Celebration extraordinaire

THE City of Light lived up to its name last night as the Paris Olympics opened with a sound and vision spectacular.

- Giles Sheldrick

The history-making curtain-raiser broke new ground as the first to stage its opening ceremony along the Seine - watched by a global audience of more than a billion.

And in a jaw-dropping theatrical first act ahead of two weeks of sport, 10,500 athletes from 200 countries paraded along the famous river in a flotilla of boats watched by 350,000 spectators lining its banks.

As rain teemed down, the offbeat pageant, crammed full of irreverence, romanticism, patriotism and avant garde nods, saw a Moulin Rouge-inspired performance from Lady Gaga and homage to cabaret singer Édith Piaf, the city's most famous daughter.