Has there ever been a more deserving winner?

Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery's victory in Britain's Got Talent provides hope for millions of us that it is never too late to fulfill one's potential.
Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery who has won Britain's Got Talent, pocketing £250,000 and winning a spot at the Royal Variety PerformanceChelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery who has won Britain's Got Talent, pocketing £250,000 and winning a spot at the Royal Variety Performance
Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery who has won Britain's Got Talent, pocketing £250,000 and winning a spot at the Royal Variety Performance

The 89-year-old won the public vote in ITV's annual celebration of Simon Cowell's teeth – which are now surely odds on to be officially recognised as the Eighth Wonder of the World – and stole the hearts of the nation.

Sure, there are more powerful, better trained singers out there, but the sight of a military veteran standing on stage with a chest full of medals, belting out ballads in memory of his beloved late wife, was too much for our collective sentimental hearts to bear.

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After all, considering a dog had previously walked off with the top prize, Colin's victory was entirely fitting in a week when we commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day and the incredible sacrifices which were made during the Second World War.

Although he was too young to serve in that campaign, the grandad represents a generation to whom public service and a unswerving commitment to their chosen path are second nature. In short, he had won over most of us before he sung a single note.

Much has been made of the £250,000 prize that he will receive, but there cannot be a previous winner who will have been more proud than Colin will certainly be when he steps out on stage to perform in front of our royal family at the Royal Variety Performance later this year.

But it is the fact that he is so ordinary and a far cry from the dead-eyed, well rehearsed professionals who usually do so well on BGT, that gives us all hope.

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His success serves as a reminder that it is not always the well polished usual suspects who triumph in life.

I would wager that, right now, there will juggling uni-cyclists from Ullswater and pub singers from Preston who will preparing their assault on next year's competition.

Sadly, I won’t be one of them as I long ago realised I have no showbiz talent.

But the uni-cyclist should not give up. The wonderful Colin Thackery, everybody's favourite pensioner, gives most of us belief that it might still happen.

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