Up to 40,000 people will gather in The Mall to watch performances from multi-million-selling artists including The Feeling, Il Divo, Katherine Jenkins, McFly as well as those announced today.

 

The show from the Mall will synchronise with the Beijing 2008 Olympic Closing Ceremony at which London Mayor Boris Johnson will be symbolically handed the Olympic flag, officially marking the start of London’s tenure as summer Host City in front of a worldwide audience estimated to be around 1.5 billion

 

Tickets have already been allocated via a ballot, which was oversubscribed, but the public will be able to watch the performances via the UK’s largest-ever network of public giant screens, known as "Live Sites".

 

The event will also be broadcast live to the rest of the nation on BBC One and BBC Radio 2.

 

Sebastian Coe, the London 2012 chairman, said: “At approximately 2.30pm UK time, on the afternoon of August 24 the Olympic Flag will pass from the Mayor of Beijing to the Mayor of London in the Olympic Stadium in Beijing and the eyes of the world will turn to us. 

 

"This will be a thrilling moment."

 

Colin Grannell, the executive vice-president, partnership marketing at Visa Europe, said: “As a global supporter of the Olympic Games for more than two decades we at Visa are proud to sponsor an historic and memorable event for people to celebrate the return of the Games to London after 60 years.”

 

James Morrison said “‘Being involved with the Olympic Handover celebrations, and playing in front of Buckingham Palace to thousands of people is going to be amazing.

 

"It’s one of those once in a life time opportunities and I am very excited."