London and indeed the nation, really without parallel in scale and vision," Michael Lockett, chief executive of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation said at briefing in London.
London Mayor Boris Johnson was in Greece to collect the Olympic torch, but sent a video message saying he expected the flotilla to be "like Dunkirk except more successful", a reference to the evacuation of British troops from France during World War II.
Olympic and Paralympic champions, including five-time rowing gold medal winner Steve Redgrave, will lead the flotilla in a vessel also manned by soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The first Chinese junk to visit London since the Great Exhibition in 1851 will join the flotilla, as well as several gondolas, passenger ships, kayaks and lifeboats.
The flotilla will pass every bridge in central London, some of which will be open to spectators. The cost of the pageant will be about 10.5 million pounds (US$16.71 million).
The pageant's music will start with a peal of bells, followed by performances from a number of groups, including an ensemble that will play Bollywood tunes and Scottish songs on bagpipes.
The queen, who is celebrating 60 years on the throne this year, will also be accompanied by a host of musicians playing everything from Bollywood songs to James Bond theme tunes when up to 1 million spectators gather along the Thames on June 3.
"This will be a historic event in the life of London and indeed the nation, really without parallel in scale and vision," Michael Lockett, chief executive of the Thames Diamond Jubilee Foundation said at briefing in London.
London Mayor Boris Johnson was in Greece to collect the Olympic torch, but sent a video message saying he expected the flotilla to be "like Dunkirk except more successful", a reference to the evacuation of British troops from France during World War II.
Olympic and Paralympic champions, including five-time rowing gold medal winner Steve Redgrave, will lead the flotilla in a vessel also manned by soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The first Chinese junk to visit London since the Great Exhibition in 1851 will join the flotilla, as well as several gondolas, passenger ships, kayaks and lifeboats.
The flotilla will pass every bridge in central London, some of which will be open to spectators. The cost of the pageant will be about 10.5 million pounds (US$16.71 million).
The pageant's music will start with a peal of bells, followed by performances from a number of groups, including an ensemble that will play Bollywood tunes and Scottish songs on bagpipes.
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