The greatest show the world has ever seen

I don't know if anyone has ever seen anything quite like it. I watched with my mouth open as it appears, did James Lawton:

It was all that was promised here in the fabulous chameleon of the stadium known as the Bird's Nest. It then spread like the magic fire of some great forest across the vast and, for so long, hidden land.

This, it was hard if not impossible to dispute, was the greatest show the world had ever seen and it brought joy that became delirium in 1.3 billion people.

The launch of the 29th Olympics was so stunningly choreographed, so meticulous planned – full dress rehearsals were under way more than a year ago – and went so far back into China's ancient history you suspected that Confucius himself might have been pleased.

The father of Chinese philosophy did, after all, like a party, once declaring: "Friends have come from afar and how happy we are."

Not all friends of modern China were in the stadium last night – the worldwide TV audience was estimated at more than 4 billion – but even one of its greatest critics, the watching American President George Bush, was obliged at times to gasp and muster something more than polite applause.

My worry is what happens in four years time when it comes to London. We have Mayor Boris Johnson so we can expect pipe bands and a couple of Morris dancers.

I'm fully expecting a moment of national humiliation, as it will be very hard to top what I watched last night.

Breathtaking stuff.

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Tags: China, Olympics