Ian McKellen and other members of The Hobbit cast were in Wellington today to celebrate 100 days to go to the London 2012 Olympic Games.
McKellen was joined by actors Graham McTavish, Adam Brown and Ryan Gage at a street party organised by the British High Commission. The party kicked off with a celebrity 100 metre race with politicians and Olympians taking part alongside school children and anyone willing to have a go. New Zealand Olympian Sir John Walker, who won gold in the 1500 metres at the Montreal games, started the race.
The party continued with singing and dancing from local bands and Maori action groups and lots of exotic food from around the world. Children’s sports teams cooked recipes provided by other embassies. The members of The Hobbit cast joined in the fun – although not the race! Dominion Post says McKellen was looking forward to being in London for the sporting and cultural events on offer during the Olympics.
‘‘If you can’t get tickets to see the high jump, you can always get to see Hamlet,’‘ he said.
Earlier the British High Commissioner to New Zealand, Mrs Vicki Treadell said, “Our Street Party will be the first event of its kind in the world to mark the final countdown to the Olympics “
McKellen is reprising his role as Gandalf, McTavish and Brown are the Dwarves Dwalin and Ori and Gage is Alfrid in the Peter Jackson film The Hobbit.
Photo credit Olympic flag By Sam from Vancouver, Canada (Olympic Flag Uploaded by Smooth_O) [CC-BY-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
