Paralympians with the torch

BBC

The Paralympic flame has reached outer London as part of a 24-hour torch relay to herald the start of the 2012 Games.

Four national flames, kindled last week, were united in a cauldron at a ceremony in Stoke Mandeville - the spiritual home of the Paralympics.

A flame lit from that cauldron is being carried 92 miles from Buckinghamshire to London's Olympic Stadium.

The Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are among those attending Wednesday's opening ceremony.

Crowds gathered in the market square in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, to watch the start of the relay on Tuesday night and thousands more turned out overnight to cheer on the torchbearers along the route.

Running about 90 minutes late, the flame, which is being carried by some 580 torchbearers in total, is next due to arrive at Britain's first traditional Hindu temple, the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir Temple in Brent.

It will then visit Lord's Cricket Ground, London Zoo and the Abbey Road crossing made famous by the Beatles among other famous landmarks in the capital.

In Trafalgar Square later, former boxer Michael Watson, wheelchair racer Dame Tanni Grey Thompson and Paralympic swimmer Chris Holmes will carry the flame.

About 3,000 invited guests, including Paralympians, representatives from disability groups and local residents, attended Tuesday evening's ceremony at Stoke Mandeville Stadium.

Some 150 local residents took part in a lantern procession and formed a guard of honour for eight torchbearers who carried flames representing England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales.

The children who were invited to take part in the procession, together with their parents, had gathered at Stoke Mandeville last week to make the lanterns out of canes, tissue paper and sticky tape.