How Martin McGuinness nearly won gold at the London Olympics Danny Boyle, the director of the ceremony, wanted Martin McGuinness, the former IRA commander, to carry the flag. However, when Boyle informed the Prime Minister of his plans, the alarm bells began to ring. Boyle, who was raised in a working-class Irish Catholic environment in Lancashire, confirms that he wanted McGuinness to play a part. "It's true that, at one stage, we wanted to represent in the opening ceremony the extraordinary steps towards peace taken by the people of Northern Ireland and their representatives," he says. Had we done so, we would, of course, have represented both communities. The Oscar-winning director of the film Slumdog Millionaire, who was named in 2010 as one of Britain's most influential Roman Catholics by The Tablet, is, however, keen to play down Cameron's role in the ditching of references to the Troubles. "Although we consulted widely, the final decisions about all elements of the opening ceremony were ours and ours alone," Boyle insists. McGuinness declared his pride in being a member of the Provisional IRA in court in 1973 when he was convicted after being caught in a car containing 250lb of explosives and nearly 5,000 rounds of ammunition. He was sentenced to six months in prison. After becoming a key member of the peace process, he was appointed as the deputy first minister of Northern Ireland. In June, the Queen agreed to shake his hand. The Queen was accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, whose beloved uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was murdered by the IRA. A Downing Street spokesman says: "The Prime Minister was kept updated and had a number of meetings with Danny Boyle, but the final say was Danny's."