Walking back to the hotel, next to the Shaftsbury Theatre was a large crowd thronging with papparazzi. I asked a guy with his back to me what was going on. He turned round. It was Piers Morgan, one of the judges.

The outcome of that show, a new star called Paul Potts, took centre stage in Sheffield mid UK tourk. About 13.5 million people witnessed Paul's phenomenal voice on Britain's Got Talent - the turn-out here proved to sceptics that the tenor from Port Talbot has maintained that huge following, with not one empty seat available.

The former Carphone Warehouse salesman delivered with perfection songs such as Maria from West Side Story, Ave Maria, REM's Everybody Hurts and Caruso, in his own distinctive style, tendering often quite funny anecdotes, mainly about his wife Julz. He dug himself out of the hole he was digging by dedicating Cavatina to her.

Joined by support act Natasha Marsh, they duetted Act One of La Traviata over a glass of champers.

She gave a powerful operatic rendition of Queen's Who Wants To Live Forever, and You'll Never Walk Alone, bringing my Liverpool supporting friend Kim out in goosebumps.

The Welshman won the hearts of a nation with his televised rendition of Nessun Dorma. Here it was the closing song to a fantastic performance backed by a 13-piece orchestra and strong video imagery on a huge screen .

I asked Piers Morgan during our brief meeting: "Has Britain Got Talent?"

"Of course it hasn't," he replied. How wrong he was.

John Bognar