2008年8月8日晚20时，举世瞩目的北京第二十九届奥林匹克运动会开幕式在中国国家体育场（鸟巢）隆重举行。时任国家主席胡锦涛出席开幕式并宣布本届奥运会开幕。具有两千多年历史的奥林匹克运动与五千多年传承的灿烂中华文化交相辉映，共同谱写人类文明气势恢弘的新篇章。夜幕下，“鸟巢”造型的国家体育场华灯灿烂，流光溢彩。可容纳9万多人的体育场内座无虚席，群情激动。

开幕典礼的文艺表演历时约50分钟，名为“奇幻之岛”（Isles of Wonder），取材自莎士比亚小说《暴风雨》，而开幕典礼以“给每一个人”作为主题，以展现英国历史及英国人具创意、丰盛与和蔼可亲的一面。

开幕典礼分为以下章节：倒数；绿色乐土；失序的年代；快乐与荣耀；右手第二条路，一直向前，直到天明；插曲；法兰奇与珍说······多谢蒂姆；求主同住。

The opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics took place at the Fisht Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Russia, on 7 February 2014. It began at 20:14 MSK (UTC+4) and finished at 23:02 MSK (UTC+4) This was the first Winter Olympics and first Olympic Games opening ceremony under the IOC presidency of Thomas Bach. The Games were officially opened by President Vladimir Putin. An audience of 40,000 were in attendance at the stadium with an estimated 2,000 performers. The ceremony touched upon various aspects of Russian history, and included tributes to famous Russians, such as Peter Tchaikovsky (1840–1893), Ukrainian-born Russian humourist, dramatist, and novelist Nikolai Gogol (1809–1852), filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein (1898–1948), ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky (1889–1950), and patron of arts, and founder of Ballet Russes, Sergei Diaghilev (1872–1929).

With fireworks forming the word “Rio” in the sky and supermodel Gisele Bundchen shimmering to the tune of “The Girl from Ipanema,” Rio de Janiero welcomed the world to the first Olympic Games in South America with a serious message underlying the celebration: Let’s take care of our planet.

With the Olympics returning to Greece, the opening ceremony of Athens 2004 sought to show the entire development of the Olympics over the centuries, until arriving at the modern Olympics.

On 20 October 1973, the Sydney Opera House was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II. From conception to completion, it had taken more than 15 years and over $100 million dollars. In the years since its completion, the Sydney Opera House has become one of the most identifiable of Australia’s icons - ranking with the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Uluru, the koala and kangaroo - and is considered by many to be among the world's great architectural masterpieces.

Opening Ceremony

The future Edward VIII opens a durbar and enjoys a day at the races before inspecting the fire brigade in Calcutta.

The future Edward VIII visits Malakand, Kapurthala and opens the Royal Military College at Dehra Dun