Britons show they have a real talent... for queuing

A cross-dressing prison officer and an opera-singing accountant were among hopefuls bidding for a last chance to star in Britain's Got Talent.

Though filming for the show has already begun, Simon Cowell decided to hold a final audition at the Oval cricket ground yesterday.

David Macpherson, a drag queen who works at Armley Prison in Leeds, was among thousands who flocked to London hoping to win a meeting with Cowell and his panel. Mr Macpherson appeared with his comedy partner Mark Firth as a "musical agony aunt" who solves problems.

Other acts included 11-year-old Chardae Reed, who drew a crowd with her rendition of Adele's Someone Like You. Opera singer Ray Perry, 24, an accountancy student who lives in South Kensington, said she wanted to sing because it would help her escape a "boring" career.

Performers queued for hours to audition in front of a producer. They will find out next month if they have made it to the next round, where they will appear before judges Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams.