Commonwealth Games 2022 opening ceremony – live!

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8pm (BST): Tonight’s opening ceremony is due to kick off in a little under 30 minutes and if the official guide, from which this report will be quoting liberally and shamelessly, is anything to go by, it should be a belter.

The BBC have Clare Balding in the hotseat to chair proceedings and local treasures Lenny Henry, Denise Lewis and Ellie Simmonds have been joining her in bigging up a locale in which they all seem immensely proud.

Tonight’s venue: First opened in 1976, Alexander Stadium became the home of UK Athletics in 2011 following a refurbishment which saw the creation of the 5,000-seater East Stand on the back straight.

Since holding its first Diamond League Meeting that year, the stadium went on to stage the British Grand Prix up until its closure for redevelopment in 2019. With the new West Stand in place, the stadium will be able to hold 18,000 spectators in its permanent configuration, while additional temporary stands will allow 30,000 people to watch the athletics, para athletics and opening and closing ceremonies during the Games.

Post-Games, as well as continuing to stage major athletics events, the stadium will become a focal point for leisure and community activity within the regenerated Perry Barr district of Birmingham, which is receiving a ?700million investment.

The late Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham, albeit back in 1981 and possibly from the sanctuary of a soundproofed booth somewhere in Los Angeles …

Commonwealth Games “far from irrelevant”: The organisers of the Games have defended its relevance on the eve of the competition, arguing that it continues to thrive. Tumaini Carayol reports …

England’s second city has a dodgy reputation that it doesn’t deserve. As the Commonwealth Games come to town, we round up the best it has to offer. Words: Jon Bounds.

… it should not be forgotten there are many who believe the Comonwealth Games are a legacy of British exploitation and expansionism.

“What initially stood as an event for Britain and its colonies is now a helpful tool for Britain to divert attention from its ills of the past, presenting itself as a more compassionate nation compared with other former imperial powers, the country that dismantled its empire to become friends with former subjects,” writes Tumaini Carayol. Read on …

Over the next 12 days, approximately 6,500 athletes from 72 different countries and territories ranging in size from Australia to the teeny-tiny south Pacific island of Niue will contest the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, keeping up the tradition of a sporting jamboree that began in 1930 and was known at the time as the British Empire Games.

Over 1.2m tickets have been sold for these Games, which will be staged in 15 different venues across the West Midlands (with the track cycling taking place at London’s Lee Valley velodrome), but before the first lawn bowls are rolled in anger tomorrow morning, we can look forward to tonight’s opening ceremony.

Masterminded by local lad and artistic director Iqbal Khan, and taking place at the Alexander Stadium, which has undergone a ?72m refurb in the build-up to these games, tonight’s opening ceremony promises to be a “spectacular show which will share the innovative and surprising history of Birmingham, the West Midlands and its communities” with millions tuning in from around the world.

That’s all well and good but to be honest, this reporter of a certain age was sold when he heard Birmingham rock legend, Black Sabbath founder and guitarist Tony Iommi is involved.