Freeze 'n' Breeze

Nearly 40,000 people celebrated the handing over of the Olympic flag to London Mayor Boris Johnson in Beijing, signalling the beginning of the city's reign as Olympic host city for Olympic 2012.

The celebration also featured British Olympians including Dame Mary Peters, Roger Black, Sally Gunnell and Sharron Davies.

London will become the first city to stage the Olympics for a third time in 2012. On both previous occasions the capital staged the Games at short notice.

While in 1908 Rome pulled out of hosting the Olympics following the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 1948, London staged the Austerity Games following World War II.