He's got more than talent

12:18pm Friday 9th May 2008

IT happens every now and again; sometimes at a football match, other times at a play or a concert.

Occasionally - very occasionally - it's in the political arena.

It's the moment you see or hear something special.

You stop looking at your watch. You sit and focus solely on the performance. Then you ask yourself: can they really be this good? It's like opening a can of pop. So often, it's flat, disappointing; but every now and then, there's one that's full of fizz.

It happened to me last November in Hartlepool Town Hall. The performer I saw captivated his audience.

Since then I have often asked myself that question: was he really that good?

Well, I'm glad to say the answer is yes, if a much larger audience and some astute showbusiness judges are right. Because the young man on stage that night was Dean Wilson, from Middlesbrough, who put on such a memorable show on Britain's Got Talent.

I normally don't go overboard on TV talent shows. The hopeless usually outnumber the hopefuls.

Maybe that's why someone like Dean, with terrific natural gifts, charm and the priceless ability to project a strong and attractive personality across to his audience, rings so many bells when he comes on stage. TV can never recreate the atmosphere of a live performance, but anyone watching the box on Saturday must have seen this was a young performer with boundless potential.

Natural gifts are one thing, but to get to the top you need the right support. Dean trains at the Watson Academy in Hartlepool run by Mandy Watson and her sister, Kelly Theasby. They put on the show I watched all those months ago. They teach song and dance to children and young people who are looking for a career in performing arts, or who just do it for fun. It is a terrific set-up that has produced scores of national champions, including one youngster, Candice Theasby, who has won three national titles. Most importantly, it nurtures talent, builds kids' skills and self-confidence and gets them into healthy and enjoyable activities.

Speaking to his teachers about what sets Dean apart is interesting as they'll tell you it's personality as well as talent. He's a team player who helps fellow performers, someone who is caring and modest. Those qualities give him what so few performers, even the most technically adept, have nowadays - presence, or as Simon Cowell put it on Saturday, genuine star potential.

Dean clearly has good teachers, the right attitude and, from my reading of the local media, a supportive family who will help him keep his feet on the ground in the exciting days ahead of him.

Not many people get what they fully deserve in life, least of all in showbusiness. But if ever anyone deserved the breaks then it's this young man from Marton Grove, so let's all get behind him in the weeks to come.

One fascinating postscript to Dean's story was the fact that he kept his activities a secret from schoolmates because he feared they would think he was a "wuss" and should be doing sport instead Now, it is fairly clear that anyone performing to Dean's standards has to be every bit as fit as a professional sports person. But the story says a lot about some people's silly, lingering, negative attitudes to the arts.

Surely we can accept that a young man can express himself creatively - as well as keep fit, healthy and hopefully earn a very good living - without putting on football boots or a pair of boxing gloves. You get the best out of people by playing to their strengths, not by stifling or straightjacketing natural talents.

Anyway, after Saturday, I imagine most of his mates wish they concentrated less on penalty shoot-outs and more on their dance steps. There's still time, lads.