Fires of Friendship
In the presence of HM The Queen HRH The
Duke of Edinburgh and HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
Commentator RAYMOND BAXTER
Two thousand children carrying flaming torches provide the floodlighting for the most informal Jubilee celebration of the week.
Tonight the carriage is exchanged for a landrover when The Queen drives down the Long Walk from Windsor Castle to light the first bonfire in a nationwide chain.
The 30-ton, 40-foot high fortress of brushwood is the first in a network of fires extending north, south, east and west, each blaze visible to the next, until the whole of the UK is linked to Windsor.
One hundred thousand people are expected to join the Royal Family in the Great Park to see not just the fire but a firework display, a 1,000-strong carnival procession, and the bands of the ROYAL HORSE
GUARDS and LIFE GUARDS. A giant television screen has been built in the park for The Queen and the crowds to watch the live salutes from the capitals of the UK and parts of the Commonwealth.
By satellite from New Zealand
Sir Edmund Hillary lights the fire from one of the farthest points
Wales: Max Boyce and the Pendyrus Male Choir give their toast from Cardiff Castle
Northern Ireland: Dunluce Castle and a choir of 200 children
The first-ever satellite broadcast from Barbados Scotland
The Queen's Own Highlanders playing and dancing in the Great Hall of Edinburgh Castle
Producer MICHAEL BEGG