Boyle dedicates opening ceremony to late father

Details of Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle's £27 million ($42 million) creation had remained a closely guarded secret until Friday's 9 pm start, heralded by the ringing of a giant bell by Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins as farm animals frolicked below.

"It's a real privilege to be able to present this show to you," director Boyle told the crowd as he appeared briefly.

Hours before the opening ceremony, he had told reporters that his late father Frank's love for the Olympics was the reason he accepted Olympic chief Lord Sebastian Coe's invitation to direct the ceremony.

''It is my dad's birthday today,'' said Boyle. ''When I took this job it was for a lot of reasons. I live locally, and thought I had the confidence and status to take it on, which you need.

''But I did it because my dad was a mad Olympics fan, seriously crazy sitting up all night watching Olympics from Mexico or wherever. Sadly he died 18 months ago, so he didn't quite make it.''

He said the ceremony, which coursed from our ''green and pleasant land'' to the digital age of social media via the industrial revolution, was an attempt to explore Britain's new place in the world with ''modesty and pride''.