London Olympics 2012: Danny Boyle excited for the volunteers as the Opening Ceremony approaches

The Oscar-winning director will tonight lay his singular personal vision of Britain, titled The Isles of Wonder, before a global audience of several hundred million people as the London Games formally begin.

Seven years after the city was awarded the Olympics, London seems set fair for a largely dry, warm evening for the showpiece moment. The heatwave of the week has given way to showers in the capital, but they are forecast to clear in time for the start of the ceremony at 9pm.

More than 10,000 volunteers, including a large number of NHS nurses, have given up their time to take part in the show, rehearsing in the dreadful conditions that have marred most of the summer, and Boyle said his thoughts were with them today. “It has been a long road but we are almost there, and I am thinking about the volunteers.

"Directors really just sit at the back, but this is a live performance and they are the ones who have to go out there and do it. "Any nervousness I feel is for them, and the excitement I feel I hope they share." Boyle said it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for all involved.

“I’m looking forward to it, it will never come round again, so it’s very exciting.” The final moments of the Opening Ceremony, including the lighting of the cauldron, remain secret, with bookmakers taking bets on the Queen, as well as Sir Steve Redgrave and Sir Roger Bannister.

Boyle is determined that it should remain secret. The ceremony is “heading for a sell-out” according to the London organising committee, with just 50 tickets left by lunchtime. As Boyle made his final preparations the Olympic torch completed the penultimate leg of its journey from Olympia to Stratford by river, travelling from Hampton Court Palace to the Tower of London aboard the royal barge Gloriana.

With more than 130 world leaders gathering in London for the Opening Ceremony, prime minister David Cameron said it was an opportunity to show the world “the best of Britain”. “It's very exciting ... I think it's a great opportunity to show the world the best of Britain, a country that's got an incredibly rich past but actually a very exciting and vibrant future,” he said.

“Somebody asked me yesterday what face of Britain I wanted to put forward, Blur or the beefeaters, and frankly it's both. "We have got a great past, a very exciting future and this is a great moment for our country, so we must seize it.”

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