Social media buzzing with Olympic ceremony 'secrets'

Social media was buzzing Tuesday with leaks from a rehearsal of the London 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony, despite director Danny Boyle's plea for spectators to "save the surprise".

Tens of thousands of spectators attended a technical rehearsal on Monday, one of the final run-throughs before Friday's £27 million ($42 million, 34.5 million euro) spectacular.

The ceremony's artistic director, film-maker Danny Boyle, pleaded with the audience -- which included guests of the Games organisers and families of those taking part -- not to leak out details about the event, which is set to be watched by billions worldwide on television.

The Twitter hashtag "savethesurprise" was emblazoned on the stadium's giant screens.

Boyle, 55, who directed the hit films "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire", and his creative team have done their best to keep most details of the opening ceremony secret.

But the Oscar winner acknowledges that in the age of social media and camera phones, keeping everything under wraps will be impossible.

However, details began to emerge nonetheless as people left the run-through buzzing with excitement and taking to Twitter.

Spectators tweeted pictures of the event, some with their spare hand covering most of the action.

Organisers have already revealed that the ceremony will feature a recreation of the British countryside, including live farmyard animals.

He showed off a model layout of the set, which features a hill at one end and clouds hanging over it.

The theme of the ceremony is "Isles of Wonder", inspired by a passage from Shakespeare's comedy "The Tempest".

(c) 2012 AFP