Colin Thackery and Ed Sheeran strike up unlikely friendship

Colin Thackery and Ed Sheeran have struck up a friendship over \'Supermarket Flowers\'.

The \'Britain\'s Got Talent\' winner - who triumphed on the reality show earlier this year - delighted fans with a cover of the 28-year-old singer\'s track during his time on the \'Champions\' spin-off series in September, and the Chelsea Pensioner wrote to thank the star for letting him use the song on his debut album \'Love Changes Everything\'.

Revealing he got a reply from Ed, he told The Sun newspaper\'s Bizarre column: "He said he had seen the performance of his song and said he could feel every word I was singing and he thanked me for writing to him. It was just a few lines but it meant rather a lot.

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"I thought it would be nice to write to him and I was astonished I got this rather nice letter back. He was just a nice chap."

The 89-year-old war veteran - whose LP will be released on December 6 - will be performing at the Royal Variety Show this year after winning the ITV talent show over the summer.

He entered the competition as a tribute to his late wife Joan - who he was married to for 66 years before her death in 2016 - and he felt a real connection with \'Supermarket Flowers\'.

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He explained: "When I listened to the words it was very significant because I believe he\'d written it for his grandmother when she died.

"The actions of packing things up, like folding her nightdress and putting it in a case, I know all about these things because I had to do it. When I listened to it, I really understood why he\'d written it.

"I was with Joan most of our adult life, losing her was like losing your right arm. But music has helped me through it enormously."