An emotional Danny Boyle paid tribute to his late father ahead of the Games opening ceremony, on the day he would have turned 91.

Speaking at a press conference ahead of the event, he credited the event to Frank, a "mad Olympics fan".

Boyle went on to say he wanted the ceremony to embody a spirit of generosity and graciousness in the £27 million show.

"It's very much from the heart," he said.

"The sensibility of the show is very personal.

"A group of us has created it, but we have no agenda other than actually something which is true, values which we feel are true."

"I hope the show feels gracious, I hope it doesn't feel bombastic or messaging or anything like that," he added.

The spectacular opening ceremony has been widely hailed as a triumph by most - a sentiment echoed by Olympics chief Lord Coe, who said: "I can't imagine what it is like being in Danny Boyle's head for even half an hour.

"It's an extraordinary, wondrous process."