Pure gold as Olympic Games begin

One billion people tuned in to watch the £27m Olympics opening ceremony as the three-and-a-half hour spectacular ran into the early hours today.

Spectators sat open-mouthed as they soaked up the extravaganza created by acclaimed film director Danny Boyle which saw The Queen become a Bond girl.

Around 7,500 people volunteered to help create the masterpiece, which was enjoyed by 75,000 people inside east London's packed Olympic Stadium.

In the block-busting bonanza there were moments of humour, emotion and stunning surprises. But the Queen stole the show with her movie acting debut alongside James Bond alias Daniel Craig.

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In a scene filmed in advance and screened for the first time, Bond actor Craig arrived at Buckingham Palace in a dinner jacket, striding past the corgis towards the royal study.

Back in real time, to laughter from the crowd, "the Queen" followed by "Bond", parachuted from a helicopter towards the arena. Seconds later the real Queen and Prince Philip received a standing ovation as they took their seats in the stadium.

Sir Steve Redgrave, five-time gold medallist, was the champion chosen to conclude the Olympic Torch's 8,000-mile journey round Britain.

Although it was seven young athletes who were chosen to actually light the cauldron – a closely guarded secret.

They included 18-year-old Aidan Reynolds, from Randlay in Telford, a former Thomas Telford School pupil who gave up a promising basketball career to focus on the javelin.

Sir Steve Redgrave today said "it was very emotional and very special" when he carried the torch. Footballer David Beckham played his part, transporting the flame by speedboat under Tower Bridge to the stadium. And boxing icon Muhammad Ali provided one of the most memorable moments when he helped to carry the official flag to its place in the arena.

Tour de France hero Bradley Wiggins, rang the giant bell which marked the start of the show. Later, Sir Chris Hoy looked delighted as he led the British athletes into the Olympic Stadium for the 30th Games.

Sir Paul McCartney brought the opening ceremony to a rousing and emotional finale with a performance of Beatles legend Hey Jude. And the audience at the stadium also played their part by holding up 70,500 pixel computer tablets to create a 'human powered' screen of unprecedented size.

Despite widespread praise for the opening ceremony, it appears it was not to everyone's taste. Conservative Cannock Chase MP Aidan Burley was forced to apologise last night after he appeared to describe the ceremony as "leftie multi-cultural c**p" on Twitter.

He was inundated with an avalanche of criticism on the social networking website. A later tweet from his account claimed the comment had been "misunderstood".