Underworld have been named musical directors of the London 2012 Olympics.

The ‘Born Slippy’ dance duo – Rick Smith and Karl Hyde – have been appointed music directors of the opening ceremony, and will work with film director Danny Boyle on the three-hour event, to be held on July 27 next year.

Karl told the BBC: “It’s a great honour to be asked to do this and one we’re taking very seriously. It’s certainly not something we’ll get the chance to do again.

“We want to leave people with a musical memory of the show rather than a purely visual one. It’s a great honour to be asked to do this and one we’re taking very seriously – it’s certainly not something we’ll get the chance to do again.”

Underworld have previously worked with Danny on music for his films ‘Trainspotting’, ‘The Beach’ and ‘A Life Less Ordinary’ as well as a recent production of ‘Frankenstein’.

Of his decision to work with the duo again, Danny said: “What’s interesting about working with them is how much broader their taste is than you might imagine.

“With ‘Frankenstein’ we really saw how far we could take a broader approach than we’d used together on the films.”

Meanwhile Elbow will record a theme song for the BBC to use in their coverage of the London Olympics, while Mark Ronson and dubstep singer Katy B are preparing a track for the games, for which they went to different countries and sampled the sounds made by athletes competing at their sports.