Tickertape: Athletes react as confetti rains down on  them during the Closing Ceremony

Rock behemoths: Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The  Who headline the Olympic Closing ceremony with a medley of their biggest hits,  including Baba O'Reilly

Proud: Locog chairman Lord Coe, right, delivers a speech  as IOC President Jacques Rogge watches during the Closing  Ceremony

Brian May of Queen performs together with Jessie J  during the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games

From beyond the grave: The late Freddie Mercury, on a  giant screen, leads Queen out onstage for their performance at the closing  ceremony

The best of Britain's past and present music  scene partied with volunteers, athletes and the world as London 2012 came to a  breathtaking close tonight.

The Spice Girls, Madness, Queen, Take That  and Annie Lennox took to the stage in a symphony of British music

Aimed at celebrating one of Britain's  strongest cultural exports over the last 50 years, the musical extravaganza  marked the end of the country's most successful Games in more than a  century.

Evoking images of the past from Winston  Churchill and Edward Elgar, through the psychedelic 60s to the highs and lows of  the Games, the closing ceremony culminated with a glimpse of the carnival that  awaits in Rio in four years' time.

A galaxy of stars including the Pet Shop  Boys, Kaiser Chiefs, George Michael, Tinie Tempah and Jessie J, along with faces  such as Kate Moss, Russell Brand, Julian Lloyd Webber, Naomi Campbell and Darcey  Bussell built up to the show's climax and The Who.

Muse's guitar player Matthew Bellamy joins a starstudded  list of performers at the Olympic Closing Ceremony

Indie icon: Liam Gallagher and his band Beady eye  followed The Spice Girls with a performance of Oasis number one hit  Wonderwall

Within moments, The Beatles' hit Because,  performed by London gospel choir Urban Voices Collective, merged into Edward  Elgar's Salut d'Amour by cellist Julian Lloyd Webber on top of the Royal Albert  Hall. As the morning traffic jam came to life, newspaper-clad vehicles from  black cabs and vintage cars to folding bikes revved their engines and honked  their horns as newspaper-dressed businessmen and women portrayed a busy Monday  morning on Waterloo Bridge.

Winston Churchill, played by King's Speech  actor Timothy Spall, stood atop Big Ben reciting the same lines from  Shakespeare's The Tempest which helped open the Games 16 days ago: "Be not  afeard: the isle is full of noises."

As the deafening noise grew to a crescendo,  Churchill brought the worldwide audience's focus to the royal box as a fanfare  announced the arrival of Prince Harry and International Olympic Committee  president Jacques Rogge.

As Union flags were waved from car windows,  the packed stadium was led in the British National Anthem by the London Symphony  Orchestra and the Urban Voices Collective.

Comedy star Russell Brand performs his sketch during the  Olympic Games closing ceremony

Mods: The Kaiser Chiefs perform The Who's Pinball  Wizardon scooters during the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony

Greatest show: Athletes form a pathway to the Olympic  cauldron in spectacular scenes from the closing ceremony

After  the  armed services raised the flag, printed grey clouds on the stadium  floor were  pulled back to reveal an artistic explosion of red, white,  and blue created by  Damien Hirst.

As  Michael Caine's classic 1969 film The Italian Job was shown on the  screens,  the 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.

Madness joined the stage with the infectious beat of Our House as the cast  ripped  newspaper from the cars, revealing bright vehicles with  multi-coloured balloons  floating from their boots.

Echoing  the song's original video, saxophonist Lee Thompson was lifted to play solo high  above the track.

A total of  160 guards from the Massed Bands of the Household Division marched behind  Madness before playing Blur's Parklife.

The  Pet  Shop Boys, riding on rickshaws, performed West End Girls, followed  by X Factor  phenomenon One Direction with their hit What Makes You  Beautiful.

In  another nod to the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, 10 large trucks burst open  to  reveal street parties representing all walks of London  life.

Some  30  gymnasts from Britain's Got Talent troupe Spelbound contorted  themselves to  illustrate the lyrics of The Beatles' A Day in The Life.

As the day  drew to a close, The Kinks' frontman Ray Davies arrived in a black cab singing  his 1960s hit Waterloo Sunset.

As a  funfair scene emerged, a shimmering river of 270 children from 10  schools in  the six east London host boroughs weaved its way through the  melee to Sande's  reprise of Read All About It.

As  many  of the 10,000 athletes from the 204 nations involved in the Games  flooded into  the stadium, filling the areas between the ramped stage,  they joined hands  during Elbow's performance of Open Arms and One Day  Like  This.

United nations: Flagbearers take part in the athletes'  march during the closing ceremony

Team GB: A British athlete dances with a Union flag as  athletes from all over the world parade during the closing ceremony

Athletes enter the Olympic stadium during the closing  ceremony

Huge cheers greeted British sailor Ben  Ainslie as he carried the Union flag into the stadium.

'Wow. This is it... The end,' Ainslie  tweeted.

'We should all be very proud to have held the  greatest Olympics in modern times. Huge thanks to everyone involved.

Following the flag-bearers, thousands of  athletes walked through the spectators, medals round their necks, high-fiving  fans and waving to the cameras.

But conscious of the night's tight timings, a  series of stage hands clad in black ran alongside the athletes, comically  lifting their knees to their chest to hurry them along.

As athletes gathered in the segments between  the ramps to the stage, some perched on others' shoulders.

Read all about it: A London street scene was played out  - with the whole set wrapped in newspaper

Royal laughs: Prince Harry and Kate Middleton share a  joke during the Olympic Games Closing Ceremony

 

Only Fools and Horses: Del Boy and Rodney, dressed as  Batman and Robin, appear in the stadium

And  while  the fans eagerly videoed and took photos of their sporting heroes, the athletes  could be seen returning the favour, clutching their own  cameras to capture the  crowd on film.

Billions of viewers were treated to another interpretation of the Union Flag as  the  athletes, in their national colours, formed a mosh pit around the  stage.

White  boxes representing the 303 Olympic events formed a pyramid on to which  the  winners, losers, blood, sweat and tears from London 2012 were  projected.

After  the  traditional men's marathon victory ceremony, the 70,000 volunteer  Games Makers  were honoured with a shower of petals before darkness and  silence  descended.

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 John Lennon's face was  formed as  Imagine was sung by choirs from his birthplace, Liverpool.

George  Michael came in singing his 1990s anthem Freedom '90 before segueing into his  latest record White Light.

Spotlights  then picked out the Kaiser Chiefs playing The Who's Pinball Wizard after a dark  blue light descended on the stadium.

As  inflatable silver pinballs bounced around the athletes, Kaiser Chief  Ricky  Wilson joined 50 Mods on scooters for the performance.

A  sequence of sound waves were sent around the stadium on more than 70,000 pixel  screens next to each seat before floating up to form images of  David Bowie on  the screens.

Back on song: Emeli Sande, who sang Abide With Me during  the Opening Ceremony, performs on the newspaper-covered stage

Masters of the House: Madness ¿ led by frontman Suggs ¿  perform Our House during a street party scene

Boy band One Direction perform during the Olympic  Closing Ceremony

A  compilation in homage to Bowie culminated in Fashion before stunning  billboard  images of nine British supermodels preceded their entrance.

As the drapes were pulled off, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, wearing Alexander McQueen, strutted along shimmering catwalks forming the Union  Jack.

With the  Olympic cauldron shrouded in smoke, Annie Lennox emerged on the figurehead of a  ghost galleon to perform Little Bird.

As the ship faded back into the smoke, two men in 1970s business suits walked a tightrope high above the field of play before shaking hands and  bursting into  flames, recreating the album cover of Pink Floyd's Wish  You Were  Here.

Ed  Sheeran was joined by original Floyd drummer Nick Mason, The Feeling's  Richard  Jones and Genesis founder Mike Rutherford for the hit.

Neil Tennant, singer of the Pet Shop Boys, performs  during the Closing Ceremony

Ray Davies sings 'Waterloo Sunset', during the Closing  Ceremony

As  segments of daily British life were shown to the crowds, comedian  Russell  Brand arrived on a psychedelic tour bus performing Pure  Imagination from Willy  Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and The Beatles' I Am The Walrus with string  quartet Bond.

The  bus  transformed into a fluorescent 50m octopus as Fatboy Slim rose from  its head,  spinning his decks as dancers performed to his hits Right  Here, Right Now and  The Rockafeller Skank.

From  limousines circling the track, Jessie J, Tinie Tempah and Taio Cruz  emerged  singing their respective hits Price Tag, Written in the Stars  and Dynamite  before joining together for the Bee Gees' disco tune You  Should Be  Dancing.

After a balletic performance of 10 taxis, five came to life illuminated in baby pink,  sporty stripes, posh dynamite, the Union Flag and a scary animal  print.