Games farewell rocked the world

Under the watchful eye of the Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry, music from The Who, David Bowie, Edward Elgar and the Pet Shop Boys merged effortlessly with the fashion designs of Alexander McQueen and evoking images of heroes like Winston Churchill to bring to a close a memorable chapter in modern British history.

The closing ceremony is a chance to celebrate what the athletes have achieved, with Lord Coe describing the night as a time to “party, party, party”.

And party they did.

Aimed at celebrating one of Britain’s strongest cultural exports over the last 50 years, the musical extravaganza included Leeds band Kaiser Chiefs performing The Who classic Pinball Wizard, with singer Ricky Wilson performing on the back of a mod scooter circling the arena.

Earlier as spectators entered the Olympic Stadium, the audience was treated to a vision of working London wrapped in newspaper as they were taken to the heart of the capital’s busy rush hour.

Later Madness performed their 1980s hit Our House as the cast ripped newspaper from the cars, revealing bright vehicles with multi-coloured balloons floating from their boot.

As Michael Caine’s classic 1969 film The Italian Job was shown on the screens, a yellow Robin Reliant of Only Fools and Horses fame made an explosive entry, with Batman and Robin staggering from the wreckage in reference to one of the classic British comedy’s most famous episodes.

The showcase of British music continued with the voice of Freddie Mercury singing Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

From the darkness along the ramps, a sculpture of Beatles legend John Lennon’s face was formed as Imagine was sung by choirs from Liverpool.

Halifax-born Ed Sheeran was joined by original Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason for a rendition of the band’s classic Wish You Were Here.

It was, of course, the much-anticipated reunion of the Spice Girls that drew much attention. Reforming for one night only they performed Spice Up Your Life and Wannabe on top of black cabs.

Later four tipper trucks were driven to centre stage before exploding in a fury of pyrotechnics. The trucks tailgates then became screens showing footage of Freddie Mercury performing live in 1986 at Wembley Stadium.

With “deyo, deyo” ringing out across the stadium, Queen’s Roger Taylor emerged while bandmate Brian May made his way through the crowd performing a guitar solo before joining Jessie J for the classic stadium anthem We Will Rock You.

As the party drew to a close an arrow was pointed towards the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro, the host city for 2016. After the Olympic Flag was lowered by members of the armed forces, London mayor Boris Johnson had the honour of passing the flag to IOC president Jacques Rogge, who in turn presented it to Rio mayor Eduardo Paes.

After speeches by Olympics supremo Lord Coe and Mr Rogge, the flame that reached all corners of the UK over 70 days was extinguished – the Games were over, long to loom large in our memories.