As you watch the Olympic opening ceremony tomorrow night, spare a thought for the thousands of backroom heroes who made the 2012 London Games possible. We refer of course to the legal teams and draftspeople behind the wall of enabling (and disabling) legislation put in place for the purpose of the occasion.

Katrina Crossley, head of editorial co-ordination at LexisNexis, reckons that 2012 would not happen without five acts of parliament and 23 statutory instruments.

This is in sharp contrast to the last London Olympics, in 1948, when the amount of legislation required was, er, zero. ‘Of course, the parliament of the day was very busy with legislation relating to rationing, the supply of clothing, wages councils, the supply of industrial materials and the establishment of the National Health Service,’ Crossley says.

This time around, apparently, relevant legislation ranges from the Olympic Symbol (Protection) Act 1995 to the Sunday Trading (London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) Act 2012. And it’s still coming: the final measure to come into force, relating to broadcasting, took effect only on Monday.

Critics of the creeping commercialisation of the Games will spot a theme.