The Paralympic Games torch relay was kicked off on Friday at a London ceremony attended by the Prime Minister, David Cameron, London mayor Boris Johnson and London Games chief Lord Coe.
Cameron, who called the event one to fill the nation with pride, watched as Claire Lomas, who became the first person to complete a marathon in a bionic suit, lit the Paralympic cauldron from the English national flame kindled on Scafell Pike earlier this week.
Mr Cameron said: "The Olympic Games made our country proud. I believe these Paralympic Games will make our country prouder still.
"Already this is shaping up to be the best, the biggest, the most incredible Paralympic Games ever.
Claire Lomas, who completed the London Marathon in an adapted suit, lights the Paralympic cauldron
"Over these next two weeks, we're going to have more of those moments that will bring us together and make us proud.
"We are going to show the whole world that when it comes to putting on a show, there is no country like Britain and no city like London."
Ms Lomas, who was left paralysed from the chest down following a horse-riding accident in 2007, walked the London Marathon earlier this year in a pioneering robotic suit, raising a mammoth £204,000 for Spinal Research.
After she lit the cauldron, 26 flame ambassadors each collected a splinter of the flame in a lantern to take back to celebrations being held around the country.
Actor Eddie Marsan carried the torch to the Royal Opera House earlier on Friday
The flame will visit a number of London's famous landmarks on Friday as the capital gears up for the start of the Games.
Before the lighting of the cauldron, the torch visited the Royal Opera House and will later be carried in front of performers preparing for the Notting Hill Carnival, visit the Houses of Parliament and be taken on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) as it travels around the capital.
Three other Paralympic flames were struck by Scouts on the summits of the highest peaks of the home nations earlier this week.
As well as Scafell Pike in England, they were lit on Snowdon in Wales, Ben Nevis in Scotland and Northern Ireland's Slieve Donard.
The flames will rest at Paralympic celebrations in Belfast, Edinburgh and Cardiff, along with London, before heading to Stoke Mandeville, where they will be united during a special ceremony on 28 August before a 24-hour relay to the opening of the Games at the Olympic Stadium.