'Greatest free show' for new Lord Mayor

More than 7,000 people, 200 horses and 20 marching bands will flood the Square Mile with colour and sound tomorrow in celebration of one of the City's most spectacular and ancient traditions.

The vibrant procession for the 2001 Lord Mayor's Show will pass by an audience of hundreds of thousands of people, mostly Londoners, who will line the streets for what the organisers bill as "the greatest free show on Earth".

This unique mix of military parade and carnival - which has taken place every year since 1215 when London was a town of 50,000 people - was originally designed to show the Lord Mayor Elect to the sovereign for his seal of approval.

Today, however, the parade has become a celebration of life in the Square Mile.

This year, the traditional pomp and circumstance will be fused with more up-to-date contributions from young people and London's diverse communities.

More than 130 organisations are taking part, including the new Lord Mayor's charity Square Smile, the livery companies of the City and dozens of community groups.

The Square Smile charity is an umbrella organisation that will benefit five East End mental health groups.

The procession begins at 10.50am when the Lord Mayor leaves Guildhall for Mansion House, and continueson past all the most famous City institutions.

The second leg of the route takes the assembled marchers, riders and floats on past the Bank of England to St Paul's Cathedral. The parade ends at the Royal Courts of Justice, where the Mayor must swear an oath of allegiance.

Some 5,000 civilians and 2,000 servicemen and women will be marching, and among the 20 military and civilian bands taking part will be the Royal British Legion's.

The highlights will include a sequence of "aerialists" - led by Lady Mayoress Sally Oliver - strapped to a trapeze beneath a gasfilled balloon and pulled along part of the 21/2-mile route dangling 20 feet above the crowds.

Her stockbroker husband Michael, 61, will become the 674th Lord Mayor of the City of London. A spokesman for the Lord Mayor's Show said: "Michael Oliver is especially keen for the City to work even more closely with young people, charities and ethnic communities."

For further details visit www.lordmayorsshow.org