Tyrants love Olympic ceremonies

Congratulations to the pro-Tibet activists who attempted to disrupt the lighting of the Olympic torch this morning.

Last year I suggested that the overblown ceremonies that accompany the modern Olympics have their roots in the Nazi-choreographed Games held in Berlin in 1936. Now Malcolm Redfellow's World Service provides chapter and verse from a book by Maurice Roche:

At the opening ceremony the symbolic Olympic flame was dramatically lit for the first time ever by a torch from the torch relay carrying a flame originally lit at Olympia. The world's biggest ever aircraft, the 300-metre long Hindenburg airship flew over the stadium and the city trailing huge flags. At night Hitler's architect Albert Speer created impressive new dramatic 'light architecture' effects with powerful searchlights over the stadium, which echoed his similar 'theatre of power' effects at the 1934 Nuremberg rally.

And who is Malcolm Redfellow? Wikipedia explains.