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2012 Olympics: The opening ceremony in pictures

Reuters

Fireworks explode over Tower Bridge during the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games Friday night in London. The event featured bells, nurses, references to the Industrial Revolution, Doctor Who and characters from British literature's children's classics, such as Peter Pan and Mary Poppins.

The Olympic rings are seen during a pyrotechnics display at the pre-show before the opening ceremony. The Associated Press said some elements of the ceremony, directed by Danny Boyle, were baffling. "The opening ceremony production is replete with inside jokes and cultural references that many non-Brits may find baffling. The Anglophile dream tour embraces the 'Slumdog Millionaire' director's complex and by turns dark and whimsical vision of life on this island nation. Who else would have thought of dancing nurses?" the AP wrote.

What's an opening ceremony without a superstar? Britain's David Beckham, at center, drives a powerboat with the Olympic torch as fireworks are launched over Tower Bridge during the opening ceremony.

The Olympic rings are seen during the opening ceremony. Included in the ceremony was an old-fashioned singalong, the AP reported. "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" is the anthem of West Ham United football club, but known to almost everyone. It's also an Olympic in-joke: West Ham, an east London team, is bidding to move into the Olympic Stadium once the games are over.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth and her husband Prince Philip, right, and International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, left, attend the opening ceremony.

Dancers perform take part in the opening ceremony. The Wall Street Journal provides minute-by-minute coverage of the 2012 Games' opening ceremony in Olympic Stadium.

Performers take part in the opening ceremony. WSJ bloggers note that over recent decades, these Olympic pageants have been locked in a kind of arms race of glitz. Beijing, which had 15,000 performers and spared no expense on its show, is particularly tough for London to top.

There's Mary Poppins -- several of her! Watchers also got to see world heroes like Peter Pan, Mary Poppins and Harry Potter -- and even-more-memorable villains, from Captain Hook to Cruella de Vil to Voldemort.

Performers in the finale of the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in London.