The lid on what will be inside the Millennium Dome has been partly lifted for the first time by Prime Minister Tony Blair at a gathering of business people, arts and media leaders in London.

The controversial Greenwich project, which is estimated to cost �758m, will be divided into a number of "zones" of experience, combining education and learning with fun and leisure.

Officials confirmed a centrepiece of the massive exhibition would be a 170 feet high human body, accompanied by a baby, which will be plastered with the images of one million children in Britain.

The Dome will be "a showcase" for the best of British performers"...

There are also plans for a spectacular sound, light and music show, which would run three or four times a day, and which all visitors will have a chance to see.

Contemporary composer and rock star Peter Gabriel would be responsible for part of the show, according to officials.

One of the project's founding partners, British Telecom, also planned to create Mill e-mail, a new e-mail address service for everybody in Britain over the age of nine to link with some of the Dome's hi-tech and interactive themes.

There will be 30 different food outlets and 20 shops selling souvenirs and other merchandise.

Tickets will be sold through the National Lottery network.

The Dome organisers, who stressed they were not revealing the project's entire contents, said they expected it to be visited by at least 12 million people, including 2.4 million from overseas.

Businessmen mingled with personalities at tables placed around the latest models of the Dome and its contents at the Royal Festival Hall in London for the launch.

but it will also be a place to learn...

A Body Zone, including the giant figure, will provide "a voyage into the most fascinating and complex object in the world - the human body".

A Spirit Level will be "a space for spiritual reflection that recognises the formative influence of Christianity in the western world and the presence of other religious beliefs."

The Dome will include areas called 'Licensed to Skill' and the 'Learning Curve'. "The Learning Curve explores the classroom of the future while in Licensed to Skill, visitors will see how they meet the career challenges of the future," officials said.

In the Dreamscape zone "visitors float along a river of dreams through environments intended to surprise, excite and entertain, setting minds free in a way that only dreams can achieve".

Serious Play will be "a moving pavement into the world of play with multi-media and a cinematic experience allowing visitors to `play' using inter-active audience technology".

There could also be a Serious Fun zone concentrating on sport and entertainment.

Another zone, Living Island, will take visitors on a journey to a typical seaside resort "with surprises in store as the day-trippers start to explore the difference they can make to our environment through everyday choices".

and to reflect on the world

Chairman of the New Millennium Experience Company Bob Ayling, who is also chief executive of British Airways, said: "The Millennium Experience will show the world a Britain that is brimming with ideas and confidence ... an international showcase for the very best of British and the success that lies ahead for our people and our economy."

The company's chief executive, Jennie Page, said: "The company is on course to make the Dome the most talked about and successful event in the world in 2000.

"The project is on time and within budget and we are on track to hit - and even beat - all the targets for visitor numbers, income and construction set out in our report."

The four "founding partners" of the project were announced as Tesco, BT, BSkyB and Manpower.

BT chief executive Sir Peter Bonfield said: "I am here today because I am a businessman and I am personally convinced this will be good business for BT."

He believed the Third Millennium would be marked by the "power and ubiquity" of communications technology and he wanted BT to be at the forefront of this.

"We will be helping the UK become in every sense the world's best-communicating society," he added.

Tesco chief executive Terry Leahy said the supermarket chain's involvement would include running a country-wide SchoolNet 2000 project linked up to its long-standing Computers for Schools voucher scheme.

Children would build up projects on the Internet throughout 1999 which would then be showcased in the Learning Curve Zone of the Dome. It would be "a Domesday book for the 21st century", he said.

BSkyB chief executive Mark Booth said his company would be the major sponsor behind the Serious Fun Zone at Greenwich, celebrating the vital role that sport and entertainment play in our lives.