Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle left staff “in shock” when she applied for a job in a betting shop!
January 26th, 2014 by Lynn Connolly.
Britain’s Got Talent star Susan Boyle is a multi-millionaire, having achieved global success since appearing on Simon Cowell’s talent quest in 2009…
However, it seems Susan might be craving her former life as it’s been claimed that she left staff in a betting shop “in shock” after she enquired about a job vacancy!
According to The Sun’s TV Biz, Susan made the enquiry at a bookie’s in her home town of Blackburn, West Lothian, last Thursday.
The store’s deputy manager David Corr told the paper, “Susan Boyle walked into the shop and enquired about the job advertised in our window.
“We were all in shock.”
One of the betting shop’s customers added, “She explained she was really keen on working there and everyone knows who she is and that she lives nearby.
“The manager laughed at first, but it was clear she was being serious and they couldn’t just dismiss her, so [they] gave her all the information.
“Obviously she doesn’t need the money, so I think she saw it as a way of getting out of the house and taking her mind off things.”
The onlooker added, “I’ve seen her around the town and she can appear a bit lonely. She likes to be with people who know her and will look out for her.
“You often see her in the shopping centre, but I have never seen her come into the bookie’s [before].
“She’s very down to earth and likes the simple things in life, but it was a totally unreal scene for a superstar multi-millionaire to be at the bookie’s asking for a job that pays the minimum wage…
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
But did she get the job?
Well, a Ladbrokes spokesman told the paper, “Every applicant is judged on their merits.
“She’s applied before and it’s great for us that she’s still dreaming the dream.”
The article concludes with, “Susan declined to comment at her home when we approached her yesterday.”
Personally, I would imagine this was Susan’s sense of humour at work, but maybe we should have a bet on it!
It's Burns Night! And Susan's written a personal message for you, her wonderful fans... "Hello,
I want to wish all my Scottish fans around the globe and those who are celebrating, a wonderful Burn's night.
In true Scottish style, I started my celebrations yesterday at a pre Burn's night get together with all my closest friends. There were ten ladies in attendance and we hired a party bus to take us into town where we had a lovely dinner/ late Christmas celebration. We were all so busy over the festive period that it's only now that we've had a chance to get together and catch up.
Tonight, I will be celebrating with more of my friends. I'll be having Tatties bot from the nearby farmer (it's become a tradition) as well as haggis from my local butcher, mashed neeps and a wee dram over my haggis to toast the bard.
I wish all of you a truly wonderful Burns Night and I hope those of you joining in the celebrations have a great evening too.
Zodiak Rights, the international division of Zodiak Media is launching a whole new programming slate in advance of the RealScreen Summit and NATPE, the Company announced today.
In THE TEMPTATION TEST, three suspicious sweethearts test their relationships by placing their other halves in elaborate honey traps. Faced with the alluring advances of a good-looking stranger, can their unsuspecting partners pass the five tests of temptation while their partner watches via a hidden camera? Loyalty wins a cash prize while betrayal results in cash being lost - not to mention a slap round the face. A 10 x 6 minute series + format. Produced and broadcast by Chilevision (2014).
In BAM’S BAD ASS GAME SHOW, Jackass star Bam Margera takes his crazy antics and wild stunt ideas to a whole new level with his new adrenaline filled competition series which sees competitors vie for $10,000 by facing off against each other in incredibly demented, potentially dangerous and occasionally painful challenges dreamt up by Bam himself. Like answering trivia questions while hogtied above a pool of muck or trying to hit a target with a watermelon after being shot out of a cannon. The last one standing takes home the cash prize! A 6 x 30 minute series produced by Bill’s Market & Television Productions for TBS.
Susan Boyle has sold over 20 million records worldwide. But she has suffered from anxiety her entire life and has never performed a live solo tour. Until now… In THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT SUSAN, we follow our star as she prepares for a series of sell out concerts across her native Scotland and a huge stadium gig in front of 20,000 fans in America. If things go well a world tour will follow. This one-hour Special (HD), produced by Firecracker Films for ITV1, reveals that Susan has recently been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome and Bipolar Disorder. In light of her diagnosis, will Susan be able to cope with the pressure?
MUMMY’S LITTLE MURDERER follows thelurid case of spoilt ex-public schoolboy, Elliot Turner, who strangled his girlfriend and got his parents involved in an elaborate cover up. Elliot met and started going out with pretty 17-year-old New Zealander, Emily Longley, who had moved to the UK to study but she soon ended their relationship because of his abusive behaviour. In revenge, he brutally murdered her. Elliot was arrested but released, until the police took the unusual step of bugging the Turner’s house. With unprecedented access to his family, friends and the covert recordings, this film tells the full story. A sixty minute Special produced by Special Edition Films for Channel 5.
Sex. Drugs. Death. In Hollywood, these stories don’t just sell movies, they’re woven into the fabric of the town, especially when it comes to celebrities. HOLLYWOOD SCANDALS explores the secret affairs and mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe, delves into Charles Manson’s murderous rampage, charts Whitney Houston’s fall from grace, and wonders at the remarkable comeback of Robert Downey Jr! Investigating the legends that define these famous figures, we shine a light on Tinseltown’s dark underbelly. With rare archive footage and interviews with those in the know, this is the definitive post-mortem on Hollywood’s greatest scandals. 10 x 60’ produced by Asylum Entertainment for REELZ.
About Us
Zodiak Media is the leading independent in entertainment, factual, drama and kids, with over 45 local brands operating in 17 countries and around $800m in annual revenues. Creating, producing, and selling content across all key genres and broadcast platforms, Zodiak Media owns major properties such as Millennium, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Wife Swap, The Secret Millionaire, The Inbetweeners, Totally Spies, Fort Boyard and Being Human.
Zodiak Rights, the international rights business of Zodiak Media, boasts a growing catalogue of around 20,000 hours of content. Zodiak Rights represents both Zodiak Media programming and formats, and a substantial catalogue of third-party independent content. Zodiak Rights specialises in worldwide television and home entertainment distribution and all aspects of licensing, with highly experienced sales teams in London (non-scripted and kids) and Paris (drama, theatrical and comedy), offering a tailored service for producers with the benefit of scale.
Headquartered in Paris and with other key offices in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Stockholm and Moscow, Zodiak Media, majority-owned by giant Italian conglomerate De Agostini, operates across the world as a leading independent studio combining creative flair with financial strength. http://www.zodiakrights.com/News/296/zodiak-rights-announces-new-programming-slate
Last night, Susan scored her FIFTH consecutive Top 10 album in just FOUR years!! What an amazing achievement! But it was all ALL down to you guys – so thank you to everyone that has supported her by buying the album. If you haven’t already, grab a copy of ‘Home For Christmas’ on Amazon today.. http://smarturl.it/HomeForXmas
As we pass 5 years since that fateful day when Susan Boyle stepped out of the shadows of Blackburn and onto the world stage, it might be good to go back and hear her describe how the seeds of her 'Amazing' journey were formed. These words are from her book "The Woman I Was Born To Be" and start on page 159:
...."With my mother gone (Jan 2007), there was no focus to my life. I went for long walks, often in the pouring rain. I didn’t really notice where I was going……Even though my mother was gone physically, I began to realize that she was still with me spiritually. I started to go to Mass more frequently because I felt closer to her there………One day, I found myself thinking about what she would say to me if she could see the state I was in. ……The answer came back as clear as if she were in the room with me: “For God’s sake, Susan, stop feeling sorry for yourself, get off your backside and try to do something with your life……”.
……"The time was approaching for the annual showcase by West Lothian Voluntary Arts Council....Charles Earley had suggested that I might like to sing something from ‘Les Miserables’……..I had seen it several times at the Edinburgh Playhouse, so when I went to the audition in 2007 I took along the backing track for ‘I Dreamed A Dream’. Although it is written for a different context, the words of the song and the poignant power of the melody symbolized (what) I was feeling. The song allowed me to express all my emotions at that particular time. The dream I was dreaming was to go back to a time when my mum was still alive. I was singing it for her.”
....."I passed the audition and sang the song for the first time on stage at the Regal Theater in Bathgate....In April 2007 the first series of Britain's Got Talent came on television. I watched it with Pebbles sitting on my lap....Somewhere in the back of my mind, a seed was sown."
Two years later, that seed would blossom into a worldwide phenomenon that continues to this day. God Bless You, Susan Boyle.
How much did it take for Susan Boyle to make her dream come true?
For brave and determined Susan, it took a lot, as written (below) in a warm tribute poem "Five Years Ago," by MollBobbers, in honor of Susan's 5th anniversary.
How much of an impact Susan made to the world is still being talked about today, as we celebrate Susan's 5th year as a professional singer. The original audition on January 21, 2009 didn't air until April 11, 2009. All that time Susan had to keep her audition a secret, which must have been just as anxious as doing the show. It was reported that Susan hinted and advised friends and neighbors to watch the show, knowing she couldn't tell about being on it. People were skeptical about life and would never think that the average person had a chance on a show like that, nor would they never, ever believe or think that Susan would be a contestant on "that" show. Those weeks of waiting must have been an agonizing time for Susan, for sure.
When Susan's audition was aired, it must have been an unbelievable shock and thrill for all the home folks, because it had that effect on people all over the world. Susan's audition will live on as a "what just happened" moment in many lives. Something wonderful and unique happened on a TV program, that changed the way, the thoughts, the looks of what people perceive to be the "norm" of the entertainment world and everyday living, as well.
And now after five outstanding years of tremendous music from Susan Boyle, the world is still celebrating Susan's most fascinating and successful journey -- and even that audition video. We, as fans, are so pleased to be part of it.
And to Susan - when you have the most amazing, fabulous voice, mega entertainment talent and the personality to go with it, your journey will go on and on. Nothing, nor no one, will hold you back! So keep taking the great big baby steps, Ms. Susan Boyle, you are doing grand and will never walk alone.
Meet MollBobbers a Super Moderate on the SBFII fan site. In honor of Susan's 5th anniversary of Susan's famous BGT audition singing I Dreamed A Dream, Moll wrote the poem "Five Years Ago" featured below. Thank you for sharing Susan's wonderful (should I or forget it) story in a tribute poem.
Happy Anniversary, Susan, and thanks Moll for letting us post your poem on our Facebook. It's beautiful !
FIVE YEARS AGO
Her comfy bed was snug and warm Her dreams were golden bright Outside the bitter winter morn Was dark as deepest night She pondered while still half awake What might be wise to do - To sleep and dream or try to make Those golden dreams come true.
So many times before she tried To sing the world her song So many times was cast aside that she did not belong But yet her courage never died Because her faith was strong
And now another chance had come That something could be gained A tiny chance – too small for some But still her hope remained She rose and dressed in dark and cold And stepped into the rain To face the judgement of the proud And sing her song again
And methinks this tale will still be told When our children’s grandchildren are old
January 21st, 2009 is not a date that Susan Boyle is ever likely to forget. “I will never forget it,” she clarifies in her unmistakably Celtic brogue. It was the day that the shy, devout 47-year-old stepped onto the stage of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Glasgow for an audition on Britain’s Got Talent. Or to put it another way, the day her world turned 360 degrees on its head. In front of the three-strong panel of judges charged with divining which of this year’s British hopefuls really did have talent, the singing voice of Susan Boyle turned out to be a watershed moment neither she nor anyone involved in the show could possibly have foreseen. It is now both her and the show’s defining moment.
In her own haphazard fashion, during three-and-a-half minutes of television airtime, later aired to slack-jawed intakes of breath in May of this year, Susan Boyle fashioned a new kind of fame. She elicited a moment of pure, molten zeitgeist. She broke every rule of the talent show book and tore up a considerable number of the pages of popular music marketing into the bargain. She symbolized an astonishing variety of the little-people’s revenge, quite by accident. Ms. Boyle describes her own astonishing 2009 in refreshingly frank and simple terms. “All I did was to apply for a talent show. I was lucky enough to be chosen. That’s it in a nutshell.” But something deeper was going on in the collective public consciousness. If the two watchwords of the 21st century have been “reality” and “celebrity,” Susan Boyle had accidentally located a brand new point on the graph where they both intersected. One of Britain’s forgotten characters had rarely, if ever, been so memorable.
After her one audition for Britain’s Got Talent, in which she confounded the judges, the audience and then anyone with access to YouTube’s expectations by dazzling her way through a version of the song, “I Dreamed A Dream,” from the musical Les Miserables, a tornado of opinionated column inches, speculation, rumination and conjecture around Susan Boyle grew feverishly. 300 million YouTube hits and counting. She became the subject of op-ed newspaper columns, a front cover sensation in her own right. This unlikely candidate for the melting pot of the new star machine in 21st century Britain caused computer crashes, miles of newsprint and the sophisticated approval of Hollywood’s well-heeled and super-groomed A-list. Though the content differed wildly, everyone proffering their thoughts on the self-confessed “wee wifey” seemed agreed on one point. That in 2009, to be free of an opinion on Susan Boyle was to be free of opinion itself.
For one brief moment, vanity itself collapsed. As that ancient old maxim, “never judge a book by its cover,” clanked around the globe with speedy viral intensity, it was as if the world was about to offer its first unspoken apology for prizing beauty above all else. Perhaps it would temporarily forget its grotesquely accentuated new heights of judgment. Or perhaps Susan Boyle was just a fleeting icon by which a microscope was shone on our more fickle presumptions. Whatever history gifts the Susan Boyle story in the long term, it is now her time to prove that there is more to this incredible woman than being the symbol for a moment of international reflection. She will do it in the exact same way she entered our consciousness in the first place. With the raw combination of strength and fragility, beauty and solitude that is her singing voice.
In some ways, Ms. Boyle’s story is just the same as any woman with a voice in any choir up and down the UK. In her home town of Blackburn, she had been schooled in singing in churches and choral societies. She says now that, as a shy young woman with some learning difficulties, being hidden in the blanket of a collective singing arrangement offered her comfort. So in one other, crucial way, her story is entirely her own. The most unlikely chorister in the sea of voices stepped out of line and put her head above the parapet to be noticed. For Susan Boyle, though she would never deign to say so much herself, this was an act of personal heroism, the like of which she had never contemplated before.
The speed with which reaction to her performance picked up gravitas proved an incendiary media hotbed. But it was most surprising for the woman at the center of it. “It started off with the [Scottish newspaper]Daily Record visiting my door. And it ended up with TV stations from all over the world camping out on my street waiting for interviews and stories. I’d peak behind the curtains in the house, saying ‘what in God’s name is going on here?’ Then the phone calls started. My number was still in the book at that particular time, so anybody could get it and the phone was ringing 24 hours a day. It was constant. People were ringing me who I couldn’t understand because of their accents. All sorts of nationalities. Lots of Americans. It was absolutely unbelievable if I’m being honest.” She is self-deprecating about why she should have caused such a furor. “A woman who went on with mad hair, bushy eyebrows and the frock I was wearing had to be noticed. Come on!”
Such is the quick nature of today’s star system, in September, just four months after her TV debut, Susan Boyle made her live TV comeback. She performed a rarefied take on the Rolling Stones’ “Wild Horses,” re-orchestrated to gently clasp the exact timbre of her natural talent, on the show’s US cousin, America’s Got Talent. An unprompted standing ovation followed. Outside of the unruly cyclone of her fame, there is something within the voice of Susan Boyle that is absolutely perfect for our times. At a moment when Dame Vera Lynn and Barbra Streisand are topping the album charts, there is something peculiarly modern about her improbably status as holding the international record for most pre-ordered album of all time. As the dust settles on the sheer wattage of conversation that she has prompted, it is time – as they say – to face the music.
Ms. Boyle’s debut album was put together during the summer of this year. She first entered a recording studio in July in Edinburgh, to test how her vocals would respond to tape. The results shocked both her and veteran producer Steve Mac. Decamping to London, she fashioned the record over two months, picking songs that resonated with her, that pricked something within that she felt ready to unleash through music. “It was important that I could feel everything I was singing,” she says, cutting straight to the core of why music can be such a useful release, an escape valve from the everyday.
A disarming mix of the sacred (“My faith is my backbone,” she says) and the secular, there is not a moment on it that is not moving. It is pitched exactly within the framework of the year she has enjoyed and, at well-documented times, endured. It is a collection of covers and original material that cuts a swathe into the interior life of the woman who is arguably the most intriguing, not to mention instantly recognizable character yet to be produced by the reality talent medium, the decade’s defining TV genre.
When she hurts, it hurts. Her rousing rendition of Madonna’s “You’ll See” is a riposte to the children that picked on her in the playground. The new composition “Who I Was Born To Be” is an astonishing testament to self-belief against some startling odds. Yet when she dreams, we dream too. Because of her uncanny knack of picking a song so perfect for her tale at that very first audition, Ms. Boyle has become synonymous with the word “dream.” Her flawless album rendition of “I Dreamed A Dream” may come as no surprise, but it still manages to pick every individual hair from the back of your neck and yank them to attention. A country ballad version of “Daydream Believer” delicately seals the deal of her being synonymous with the concept of dreaming.
For this is Susan Boyle’s tale. The fearlessness to dream about something other than the lot life has handed you. The chance to escape. The pivotal role of music as a conduit to go to another place, sometimes lodged at the outer recesses of your imagination, and to allow that new place to blossom. Yes, this is Susan Boyle’s tale. It is why it connected with so many unsuspecting people across the world. In another nutshell? If she can dare to dream, so can you.
Susan’s debut album, I Dreamed A Dream, was the most pre-ordered album worldwide of all time at Amazon before its global release on November 23rd.
BIOGRAPHY BY: Paul Flynn - leading writer on popular culture for prestigious magazines including i-D, Love and Grazia
A combined 4.8 million viewers watched the broadcast and its immediate encore Sunday. That reflected record growth among the network's key demographics, and a triple-digit percentage increase among adults 25-to-54.
I shot this interview, edited it together and conducted the interview on April 14, 2009. This was done for westlothiancourier.co.uk, Susan Boyle's local newspaper.
This video topped the list of YouTube's Most Memorable Videos of 2009 and has so far at over 5 million views.
