He had served in the Army’s Royal Artillery and fought in the Korean War. He had been singing since he was a boy.
But he hadn’t come to talk about the war. He had come to talk about Joan.
They married in 1950. “I never got any promotion in the army before I met her,” he said, “so anywhere I got was due to her gentle support all the way.”
In December 2016, Joan was sitting in her chair when she suddenly called his name. “Instantaneously I knew she was dying,” he said, “and she died in my arms.” They had been married for 66 years.
“I miss her like mad,” he said. “I talk to her all the time.”
Then he told the judges what he would sing: “Wind Beneath My Wings.” “She was, really, the wind beneath my wings.”
When he finished, the judges and the audience were on their feet. Ant and Dec were wiping tears in the wings.
“There’s not a dry eye in the house,” David Walliams told him. “It was just the most perfect tribute.”
Amanda Holden said all the men and women who fought for their country are “the wind beneath our wings.”
Simon Cowell had the last word. “It was sincere and it was real, and you are what this show is all about.”
It was four yeses. And the story didn’t end there. In June 2019, Colin won the whole series. At 89, he became the oldest winner in the show’s history, and he went on to sing at the Royal Variety Performance.
Did this one bring a tear to your eye? Share it with someone who still misses the love of their life.