Young athletes light London 2012 Olympic flame

The Queen has declared the London Olympics officially open, before seven young athletes were given the honour of lighting the ceremonial flame.

The show featured British celebrities and sportspeople, including David Beckham and Bradley Wiggins, and screen characters Mr Bean and James Bond.

In a speech watched around the world, Games chief Jacques Rogge said: "The Olympic Games are coming home tonight."

Flag-bearer Sir Chris Hoy earlier led out Team GB to cheers and applause.

The identity of who was to light the symbolic flame was shrouded in secrecy ahead of the ceremony.

The group of seven, chosen by British Olympic champions, each lit a single tiny flame on the ground, igniting 204 petals, one for each competing nation or territory.

Long stems then rose towards each other to form a cauldron, signifying unity.

Analysis

Claire HealdBBC 2012

So, Danny Boyle aimed to show the globe what is so unique about our country?

He says he aims to be modest about our place in the world, while celebrating these wondrous isles. With grace and humour.

But really, can anyone else conjure up a parachuting Jubilee Queen?

The crowd here have gasped and whooped with joy at the goosebump moments. Gargantuan industrial towers appearing from the floor like a hat stand from Mary Poppin's carpetbag. Molten rings burnishing in the sky. A bright-lit giant baby in the field of play.

Bringing a movie director to a live show has created a filmic experience for the crowd here. When 7/7 victims - killed the day after London won this bid - were honoured, people were spellbound by the light.

Some parts have felt slower, the early house sequence and the bizarre but inspired GOSH NHS scene.

Who knows what the wider world make of this tea and biscuit selection?

Twitter is alive with Boyle cast as a hero.

We know the Queen is game enough to join in with Bond, Beckham is on his way. And this, is only the beginning.

Ceremony in pictures

The flame made a dramatic arrival via the Thames on a speedboat carrying Beckham, who handed the torch to Sir Steve Redgrave.

The show, billed as a quirky take on UK life, started with iconic images of London and Britain being beamed to the world, and all four countries of the UK being represented in song.

The field at the stadium in Stratford, east London, was turned into a green meadow, with a cast of 10,000 volunteers taking roles from British history.

The show took the watching world through "great revolutions in British society", from an agricultural setting through to the Industrial Revolution itself.

Steelworkers began forging material that transformed into golden Olympic rings, which appeared to float into the air to be suspended above the performers.

'Evening Mr Bond'

There were cheers too as the crowd saw a film featuring an unlikely meeting between the Queen and 007 agent James Bond.

"Good evening Mr Bond," the Queen said in the clip, before they left together, apparently heading towards the Olympic Stadium in a helicopter.

A helicopter then flew over the stadium to the sound of the Bond theme tune, as two figures parachuted down, one dressed as the monarch.

As if by magic, the Queen appeared in the stands - part of a crowd of about 80,000 - amid cheers.

The ceremony also celebrated the National Health Service by featuring a cast of 1,200 volunteers recruited from hospitals all over the country, including Great Ormond Street children's hospital in London.

The athletes taking part in the Games - led, as tradition dictates, by the Olympics' spiritual home Greece - made laps of the stadium bearing their nations' flags.

A Red Arrows fly-past marked the start of the pre-show at the symbolic time of 20:12 BST (19:12 GMT).

And Wiggins, wearing a yellow jersey, rang the largest harmonically tuned bell in the world to launch the opening ceremony.

As the show began, its artistic director Danny Boyle pledged a ceremony with a theme of "this is for everyone".

The Oscar-winning film director added that it contains "a celebration of the creativity, exuberance and, above all, the generosity of the British people". He said there were to be "no spectators - everyone in the stadium will be part of the magic".

He later tweeted: "Thank you, everyone, for your kind words! Means the world to me."

Olympics coverage online

Earlier, crowds of people, many of them dressed in their nation's colours, streamed into the Olympic Park for the show.

Our correspondent says transport to the stadium ran smoothly and the crowds moved quickly through security.

The day of celebration began at 08:12 BST (07:12 GMT) with a mass bell ringing. Big Ben rang for three minutes for the first time since King George VI's funeral in 1952.

In other developments:

A number of cyclists were arrested during scuffles with police close to the Olympic Stadium as the opening ceremony got under way
A celebratory concert featuring Paolo Nutini, Snow Patrol, Stereophonics and Duran Duranwas held in Hyde Park
Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt narrowly avoided hitting a group of women with a bell after it flew off its handle on HMS Belfast during the co-ordinated ringing - he called the moment a "classic"

Some 15,000 sq m of staging and 12,956 props were used, and the event boasted a million-watt PA system using more than 500 speakers.

Thousands of fans also gathered at other outdoor locations across the capital to watch the show on big screens.

The Queen and Prince Philip earlier hosted a Buckingham Palace reception for foreign dignitaries, where she wished guests a "successful, enjoyable and memorable Games".

Coverage of the opening ceremony is on BBC One and Radio 5 live now. UK users can also watch it via the BBC News website.

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