Tuesday, July 24, 2012

News at Eleven: When the International Olympic Committee meet

 for a gala tonight at the Royal Opera House to usher in the 2012 Games, they will be treated to a recital of poetry by the mayor of London, Boris Johnson--in ancient Greek.

Johnson, a classicist by education, who is famous for quoting Virgil and Homer in the original at the slightest provocation, has commissioned Armand D'Angour, a fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, to write an poem in the style of Pindar, the ancient poet most famous for his odes celebrating victories in the athletic competitions of fifth-century Greece.

from The Guardian: Boris Johnson to recite new poem for the Olympics in ancient Greek
then Arts at Oxford: Olympic Ode lends touch of classics

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