When David Beckham appeared on a giant screen at the Olympics opening ceremony, powering a motorboat carrying the flaming torch under Tower Bridge in a razor-pressed black suit, white shirt and black tie, didn’t we all smile? Knowingly? Of course! We’d had James Bond, the Queen and now here was Becks. In an evening that was a celebration of the past 400 years of our history, David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE, from Leytonstone, East London, took his rightful place in Danny Boyle’s extraordinary roll-call of British icons – Brunel, The Beatles, Bond and Beckhamø David Beckham photographed by Karim Sadli ‘The Persia Issue’ featuring Asghar Farhadi, Marjane Satrapi, Yasmin Le Bon, Abbas Kiarostamiø plus Don McCullin, Dolce & Gabbana, Donatella Versace, Frida Gianniniø s p r i n g / s u m m e r 2 0 1 3 ( £ 6 . 9 5 ) n∞ 12