A cow-orker shared this with me a couple of weeks back, but I forgot to check on it until just recently. Those of you who watch American Idol may already be familiar with the British television show Britain’s Got Talent. It operates like our American Idol, Simon Cowell included (although I believe their show came first), except pretty much any category of performance can be seen.
Earlier this year, an unassuming looking fellow named Paul Potts was on the show. By profession, he is a cell phone salesman. He has a dream of performing opera. Watch him turn the disbelieving looks from the judges in to congratulations. Even Cowell is obviously impressed
After this performance, he continued on through the competitive steps of the show. Getting more recognition presumably set him up to dress more appropriately for the performance he gives. By this time, there is no doubt as to his talent, and here he is performing in the semi-finals for the show.
And finally, here he is in the finals. By now he is very well known to viewers, yet his performance is still able to bring a remarkable reaction from the audience.
To think that the British get to see this and we have to suffer through the bulk of a season with the likes of Sanjaya. If you want to see the full awards at the end of the ceremony, YouTube has that, too. I am more interested in his performances than seeing the parade of winning at the end (although he does perform again at the end of that clip).
And if all this impresses you enough, you can even buy his first CD release, titled appropriately enough One Chance
[tags]Paul Potts, Opera, Cell phone salesman, Britain’s Got Talent[/tags]