London Olympic Games Opening Ceremony - Friday 27 July 2012

The big day of London Olympics 2012 finally arrives Friday night when the London Olympics will be formally inaugurated in a colourful and amazing opening ceremony at London Olympic Stadium, which has been transformed into a British countryside scene for the Opening Ceremony. The full dress rehearsal has already given a hint how massive and colourful the ceremony will be. Though there are concerns about the traffic management after approximately 60,000 spectators move out of the arena as long queues were observed at all terminals and were not cleared even after 01:00 AM.

The official London Olympics Logo and Mascots [ Mandeville and Wenlock  - above right]

The ceremony will take place at the London Olympic Stadium at 20:00 GMT. The ceremony will include the usual march past of the athletes, lighting up the Olympic cauldron with the Olympic torch, the formal inauguration of the games by the chief guest, and a beautiful performance by 15,000 performers at the end. Sir Paul McCartney, the ex Beatle, will also perform among other performers.

As is usual for all the Olympic games that the head of the state normally presides over the Olympic Opening Ceremony, Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth II will be the chief guest. She will be received by the President of the IOC at the entrance of the Olympic Stadium.

The sequence of the rest of the proceeding of the opening ceremony, after her majesty settles down, will unfold as under:

Parade of Athletes -  Over 10,000 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) are expected to participate. The procession of the participating teams in the Stadium, nation by nation in alphabetical order, according to the language of the Host Country will take place as soon as the chief guest is seated. The first team to enter will be of Greece as the modern Olympic games originated from Greece. And the last team will be that of Great Britain, being the host country.

Speeches / Declaration of Opening of the Games of the XXX Olympiad / London Olympics 2012 - Two speeches will be made: one by LOCOG Chair Seb Coe, followed by Jacques Rogge. At the end of the speeches, Queen Elizabeth II be requested to officially declare the Games open.

Hoisting of Olympic Flag and playing of Olympic Anthem

Oath taking ceremony from the participants

The Torch and Cauldron - After the oaths, the opening ceremony will get going with the arrival of the olympic torch into the stadium.  It is passed through the athletes to the final Torchbearer, who will ceremoniously light the Cauldron, indicating the beginning of the Games. The Flame will continue to burn for the whole of the Games.

Creative Team - A host of world-class British directors and producers will lead an artistic team to stage the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Performers - This will be the main event of the opening ceremony. A total of 15,000 performers will take part in the opening ceremony, and also the closing ceremony, of the London Olympics 2012. The performance is being dubbed as  "The Isles of Wonder." The ceremony will conclude with the famous Beatles song, and my favourite, ' Hey Jude' sung by ex Beatle Sir Paul McCartney.

It is expected that around four billion people around the world will witness the opening ceremony proceedings world wide - opening ceremony as it happens Friday, 27 July.