Can you remember where you were when you saw the 20th of January 2009 audition on “Britain's Got Talent” for the first time?
A year later I certainly can. I was in my office the next day when one of my editors called me over to her machine and showed me the You Tube clip. She had tears flowing down her cheeks.
I began to watch and thought it was some kind of tragedy or bad joke until suddenly Susan began to sing.
I was utterly transfixed by that voice, held in thrall like the first time I ever heard Pavarotti sing “Nessan Dorma.”
With Susan I suddenly felt tears come to my eyes. Around me everyone else was gathered too to see what the commotion was. Many were in tears as well.
What was it about that moment, that a veteran newsman like myself could be so affected? I don't know, but I know it transfixed millions just like me all over the world too and it hasn't stopped since.
I still watch that initial moment and can feel the chill when she begins to sing, and witness the astonishment of all those present.
I seriously don't think such a moment can be replicated. Which is why the talk of another Susan Boyle moment is such nonsense. In a world full of plastic this was a hint of diamond, a real live moment of pure emotion.
I'm not sure Susan can explain it either, though she did try on Oprah this week.
"That's when I was let loose," she joked to Oprah about her January 20, 2009, audition for the reality TV competition. "Before the audition my life was kind of mundane routine like everyone else's. After the audition, people started recognizing me in the street [and I was] being seen as a professional singer.
"It's astounding and it's very humbling," she said
And it all started a year ago this week.
Share your memories with me of that precious moment.
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