The England cricket team is due to hold a victory parade through London on Tuesday after snatching the Ashes back from Australia in an epic tournament that has revived people's love of the centuries-old game.
Tens of thousands of fans are expected to pack the streets as their new heroes drive past in an open-top bus following their 2-1 win in the five-match series, which was sealed by a draw in the final Test that ended on Monday.
Underlining the significance of the achievement, which inspired praise from Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Minister Tony Blair, it is the first time England has won the Ashes - cricket's oldest and most coveted prize - in 18 years.
The triumph sent waves of euphoria across the country with millions of fans, many of whom stopped work to watch the last few overs, jumping and whooping in delight, singing in the streets and piling into pubs to toast the moment.
The jubilant faces of the players, such as captain Michael Vaughan, winning batsman Kevin Pietersen and all-rounder Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, blitzed all newspapers as they revelled in one of the finest ever Ashes on record. "England victorious," said The Daily Telegraph in one of the many special cricket supplements produced by the newspapers especially.
In London, flag-waving fans clambered onto rooftops and hung out of windows to join in the celebrations, that went into the night, with a 23,000-strong crowd at The Oval cricket ground where the last Test was played.
Scenes of even greater jubilation are expected when the cricket carnival drives through London at the end of an unprecedented summer for British sport following the capital's successful bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games.
Voicing the thoughts of all England fans, London Mayor Ken Livingstone said: "(The) team's Ashes victory is wonderful news.
"Their play throughout the series has generated unprecedented excitement around the country and raised the profile of the game to a wider audience."
England's seven-and-a-half-week battle against Australia has seen the game of cricket elevated to new heights of popularity. It has drawn millions of new fans, including men who once only loved football, as well as many women.
In scenes once only reserved for England's soccer triumphs, cricket supporters packed pubs to watch the victory live on television. Some said their bosses had allowed them off work early to see the event.
The Financial Times reported that overall trading on the London stock markets on Monday was down to 2.4 billion shares from the usual three billion as television monitors across the city were switched on to the Test.
"This time it really was different. Rather than rain stopping play, it was the play that brought much of working life in Britain to a halt yesterday as a nation followed England's nail-biting Ashes victory," the economic daily said.
Tuesday's victory parade promises to be yet another distraction from work.
The champion cricketers are due to board the bus along with members of the England women's cricket team - who won their own Ashes against Australia last month - at Mansion House, central London, at about 11:00am (1000 GMT).
They will travel past St Paul's Cathedral, along Fleet Street before arriving at Trafalgar Square about an hour and a half later.
A special party is planned in the square, which was the scene of massive celebrations when London won its Olympic bid in July.
Finally, the players will head to Lords, the home of England cricket, where they will present the tiny Ashes trophy - which reputedly contains the burnt bails from the match when Australia first beat England in 1882 - to the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for safe keeping.
Attention will likely be focused on Flintoff, who was named man of the series, and Pietersen, who won the title of man of the match on Monday after scoring his first Test century and batting on to 158.
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