We were all sitting there last Saturday munching our way through two megas and a normale (two huge pizzas and a big one) which had been delivered so we could relax and watch the Doctor Who Easter special. We had some guests in and we all jockied for seats on the sofa so we could eat, drink and watch the telly.
Doctor Who was ok(ish) and as we were discussing the merits of the programme, the automatic viewing system switched over to Britain’s Got Talent (BGT), a talent show where acts of any description can take to the stage and generally embarrass themselves, as well as those watching!
There was something else on another channel which I wanted to watch but as usual, I was outvoted so I had to sit there and watch the biggest load of old tosh imaginable.
There was the guy blowing up a hot water bottle until it burst. Some school kid dancers and acrobats. A stripper! A guy pulling a car with his ears, and then a group of black guys whose dance routine was actually quite good. And then came the Scottish auditions and Susan Boyle.
Susan had an unruly mop of darkish hair which had probably never seen a brush and most certainly had never seen the inside of a hair salon, and you just thought that if the cameras had been unkind to her, they would have shown her moustache and the hairs sticking out of her chin. Then she spoke – she was from the corridor linking Glasgow and Edinburgh, a place called Blackburn, West Lothian, which gave her an accent most people, thankfully, were able to understand, but inevitably, she spoke very quickly and had that gallus confidence most Scottish people possess, even if they’ve got absolutely nothing to be confident about.
As she wandered tentatively onto the stage, you just felt that here was yet another Scottish embarrassment coming up. You know the scene – you’re at a wedding, or some social event and some old bat gets up thinking she can sing and everybody heads for the bar, or the toilets, or their cars.
When being questioned by Simon Cowell prior to her performance, she did not instil any confidence whatsoever. She had trouble explaining where she was from and as the cameras panned around the auditorium, people had their hands over their mouths to try and stifle the laughs. Even the judging panel looked as if they were ready to cut short her performance, as they can by simply pressing the three ‘red cross’ buttons.
The music started. She was to sing a song from Les Miserables, the long running London musical. There was a pause as the first few chords played and then she opened her mouth and started to sing …….. and it was amazing.
Everybody was completely stunned. The audience started to remove their hands from their faces and started to clap and cheer. The judging panel sat with their mouths open and when she hit a series of high notes, the audience, as one, rose to their feet and cheered her to the rafters. It was the most unlikely triumph.
Needless to say, Susan Boyle has been compared to a previous winner, Paul Potts, who also looked like he’d been dragged through a muddy field before appearing on BGT and who is now making millions singing the same sort of songs which Susan performs.
Now normally, a BGT appearance goes little further than some of the UK tabloids, but Susan Boyle’s performance, as of this morning, had had more than 20 million hits on You Tube. Demi Moore has professed to being brought to tears by Susan’s performance, as I have. I’ve watched it several times and now it’s a worldwide hit on the internet. Watch it at the link below.
Stop press - the Scottish media have found the one and only previous recording of Susan Boyle singing. Have a listen.
1 comment:
Susan Boyle is HUGE now in America too! Everyone is going absolutely crazy for her and her brilliant voice...seriously, looking at her you would neverrr know.
I guess it's another example of not judging a book by its cover :)
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