Simon Cowell is so charming that he could charm the pants off of a parking meter, if it just so happened tobe wearing pants. So it’s no surprise that he had some flirtatious banter with the August riots’ ‘Hackney heroine’ when she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent.
Auditioning at the HMV Hammersmith Apollo, walking stick-wielding Pauline Pearce was apprehended by the high-trousered one about her choice of accessory.
He asked the 46-year-old why she uses a cane: “You’re not going to hit me with that are you?”
She laughed back: “I only threaten people with my stick. I don’t actually hit them. I won’t hit you unless you’re a rioter.”
She added: “Where I’m from, they call me Lady P. I just want to spread a little love.”
"What a wonderful voice"
Pauline, (or Lady P, if we’re to use that brilliant nickname), is from the inner-London borough pf Hackney. She rose to fame last summer when mobile phone footage of her standing up to rioters went viral across the internet. The grandmother also used to be a jazz singer, so it’s no surprise she took to the BGT stage to show the judges that her lungs are capable of more than telling looters to grow up and stop trashing Footlocker.
Singing Ralph McTell’s The Streets Of London, she dedicated her audition to victims of last year’s riots. Just before it got a bit too sob-story, though, Simon (with a customary flick of his hand, we bet) asked her to try a different song.
The crowd went wild when she sang Louis Armstrong’s soul classic What A Wonderful World, and Simon said: “You’ve got a lot of spirit and a lot of soul. You’ve a fantastic voice.”
We don’t know about you, but we cannot wait to see this! All hail Lady P!