The London 2012 Olympics will close with a thrilling tribute to the best of British music from the past 50 years, in what its director is promising will be “a fabulous emotional experience”.

By Patrick Sawer, and Claire Duffin

Details of the ceremony, called A Symphony of British Music, have been closely guarded, with secret rehearsals taking place at the Ford car plant in Dagenham.

But The Sunday Telegraph has pieced together the main elements of the three-hour show, which Kim Gavin, its director, has said will be “an elegant mash-up of British music, a rich tapestry of British culture and life … something people remember for years to come.”

Here we look at the spectacle that will unfold in the Olympic Stadium as the Games bid farewell to London.

ACT ONE: OPENING SCENE

Rush hour

Black cabs, scooters, bicycles, dancing lollipop ladies and umbrella-wielding commuters create a London rush hour for the opening sequence, before the dancers strip off to reveal red, white and blue swimsuits and sports outfits.
The Spice Girls perform on top of London black cabs and wearing updated Sporty, Ginger, Scary, Posh and Baby outfits. Giant models of landmarks such as Tower Bridge, the London Eye and Battersea Power Station covered in newsprint and literary references create a cityscape.

Emeli Sandé, who sang at the opening ceremony, sings Read All About It, by Professor Green, a London rapper, a reference both to London as an international media centre and the global nature of the Games.

Ray Davies performs Waterloo Sunset, his love song to London, as hundreds of children and volunteers in costume recreate the flow of the Thames. Beside each seat in the stadium is a panel with nine LED lights, which featured in the opening ceremony and will be used to turn the arena into a wraparound screen during the live performances.

The stage

There are two stages. Musicians are on one and a second, larger stage is in the centre. Four ramps lead up to it. At one point in the show they are shown inscribed with extracts from Shakespeare’s Sonnet 130 (My Mistress’ Eyes), Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Dickens’ Great Expectations and Boswell’s Life of Johnson.

A giant maquette of a book opens to reveal the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People dressed in blue come together holding pieces of what assembles to become a giant face. They surround the stage, creating the impression of water as a ghostly ship with black sails arrives, carrying Annie Lennox. It goes up one ramp, on to the stage and down the other side.

The Rock-and-roll circus

As Lennox finishes a giant, inflatable octopus will take to the stage. Jessie J, the singer, and Tinie Tempah, the rapper, are in the back of white Rolls-Royce convertibles singing as they drive around the octopus.
Russell Brand, the comedian, will perform a version of a punk rock classic – thought to be the Sex Pistols’ Pretty Vacant – on top of a multicoloured bus.

A human cannonball is fired, then Eric Idle sings Monty Python’s Always Look on the Bright Side of Life, as nuns on roller skates career around the stage. The Band of the Coldstream Guards, led by actors Ray Winstone and Phil Daniels, will perform a marching version of Blur’s Park Life, followed by Madness reprising Our House, which they performed on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebration concert.

The opening sequence will also feature an appearance by the yellow Reliant Regal three-wheeler van driven by Derek and Rodney Trotter in Only Fools and Horses.

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NOTE BY THE EDITOR: Just hope Mr. Bean will be there, otherwise it will not be British…

On another Note: It is not really ‘nice’ of the British Press to come out with these details in advance. They think they are ‘clever’, but in fact they are ‘dis-loyal’.