Entitled "Isle of Wonder, " Boyle -- the Oscar-winning director best known for hit movies "Trainspotting" and "Slumdog Millionaire" -- put together a star-studded on-field dramatization that drew on Shakespeare and Brit Pop to chart Britain from its pastoral roots through the Industrial Revolution to James Bond, Harry Potter and the Beatles.

CNN: July 30, 2012 -- Updated 1001 GMT (1801 HKT)

To take only the two most obvious examples, Sir Nicholas Serota, a former young Turk, presides at the new Tate, Britain's most popular gallery, and Charles Saatchi's once shocking collection of Brit art is on display in museum-space that he colonised in London's staid old County Hall upriver.

ECONOMIST: Too much of a good thing