WE really do know how to throw a party then...

With the eyes of the globe firmly fixed on London last night, good old Lancashire lad Danny Boyle delivered a jaw-droppingly good opening ceremony for London 2012.

It is a ceremony that will live long in the memory, a ceremony that sounded just as good and evocative as the highlights were played on the radio on Saturday morning with the supreme John Murray guiding listeners through proceedings .

Film director Boyle - did I mention he is from Lancashire? - promised a special treat, and it was a special treat he delivered in the shape of a history lesson that makes you realise just why Britain is prefixed with Great.

Yeah, of course a few folk wouldn’t like it. That’s the nature of us Brits...and one MP posted the sort of tripe on Twitter that makes you realise some people shouldn’t be allowed technology...or out on their own.

But the overriding feeling is one of great pride, even at wheeling out the pensionable Paul McCartney.

Yes, he is not everyone’s cup of tea – but he was in the biggest band ever – and Hey Jude is one of the few songs that around of a third of the world’s population could sing along to.

Lancashire’s Boyle deserves a Knighhood – and if the action is only a quarter as good as the opening ceremony we will have the greatest Games.