Rupa Huq: Brown down but not out should remember Boyle’s law

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When she first came to public attention, Susan Boyle also had an unvarnished quality that initially endeared her to many. And her story was almost too good to be true:  a plump, middle-aged church volunteer from an obscure backwater with a bad haircut who claimed she’d never been married or kissed who possessed the voice of an angel. The video clip of her debut performance was watched by millions all over the world. Barack Obama was numbered among her fans.

What happened next was  a classic example of the tabloid press reverting to type – building them up to knock them down. A four-letter outburst in a hotel after provocation from a journalist saw the angel’s halo slip. Boyle was beaten in the Britain’s Got Talent final by a teenage dance troupe and checked into the Priory the next day suffering from “stress”.