Games open with fun-filled show

The London Olympics burst into life last night with a humour-filled opening ceremony watched by 80,000 spectators and more than one billion TV viewers.

Queen Elizabeth II and James Bond, alias actor Daniel Craig, were shown in a spoof film parachuting from a helicopter into the Olympic Stadium in east London before the real monarch took her seat to loud applause.

After seven years of planning, the Games officially began in the gleaming new stadium in a once rundown area of the British capital with a colourful show devised by “Slumdog Millionaire” director Danny Boyle.

The ceremony kept Boyle’s promise to showcase British history with a dash of quirky humour, tracing time from a bucolic past through the Industrial Revolution before fast-forwarding to the present day.

The show even included a tribute to Britain’s state-run National Health Service while actor Kenneth Branagh, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and “Mr Bean” Rowan Atkinson all had roles.

More than 80 world leaders and royals attended the ceremony while First Lady Michelle Obama represented the United States alongside a host of celebrities including Angelina Jolie.

Earlier the Olympic flame was rowed up the River Thames in the royal barge as it approached the end of a 70-day relay around Britain and Ireland and made its way to the stadium.

A budget of €12 billion has been spent on bringing the Games to London for an unprecedented third time, and the first since 1948.