Actually, yes.
I saw that effect once. It may indeed have been the same night. It made the Courier here. And I took a photo of it, which I'll try to remember to dig out tonight.

It was a meteorological phenomenon known colloquially as a mother of pearl cloud. I don't know what the proper name is.

Polarised sunspecs are good for looking at laminated car windscreens, by the way.

Edit - Here it is.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Mon 7 Jul 2008, 11:21, Reply)