London will stage the biggest arts festival the world has ever seen under stunning plans unveiled today.
The starting gun was fired on a cultural extravaganza that will transform the capital into a giant party town for 12 weeks over the Olympics.
As millions of tickets went on sale, organisers said the London 2012 Festival would rival the 1951 Festival of Britain, seen as a tonic for the nation after the devastation of the Second World War.
The event will mark the start of the Games on July 27 with a nationwide ringing of bells as part of an artwork by Turner Prize-winning artist Martin Creed - hailed by Games opening ceremony director Danny Boyle as "a wonderful way to wake up the nation".
Thousands of events - from a free music festival headlined by Leona Lewis to the most ambitious Shakespeare show ever staged - will take place across the capital and 10million tickets will be free.
Mayor Boris Johnson said: "We want to create a summer like no other, so that Londoners and visitors, wherever they are in the capital, come away feeling they have been part of something exhilarating, a unique moment in time."
Tony Hall, the Royal Opera House chief and chairman of the Cultural Olympiad board behind the festival, said: "London will just explode with cultural activity. God knows, in the current economic climate, we need something to celebrate, and let's celebrate what we're really good at."
The programme of music, theatre, art, dance and poetry represents a major success as many thought it would never come off - despite being a key part of London's bid to win the Games.
Ruth Mackenzie, who was appointed to create a giant arts festival for the Olympics at a time when scepticism blighted the project, said the programme made good the pledge to offer a "once in a lifetime experience".
The festival, the culmination of the four-year Cultural Olympiad, will run from June 21 until September 9.
Shows within the festival, including the World Shakespeare Festival, the Poetry Parnassus and Big Dance, will each be bigger than any previous celebration in their field.
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Creed's mass bell-ringing will begin at 8am when the aim is for all the bells in the country to be rung as quickly and as loudly as possible for three minutes.
There is even a mobile phone app available to allow everyone to join in. The performance is entitled Work No 1197 and London 2012 wants thousands of members of the public to make the event, based on the tradition that bells are rung to mark special moments, a reality.
Anyone can take part, from ringers using the largest church and town hall bells through to hand bells, school bells, and even bicycle bells. Community groups, clubs and individuals are all welcome.
Film director Boyle said: "I'm delighted that we will start the day with a real feeling of celebration right across the UK."
Damon Albarn, Daniel Barenboim, Cate Blanchett, Carol Ann Duffy, Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Jude Law and Mike Leigh had already been confirmed as taking part in the festival, but new additions include pop-up performances of Shakespeare by Jerusalem star Mark Rylance and a major retrospective of the work of Yoko Ono.
The artist and widow of John Lennon said: "I am very excited. Every time I come to the city, I feel it bursting with energy and creativity and 2012 will really be the year when London celebrates."
Top designers including Stella McCartney, Sarah Burton and Dame Vivienne Westwood are joining forces with leading visual artists such as Marc Quinn, Jeremy Deller and Dinos Chapman to create new work for another exhibition.
