| David Cameron speaking at the event today picture - courtesy of Skynews |
Britain's astonishing summer of sport come to a colourful and emotional climax as hundreds of Olympic and Paralympic athletes paraded through the capital to finally bring the curtain down on London 2012. Tens of thousands of spectators lined the streets as the procession wound its way through a sea of Union Jacks to Buckingham Palace.
Up to 700 British Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including more than 90% of the medal winners, took part in the parade. The athletes packed onto 21 floats which started in the heart of the City of London and ended in the Mall. Olympic gold medallists Mo Farah, Jessica Ennis, Sir Chris Hoy and Ben Ainslie were part of the parade, as were Paralympic champions Ellie Simmonds and Sarah Storey.
The parade started at Mansion House and the route went via St Paul's Cathedral to Trafalgar Square down to the Queen Victoria Memorial. State trumpeters from the Life Guards of the Household Division provided an opening fanfare at the start of the parade, which was led by a carnival group with drummers and musicians led by two giant lion heads. At the parade's finale, there was music from the Pet Shop Boys.
The Band of the Coldstream Guards also provided musical accompaniment, with Scottish singer Amy MacDonald performing 'Pride' before Welsh lyric mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins singing the national anthem. There was also a fly-past by a British Airways jet and the Red Arrows at the end of the parade finale. Up 9,000 of those who worked as volunteers during the Games provided the crowd in the Mall after being allocated tickets via a ballot.
At the end the Prime Minister David Cameron, the Princess Royal HRH Princess Anne and the Mayor of London Boris Johnson all made speeches, thanking the Olympians, Paralympians, Games Makers, the Police, the Soldiers who stepped in at the last minute when G4S were unable to fulfill their contract. .
Boris Johnson capped his performance by upstaging David Cameron. Addressing the crowd on the Mall outside Buckingham Palace, the mayor said the Games had come to a "final tear-sodden juddering climax".Boris did thank the G4S workers who did turn up. Labour tweeters were furious that neither Tony Blair nor Ken Livingstone were acknowledged despite them being at the heart of the original bid
