Fans' farewell to Michael Jackson
Millions of mourners are bidding farewell to Michael Jackson in the biggest celebrity send-off of all time.
As LA began a day of tributes and memorials to the King of Pop, it emerged his gold-plated coffin will take centre stage at the star-studded memorial service.
The service at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles is expected to reach an audience of billions as music stars and a former Britain's Got Talent contestant perform at the public farewell.
As many as 700,000 people, including many Britons, are thought to have tried to reach the arena.
Welsh schoolboy Shaheen Jafargholi, a finalist on the British TV talent show, was in the line-up alongside major stars including Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey and Stevie Wonder.
Before the public memorial, a motorcade travelled from Jackson's parents' home for a private service in Forest Lawn cemetery. Jackson's family and dozens of friends, led by his parents Joe and Katherine, walked into a hall at the cemetery where a short viewing was apparently held on Monday.
Cheers went up at the Staples Centre as footage on big screens showed Jackson's golden coffin - decorated with red flowers - emerging from the cemetery to be transferred in a black hearse to the public service.
As the start of the public memorial drew near, a steady stream of fans queued outside the Staples Centre with their tickets in hand. Many had dressed up in costumes honouring their musical hero.
After a short private service at Forest Lawn, Jackson's coffin was placed into the back of a black hearse. The motorcade then began its slow journey to the Staples Centre where fans and former musical collaborators of the pop star were waiting.
The motorcade was flanked by police cars and motorcycles and, with the hearse at its head, drove along empty, closed-off motorways to the Staples Centre.
