It was a delight to see Tim Berners-Lee taking part in the London 2012 Opening Ceremony last night, which was a thoroughly classy and enjoyable (if slightly bonkers in places) celebration of the UK.
As you can see, I got a little bit excited when TBL appeared on stage (with his NeXTcube), but it was clear recognition of the UK’s contribution to the Digital Age and its impact on the entire world. There was also a hat tip at the beginning of the ceremony to engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (albeit some Americans thought he was a Dickensian character), although it would have been nice to have recognised Alan Turing in his centenary year.
The message from TBL was “THIS IS FOR EVERYONE”, even live-tweeting from the ceremony:
The Web is more a social creation than a technical one. I designed it for a social effect — to help people work together — and not as a technical toy. The ultimate goal of the Web is to support and improve our weblike existence in the world. We clump into families, associations, and companies. We develop trust across the miles and distrust around the corner.
Tim Berners-Lee
Weaving the Web: The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the World Wide Web (1999)
A great message to take away from the London 2012 Olympics.
Digital, Data & Policy 
Some “helpful” pass notes on Tim Berners-Lee from The Guardian for US readers…
And a lovely quote from Danny Boyle’s introduction in the Olympic programme:
Sir Tim Berners-Lee: “I don’t need to be a celebrity”
Aw, this was an exceptionally nice post. Finding the time and actual effort to create a very good article… but what can I say… I put things off
a whole lot and don’t manage to get anything done.