Greatest show on Earth begins! Eight billion eyes on Britain as Torch's last lap sets the scene for a historic night in London
- Thousands line the streets of London to celebrate as the Olympic Torch winds through the capital
- Flame has travelled 8,000 miles in 69 days, covering length and breadth of Britain
- Sneak preview of tonight's Opening Ceremony hints at spectacular dancing extravaganza
- Starstudded audience will include William and Kate, Sir Paul McCartney and Angelina Jolie
By PAUL HARRIS and DAVID WILLIAMS
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With the nation’s feel-good barometer soaring, hundreds of thousands lined the streets of London in brilliant sunshine yesterday to give a spectacular welcome to the Olympic torch ahead of tonight’s opening ceremony, which will be watched by a global television audience of four billion.
After seven years of planning and a 69-day trek covering 8,000 miles, the flame that was ignited ten weeks ago in Olympia completed the final leg of its journey in a blaze of glory.
Jubilation: Florence Rowe, 81, who saw the Olympics in London in 1948, is cheered by the Camerons as she carries the flame in Downing Street yesterday
Lights fantastic: A dazzling firework show illuminates the Olympic stadium and Anish Kapoor's sculpture Orbit , during rehearsals in Stratford, East London
Next stop: the Olympic stadium in Stratford, where it will ignite the cauldron during tonight’s eagerly-anticipated opening ceremony.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will be there, among international royalty and 120 world leaders. First Lady Michelle Obama will head the US delegation with her children.
The celebrity A-list will include Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, Olympic gold medal winner and boxing legend Muhammad Ali, James Bond star Daniel Craig and Sir Paul McCartney.
Open flame: The Olympic Torch is carried on top of an open top bus down Oxford Street as it nears the end of its 70 day journey
Thousands of spectators cheer on the Torch Relay along Regent Street in central London just a day before the opening ceremony
The London Olympic Torch Bus slowly makes its way through the crowds along Oxford Street as thousands attend to see it on its way to Hyde Park
The identity of the person who will light the cauldron is a closely guarded secret – but those who could play a role include five-time rowing gold medallist Steve Redgrave, decathlete Daley Thompson, David Beckham, double gold winner Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to break the four minute barrier for running a mile.
But yesterday was a day for the spectators to show how much the Games mean to them. In scenes that echoed the euphoria surrounding the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, hordes filled the streets to be part of the historic milestone.
Meeting royalty: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry watch Wai-Ming hand over the London 2012 Olympic Torch to John Hulse at Buckingham Palace
X marks the spot: The Olympic Torch is carried through Oxford Circus as thousands gathered in the streets and peered out of office windows to watch it pass
Now that's a crowd: Thousands descended on Hyde Park for a concert to celebrate the Torch arrival as the 24-hour countdown to the opening ceremony approached
Few among the crowds would have been able to recall the last time the Olympic flame came to Britain – but Florence Rowe could.
In 1948, she was an anonymous teenager in the throng. Yesterday, the 81-year-old fulfilled a lifelong ambition as she carried the torch out of Downing Street, cheered on by Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha.
In 1948, she was an anonymous teenager in the throng. Yesterday, the 81-year-old fulfilled a lifelong ambition as she carried the torch out of Downing Street, cheered on by Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife Samantha.
Miss Rowe, from Prestwood, Buckinghamshire, was born in the capital but evacuated to Northampton with her three sisters as a nineyear-old during the Second World War.
She returned to her home city in 1948 and described ‘flocking to the London streets’ to welcome the Olympics. Yesterday she said the opportunity to carry the flame through her birthplace was a ‘dream come true’.
She was handed the flame by a representative of a new era for the nation – Kate Nesbitt, the first woman in the Royal Navy to be awarded the Military Cross, given in recognition of her courage in administering emergency treatment to injured colleagues under gun fire in Afghanistan.
Standing in wait: Fans gathered at Hyde Park as they prepared to watch the celebratory finale concert
Relight my fire: Torchbearer Tyler Rix lights the Olympic cauldron starting the concert to welcome the Torch's arrival in London's Hyde Park
Nathan Sykes of The Wanted performs at the Olympic Torch Relay concert in Hyde Park, London
Then there were the celebrities given their ‘moment to shine’, as the slogan puts it. David Walliams, TV comic and Thames swimmer, was ‘humbled’ as he carried the torch through North London. Absolutely Fabulous stars Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders took it (where else?) through Sloane Square.
Sir Bruce Forsyth was inevitably told ‘Didn’t you do well?’ after his stint in White City.
Elsewhere, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall, in Tottenham to watch the torch relay, returned to welcome it at Buckingham Palace.
The torch has been the nation’s ambassador these past few months, and foreign TV reporters paid homage to our image abroad yesterday in live reports that witnessed it, to quote just one, being ‘carried aloft through ancient, narrow streets past landmarks famous around the globe’.
But the unseen factor was how much the Olympics seem to be lifting spirits after the rain, the cold, the strikes, the queues and the traffic jams.
Mr Cameron described it as ‘a great moment for Britain to come together’, and promised parts of the opening ceremony would be ‘spine tingling’.
All this, and still hours to go. Gold medals for Britain? From tonight, at last, that is solely in the hands of the Olympians.
All this, and still hours to go. Gold medals for Britain? From tonight, at last, that is solely in the hands of the Olympians.
Fans scream as they watch boyband The Wanted performing next to the Olympic Torch in Hyde Park on the eve of the Opening Ceremony
Olympic fever: Thousands gathered in Hyde Park where there a concert celebrated the Torch's arrival
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