Proud Leagrave mum Rita Arnold claims her television was “red hot” on Sunday night as she watched the Olympic closing ceremony extravaganza partially devised by her award-winning musical director son David.
The sassy 75-year-old was desperate to hear the stirring anthem he’d composed for the athletes’ arrival in the stadium.
“But it was drowned out by BBC commentators Huw Edwards and Hazel Irvine,” she laughed. “I was shouting at them to shut up so I could listen.
“David wrote about 20 minutes of original music – it doesn’t sound much but that’s a lot of notes!”
She was slightly nervous as the grand finale started to unfold but admitted: “As it went on I could see it all falling into place.
“I didn’t think I’d like the Spice Girls but I did.
“I also loved John Lennon’s Imagine and the few bars of John Barry at the end when the Olympic flames were dying down reduced me to tears.”
The mother-of-three and grandmother-of-seven added:` “I’m proud . . . very proud. I really enjoyed it and it’s amazing to think of that worldwide audience.
“David’s worked so hard and the last 18 months have been really intense.”
When Rita spoke to the former Challney High pupil afterwards, she said his over-riding emotion was one of relief: “He was just glad it had all gone well.”
The Arnolds have been inundated with congratulatory messages from family and friends all over the world.
“There’s lots on Facebook and loads of messages from our relations in Dublin,” she said
David, 50 – a Grammy award-winning composer best known for his Bond scores - is also musical director for the Paralymics closing ceremony. He is currently working on a musical version of Made in Dagenham.
He told a Sunday newspaper that growing up, his home had always been full of music and that his first proper guitar – a 1949 Gibson E50 – came courtesy of his parents’ hard graft and belief in his talent: ”It’s one of the things I’d save from a burning house.” He described the Olympics as a “joyous, once-in-a-liftime experience.”
Rita’s only sadness is that David’s late father – Irish international boxer George Arnold, himself a gifted musician – wasn’t there to share his son’s triumph.
“I’d have had to tie him down,” she smiled.