Shelf-stacker, salesman ... opera star!

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It was bloody brilliant.

The segment on last summer's latest reality rip-off Britain's Got Talent showed Paul Potts, the cellphone salesman with a chipped tooth from South Wales. Backstage, he looked as ill at ease as anyone could be. Speaking on camera as if he had a mouthful of marbles, he described his chronic lack of self-confidence.

Then onstage he came, still just as awkward and looking like bait for bullying, something he admitted had indeed been the case. The ubiquitous Simon Cowell and the other two judges gave their condescending go-ahead. It was then that, unlike like the other pop-oriented acts on the show, Potts starts singing Puccini's Nessun Dorma. Like Pavarotti himself. The camera shows a granny in the audience, bless her, wiping away a tear. Potts hits the high notes. The audience rises to its feet.

A few days later, he wins the contest.

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