A South Oxhey father who helped to launch Friday’s Olympics opening ceremony has admitted the nerves almost got to him and he barely slept the night before.

Mark Sullivan, 42, was one of the estimated 15,000 volunteers who helped deliver Danny Boyle’s £27m spectacular.

The sales manager from Bowring Green got involved with the opening ceremony after responding to an email circular from games organisers LOCOG.

He auditioned in front of the Oscar-winning director and renowned choreographer Steve Boyd last October and learned he had been selected in January.

Since then, Mr Sullivan had endured a gruelling schedule of rehearsals culminating in Friday’s performance in front of an Olympic stadium packed with political leaders and a global TV audience of one billion.

Understandably, the nerves started to set in as the time before the start of the show ticked away but he says this was overcome with excitement.

He said: "It was absolutely amazing I still haven’t come back down, it was truly memorable.

"I have tried to do different things throughout my life but this will take some beating.

"The night before the opening ceremony I was like a seven-year-old boy on Christmas Eve, I couldn’t go to sleep until about 3.30am because I was so nervous."

Mr Sullivan was part of a team of 1,000 dressed as workers from the industrial revolution, tearing up the green and pleasant land before helping with the smelting of the Olympic rings.

"Our cue to come on was when Kenneth Branagh finished his speech, our job was to clear away the green and pleasant land as quickly as possible ready for the chimneys," he added.

"We had two dress rehearsals, there were 40,000-50,000 people there on Monday and then my wife and daughter were in the audience on Wednesday which was very special but Friday was another level, everybody was so pumped up.

"I didn’t really take in a lot of what was going on but at the end we all gathered towards the centre of the field then turned to face the audience, it was just a sea of camera flashes."