Pensioner, 94, wins over X Factor judges

Gary Barlow and co have discovered their oldest ever X Factor star - a 94-year-old man.

The Take That singer and fellow judges Louis Walsh, Sharon Osbourne and Nicole Scherzinger were so impressed with 10-piece group The Nostalgics - which includes pensioner Bill and a woman who had just had a pacemaker fitted - that they have put them through to boot camp.

According to The Sun, Gary said after the band's rendition of Katy Perry's Fireworks: "I want to know the name of the woman on the organ. Is it Elton? Oh, it's Betty. I love Betty on the organ. Betty, you got everybody up. Well done."

And Louis added: "I loved everything about it."

A source said: "The X Factor's had contestants from all different walks of life and of many different ages, but Bill is definitely the oldest.

"I'm sure we've never had anyone who had a pacemaker fitted days before auditioning."

But the insider suggested the group might be in for a bit of a 'culture shock' when they get to The X Factor boot camp.

"That stage of the competition is traditionally the most rowdy and raucous, with all-night boozing, music and bed-hopping. The producers might have to put The Nostalgics into a different part of the hotel. Having said that, if their audition is anything to go by, they may well want to get involved in the action and have a good time."

 

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.