London 2012 Festival unveils final line-up

The final line-up for the London 2012 Festival has been announced, with Stephen Fry and comedian Tim Minchin the latest names to join the Olympic arts celebrations.

Other new events include a landmark dance event in Glasgow and a comedy barge trip from London to Edinburgh.

The 12-week arts festival is the climax of the four-year Cultural Olympiad with 12,000 events taking place.

The UK-wide festival pulls together major spectacles and smaller events.

The organisers have described it as a "once in a lifetime festival", but critics have questioned whether people understand the pairing of the arts with the Olympics.

Speaking at Thursday's launch event at the Tower of London, festival director Ruth Mackenzie said the festival would "showcase the best in international culture when the eyes of the world are on us this summer."

Embattled culture secretary Jeremy Hunt was also at the launch, and said Britain's arts institutions would be in "the global spotlight as really never before".

He emphasised the range of events on offer, "from Beethoven to Jay-Z; from Shakespeare to Mike Leigh; from Stephen Fry to Wallace and Gromit".

Mr Hunt also made a reference to his current predicament, with claims he broke ministerial rules in his dealings with Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation.

Looking out at the assembled reporters, whose numbers had been boosted by his presence, he remarked: "I'm delighted there is so much media interest in the London 2012 Festival".

However, the minister left the launch before a planned question and answer session.

The festival begins on Midsummer's Day on 21 June and runs through to 9 September - the end of the Paralympic Games.

Organisers are keen to point out that 10 million free tickets are available across the UK.

The latest arrivals on the programme include Playing the Games, a two-week season of comedy and plays at London's Criterion Theatre co-curated by Stephen Fry.

Scottish choreographer Michael Clark has been commissioned to create a large-scale, participatory dance event at Glasgow music venue Barrowlands to mark the handover from the London 2012 Festival finale to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Australian comedian Tim Minchin, who wrote the songs in hit West End show Matilda the Musical, will perform a gig at Cornwall's Eden Project.

Meanwhile, Tales of the Riverbank will see a group of comedians travel by canal boat from London to Edinburgh with pop-up performances along the route during July.

The opening day of the festival on 21 June will see Lake Windermere lit up by pyrotechnics, an open-air concert in the shadow of Scotland's Stirling Castle, a Peace One Day concert in Londonderry and the UK premiere of a choral work in Birmingham.

Among the quirkier festival offerings are the world premiere of Stockhausen opera with a string quartet playing live from four helicopters.

Richard Wilson's Hang On A Minute Lads, I've Got A Great Idea... is an artwork inspired by the final scene of The Italian Job - involving a full-sized replica coach balanced on a pavilion roof in Bexhill-on-Sea.

But not all of the announced works have gone to plan.

Scandinavian Olafur Eliasson's proposed art project Take a Deep Breath was turned down for a £1m grant after the Olympic Lottery Distributor said the piece no longer met its criteria.

The installation would have invited people to inhale and exhale on behalf of "a person, a movement or a cause" and record it on a website in a personal "breath bubble".

Eliasson still appears on the London 2012 Festival programme, with an as-yet-untitled "major new commission" at Tate Modern.

Meanwhile, a question mark hangs over artist Anthony McCall's planned vertical tower of cloud which is set to rise over Merseyside "as far as the eye can see".

The £500,000 publicly-funded art project - simply called Column - would be on the flight path to John Lennon Airport and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has said it needs tests to be carried out to assess its impact on aviation.

And a nationwide bell-ringing event to launch the first day of the Olympics may be a little quieter than planned if campanologists boycott the event.

Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed wants the whole nation to ring whatever bell they have to hand for three minutes at 0800 on 27 July as part of his Work No. 1197 All the Bells...

But the Central Council of Church Bell Ringers has described the plans as "misconceived", with the president of the ringers' council criticising the timing and design of Creed's idea on her blog.

The Cultural Olympiad began in 2008, but faced early criticisms that it lacked focus and public recognition.

In 2009-10, Royal Opera House executive Tony Hall and Ruth Mackenzie came on board tasked with turning the Cultural Olympiad around. In 2011, the final 12 weeks of the event were rebranded the London 2012 Festival.

With additional reporting by Chi Chi Izundu

The BBC is hosting a live online Q&A session with Ruth Mackenzie, director of the Cultural Olympiad, at 15:00 BST on Thursday.

What would you like to know about the Cultural Olympiad and the London 2012 Festival? Put your questions to Ruth Mackenzie by using the form below.

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