Paul McCartney will end the Olympics opening ceremony with Hey Jude

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Beatles star Sir Paul McCartney will end the Olympics opening ceremony with Hey Jude and he'll ask the stadium's 60,000  spectators to join him for a sing-along

• 1bn people expected to watch Danny Boyle's £27 million Isles of Wonder show honouring Britain
• Sources reveal the show will include a 'History March' paying tribute to the NHS and suffragettes
• It will also shine a light on immigration, poverty and unemployment in the 20th century

By IAN GARLAND

PUBLISHED: 12:41 GMT, 1 July 2012

Beatles legend Sir Paul McCartney will close out the Olympics Games opening ceremony with a performance of Hey Jude - and he'll ask the stadium's 60,000 spectators to sing along with him.

One billion people are expected to tune in to watch the spectacular three-hour show, which is being directed by Oscar winner Danny Boyle and is costing £27 million to produce.

The largest harmonically tuned bell in the world will ring to mark the start of the ceremony at 9pm on July 27 - and the pop legend will bring it to a rousing finale at midnight.

Sir Paul McCartney will lead 60,000 people inside the stadium in a rousing singalong of Hey Jude

Work is well under way for the opening ceremony on July 27, which will be watched by a TV audience of 1 billion

Giant models of the Gerkin, the Houses of Parliament and the Royal Albert Hall are built at a site in Dagenham ready to feature in the Opening Ceremony

McCartney prompted rumours Hey Jude was on his Olympics set list last month when he reportedly refused to perform the song at the Queen's Jubilee concert.

Sources now confirm to the Sunday Times the song will mark the end of the ceremony later this month.

They have also revealed a darker side to Danny Boyle's Isles of Wonder spectacular - named after a line in Shakespeare's play The Tempest.

As well as a 'green and pleasant land' celebrating Britain's rolling fields and rural heritage - the show will include a 'History Parade' celebrating the NHS, immigration and protest movements, and shining a light on the country's darker past.

The Olympic Stadium will be crammed with 60,000 spectactors for the ceremony, whic will begin at 9pm with the ringing of largest harmonically tuned bell in the world

Danny Boyle unveils a model showing how the Olympic stadium will be transformed into a 'green and pleasant land'

The green set will transform into a bleak industrial landscape and performers will recreate the Jarrow march of 1936, when 200 men walked to London to protest poverty and unemployment in the north east.

There will also be a tribute to the suffragette movement, led by an actress portraying Emmeline Pankhust.

And a celebration of Windrush of 1948, when West Indians sailed to Britain in search of a new life - played out to a calypso soundtrack.

Britain's National Health Service will also be honoured by a parade of real nurses pushing hospital beds around the arena.

Performers will pay tribute to the Beatles by dressing in outfits inspired by the Sgt Pepper album cover

And there's room in the show for a tribute to the Beatles, as performers dressed in Sgt Pepper-inspired military uniforms fill the inside of the stadium.

A detailed soundtrack will accompany each performance, changing as the 'History Parade' progresses to the present day, including an all-female urban dance group, who'll perform the background music as a group of BMX bikers recreate stunts.

One highlight is expected to be the appearance of five Olympic rings which will converge and burst into flames in a spectacular pyrotechnic display - before Sir Paul McCartney closes the event with a performance of Hey Jude.

There will be three final rehearsals for the opening ceremony in the Olympic stadium the week before the Games, featuring up to 60,000 people, including 900 schoolchildren.

The volunteer performers are not being paid but will receive travel and food costs, and officials have sent out letters warning those taking part not to divulge any information about what they are doing.

Such is the pressure to get the ceremony perfect that officials have warned that any children unable to make every practice session will be prevented from performing.

The opening ceremony, which will be attended by 60,000 spectactors inside Stratford's Olympic Stadium, including the Queen, is due to begin at 9pm on July 27.