The London Olympic summer games began on Friday evening with the opening ceremonies at Olympic Stadium, and a few familiar faces showed up during the over-hour-long celebration of Great Britain through the centuries.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling made a brief appearance during the literary segment, reading an excerpt of J.M Barrie's Peter Pan to a crowd of children; film actor Sir Kenneth Branagh started off by reading Shakespeare's The Tempest before centuries of Britain unfolded around him.

And finally - so far - confirming rumours, a massive blow-up version of Lord Voldemort was thwarted by a shower of Mary Poppinses from the sky. Photos of those can be seen below; we will have video footage as soon as they are made available.

The opening ceremony aired live in the U.K. on BBC1 and pre-taped versions will be available on NBC networks later in the evening.

sujayanee