Nice Cowell leaves talent hopeful in tears

Simon Cowell reduces a contestant to tears in the first episode of the new series of Britain’s Got Talent – by being nice to her.

Beauty therapist Alice Fredenham was so nervous about her audition she did not tell anyone what she was doing.

But the 28-year-old from Hertfordshire impressed Cowell with her version of My Funny Valentine and he made her cry by describing her voice as “liquid gold” and telling her: “You could sing the phonebook”.

Other less impressive acts in tonight’s show include a mother-and-daughter country music act, an animal impressionist and a string of bad comics.

Another hit with the judges is teenage comic Jack Carroll.

The 14-year-old from Halifax, who walks with a frame due to cerebral palsy, introduced himself to the judges as “a professional gymnast”.

Describing himself as looking like Harry Potter after “a nasty Quidditch accident”, he won a standing ovation from the crowd, joking: “I think they were just rubbing it in.”

Other underwhelming acts included a man dressed as a vicar who danced with a papier mache nun and a male stripper who covered his extremities with masks of Cowell and fellow judge David Walliams.