A new concept will be tried out at London 2012 with the Paralympic Torch Relay seeing four separate flames lit in London, Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff on one-day intervals before all four torches come together for a special ceremony at Stoke Mandeville – the home of the Paralympics – to create the Paralympic Flame. Taking in the four capital cities of the countries that make up Great Britain, the six-day event will start with the lighting of the London Flame on 24th August, followed by the lighting of flames in Belfast (25th August), Edinburgh (26th August) and Cardiff (27th August). The special ceremony – the Stoke Mandeville Flame Festival – will take place on 28th August where the four flames will come together on the site of where Sir Ludwig Guttmann first tested out the Paralympic concept back in 1948. This will be followed by a 24-hour relay that will see the Paralympic Flame travel with the help of 580 lucky torchbearers to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford in time for the London 2012 Paralympic Opening Ceremony on 29th August.
The Torch Relay will travel through communities in Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire before visiting a number of iconic London landmarks, including Piccadilly Circus, Westminster Abbey, Downing Street and Trafalgar Square, which will host the BT London Live site throughout the Games. The Flame will also cross the Thames on numerous occasions over some of London's most famous bridges including Lambeth Bridge, Waterloo Bridge and Tower Bridge, where the hanging Olympic rings will be replaced with the spectacular Paralympic 'Agitos' on display.