Artefacts

London 2012, costume of a child catcher worn during the opening ceremony at the segment called "Swing Out Sister".

Physical description

Victorian style costume composed of a white shirt, a black suit jacket, a black and sylvery trousers and a black long coat.

Created

Created: Tahra ZAFAR

Materials

imitation leather, cotton, textile, velvet, feather

Colors

white, black, silver

Dimension

195 x 46 cm

Literature

PALMER, Alun. "Surprise, surprise: The inside-track on Danny Boyle's weird and wonderful Olympics curtain-raiser ". In: The Mirror, 27 July 2012,

Type of item

Clothes and Accessories -> costume

Reference number

203747

Ensemble

Keywords

Opening ceremony London 2012, Olympic Games 19th century Male Literature

Notes

The part of the Ceremony which paid tribute to British children’s literature featured many volunteers. It featured young people from Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, which has benefited since 1929 from the royalties of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan novel. This costume was worn by a roller-skating Child Catcher, a character from the 1968 musical-fantasy film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He raced around the track with his wagon cage, trying to capture youngsters.