Gem O'Reilly
Reporting from The Mall

Like many of the people who are gathered at The Mall right now, I’ve also been here since about 06:00 BST.

The atmosphere is one of anticipation at the moment. People have travelled far and wide to experience the start of four days of commemorating VE Day at 80.

One woman tells me she's been here since 02:00 BST and had breakfast delivered to her on The Mall; a young man, who's come here straight from a night out, says he stayed up all night to be here.

The excitement is building and the flags - many of them - are at the ready.

Image source, PA Media

As we just mentioned, it's not long until events officially kick off in central London and The Mall is continuing to fill with spectators.

One woman, Susan, tells BBC Radio 5 Live that she arrived at 06:00 BST to secure her spot.

"It makes me really emotional, especially seeing the Ukrainian troops here," she says. "I even cried seeing that on TV earlier."

"We don’t understand how lucky we are in this country when so many countries don’t have peace."

Mandy, meanwhile, says she decided to head down to The Mall bright and early in order to take in the sights and sounds.

"I know you can watch it on the TV but there’s nothing like the atmosphere being here," she explains.

No stranger to celebrating national events, Mandy has even brought her homemade Union Jack hat along, which she says has been worn to every celebration since Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee in 2002.

Ashitha Nagesh
Reporting from The Mall

Today's VE Day ceremony isn’t getting under way for a few more hours, but The Mall is already packed with people.

Their commitment is going to pay off.

Since these spectators fought the urge to hit snooze on their alarms, they have now secured some of the best positions along the procession route for when it passes through here just after midday.

A lot of people have also brought portable chairs, which seems like an excellent idea.

Ukrainian troops will be among those taking part in today's military procession and some of those soldiers caught up with the Today programme before they had to make their way over to The Mall.

Capt Hannah describes it as an "honour" to take part in VE Day at 80, while Maj Paul says the anniversary "reminds us how precious peace is and how important it is to protect it".

Both have asked to be identified with just their first names.

Paul explains that today we'll see the Ukrainian representatives take part in a separate formation during the procession. You'll be able to pick them out of the crowd, he says, as they'll be the ones carrying a Ukrainian flag.

Ukrainian troops - as seen below - have been participating in the overnight rehearsals that have been taking place in the lead up to today's procession.

Image source, Getty Images

We're now just a few hours away from the military procession starting to make its way from Parliament Square towards Buckingham Palace as part of today's VE Day commemorations.

That will be getting under way at 12:10 BST (more of today's key timings can be found in our earlier post), and you can expect to see more than 1,300 armed forces taking part.

Here's a map showing the route of the procession and where it's taking place in central London:

Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist

Image source, Getty Images / Imperial War Museum

Until 2011, weather forecasts and the Met Office were under the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence.

They didn’t want the Germans to know what the weather was going to be and how that might influence British aircraft operations.

Farmers were still dependent on weather forecasts. But the Ministry of Defence didn’t want the Luftwaffe to know where our good crops were, which would make it easier for them to target.

So instead, farmers would dial-in and receive coded weather forecasts from the BBC.

Simon King
BBC weather presenter and meteorologist

The weather for most of the UK today is going to be fine and dry with the best of the sunshine expected across Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and western England.

While cloudier in Lincolnshire and East Anglia, it will turn sunnier here this afternoon too.

Otherwise, there’s a fair amount of cloud today with risk of some showers, especially in south-east England, particularly Kent and East Sussex where a heavier downpour could pass through.

Feeling a little chilly in the east with a north-easterly wind and temperatures of 11-13C.

Warmer further west with temperatures around 13-16C.

Ashitha Nagesh
Reporting from The Mall

Let's take you back to a little bit earlier, when rehearsals for today's procession were getting under way - in near complete darkness.

Lt Col Charles Foinette is the Brigade Major of the Household Division - which means he oversees public duties and state ceremonial activity. He and his horse, Percy, will be leading regiments in today’s parade.

He tells me that there has been "quite a lot of preparation" put into this year's parade, including "properly tailored" uniforms and lots of practising of foot and rifle drills.

There's been several rehearsals throughout the weekend, and if you'd visited Green Park in the early hours on Saturday, you might have seen regiments rehearsing along the real route.

“I got on my horse at about 02:00 and got off him again at somewhere around 05:00,” Lt Col Foinette recalls.

Rehearsals are important for such big ceremonies, he points out, "but until you actually get on the ground itself it’s quite hard to visualise where you need to be marching".

Image source, Getty Images

Let's bring you the latest images from central London, where we are now seeing the Cenotaph on Whitehall being dressed in two Union Flags.

The final touches are being made ahead of today's VE Day procession - which will be getting under way later this afternoon.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Getty Images

We've been hearing from some of the people who were there when fighting in Europe ended in May 1945, but the war continued for a few months longer in parts of Asia-Pacific as allied forces kept confronting the Japanese military.

Japan was given a deadline of 26 July to surrender, but did not meet it. The United States dropped two atomic bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August.

Around 214,000 people were killed in the blasts, and thousands more died from radiation sickness in the months and years that followed.

Japan's Emperor Hirohito conceded defeat in a radio announcement on 15 August.

Then British Prime Minister Clement Attlee, who had taken over from Winston Churchill a few weeks earlier, announced two days of national holiday to mark Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day).

A service will take place at the National Memorial Arboretum on 15 August this year to mark the 80th anniversary of VJ Day.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, PA Media

Ruth Bourne, 98, worked at Eastcote, an outstation of Bletchley Park, where she was an operator of a wartime code-breaking machine, known as a "Bombe". She'll be participating in commemorations this week.

Bourne remembers the VE Day celebrations on 8 May 1945, when the Nazi regime in Germany had been defeated.

"There was an electric buzz among everyone and eventually the royals came out and waved, and we cheered like crazy waving whatever we had on us," Ruth says.

"People climbed on every available lamppost, lit bonfires in Hyde Park and we sat around singing songs," she adds.

"Not many went to bed that night."

Bernard Morgan, 101, was stationed in Germany when he received news that war in Europe would soon be over.

As a member of an intelligence unit, Morgan had signed the Secrecy Act – meaning he couldn’t share the information for a couple of days.

“On the 6th May [1945] we were told not to advise anybody that the war would be over,” he tells the BBC.

“On VE Day I was with my unit at a small place in Germany called Schneverdingen. I received a telegram saying the war in Germany would finish in two days' time."

He was “so pleased” to receive the news as everyone was eager to return home “but it didn’t happen overnight”.

Read more stories in the We Were There project.

The BBC has been collecting first-hand accounts of World War Two in the run up to the 80th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe as part of the We Were There project. In the next few posts, we're going to share some of their stories:

Ada, from Bangor, Wales, joined the women's branch of the Army, the Auxiliary Territorial Service, when she was 17 in 1941.

Three years later she followed the events of D-Day from Thiepval Barracks in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

On D-Day itself, she remembered the sense that "something big" was happening.

"They had something going on that day - like a celebration. That's what I can remember,” she told the BBC last year.

"Oh jubilation, that it was over, at least they thought it was over.”

Send in your stories or memories and tell us how you plan to mark the day.

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Image source, PA Media

While VE Day is officially marked on 8 May, today kicks off four days of celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary.

Here's what you can expect to see:

• 12:00 BST: The ceremony begins with a recitation of Winston Churchill's famous VE Day speech when Big Ben strikes at midday
• 12:10 BST: A military procession - involving more than 1,300 people, including members of the Armed Forces - will make its way from Parliament Square to Buckingham Palace
• The King and Queen will be joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales in watching the procession
• 13:45 BST: A flypast will then follow, featuring 23 current and historic military aircraft
• Later in the afternoon: The King and Queen will host a tea party at Buckingham Palace for around 50 veterans, their families and other members of the wartime generation

Community events and street parties across the country will follow - one of which will be hosted on HMS Belfast which had fired some of the opening shots on D-Day in 1944.

Image source, Getty Images

Keir Starmer is praising veterans for their "selfless dedication" ahead of VE Day - adding that the stories from those who fought are a reminder that "our victory was not just for Britain".

"It was also a victory for good against the assembled forces of hatred, tyranny and evil. VE Day is a chance to acknowledge, again, that our debt to those who achieved it can never fully be repaid," the prime minister says in an open letter to veterans.

"It is not just that you keep us all safe. It is also that you represent the best of who we are. A living link of service that unites the values we must stand for in the present, with the stories we must pass down from our past."

The PM also recalls a conversation he had with a submariner in Faslane, noting how he spent 200 days a year underwater, a "sacrifice" that led to missing birthdays, weddings, and anniversaries.

"From the Carrier Strike Group at sea, to our postings in Estonia, Cyprus and here in the UK, every service man and woman I have met has had a version of this story."

Image source, Getty Images

Victory in Europe (VE) Day on 8 May 1945 saw Britain and its allies formally accept Nazi Germany's unconditional surrender after almost six years of war.

At 15:00 BST, then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced on the radio that the war in Europe had come to an end, following Germany's surrender the day before.

Spontaneous celebrations broke out across the country, and the late Queen Elizabeth II - then Princess Elizabeth - and her sister Princess Margaret ventured out with a group of friends to experience the excitement in London.

In the clip below, you can see what the scene was like on that day:

Image source, Getty Images

On 8 May 1945, almost 80 years ago, Winston Churchill took to the airwaves from Downing Street to announce that war in Europe had ended.

Jubilation followed as crowds took to the streets to celebrate the end of almost six years of fighting.

A series of commemorative events will take place over the next few days to mark the anniversary - including a military procession in Whitehall and a Red Arrows flypast later today. Britain's few remaining World War Two veterans are expected to attend some of the events.

A service at Westminster Abbey on Thursday - 8 May - will be followed by a concert at Horse Guards Parade, which will be available to watch on BBC One at 20:00 BST on Thursday.

Further celebrations will take place in August to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day (VJ Day).

Throughout the day, we’ll bring you the latest from the first of the celebrations, as well as stories you’ve been sharing with us. Stay with us.