The delectable Welsh mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins has just published her autobiography, Time To Say Hello.

Most of the publicity for it centres on a harrowing passage describing how she narrowly escaped being raped by an attacker when she was 19 and studying at the Royal Academy of Music.

While we understand the need for a “killer fact” to sell the book, the prurience of the press in concentrating on this particular aspect of the singer’s life is a pity because it certainly has more to recommend it than that.

The rest of the biography is considerably more interesting for admirers of her voice and technique. Here’s a little taster :

I had arrived in London at the age of 18, having won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music.

The Academy was everything I had hoped for - in fact, it was fab-lous (my favourite word, pronounced Welsh-lilt style, as two words). I became great friends with my classmates and we were all determined to make the most of what London had to offer. […]

Some months after leaving the Academy, when I was working as a music teacher, I got a call out of the blue to say that a demo tape I had made at college had found its way into the hands of Universal Classics.

After being interviewed and singing for the team there, I was offered a record deal.

Soon after signing the contract in March 2003, news of what was described as my “million-pound record deal” was everywhere. […]

My first album, Premiere, shot straight to the top of the classical charts.

Even now, having recorded five albums and been lucky enough to meet and work with so many of my musical heroes and performing all over the world, it still seems like a fairy tale.

Time To Say Hello by Katherine Jenkins is published by Orion on January 28 at £18.99 in the UK.

In the UK, ITV recently broadcast a series called Britain’s got Talent. The series was nothing special, but it did throw up an unusual winner for such shows : an amateur opera singer.

Paul Potts, age 36, a mobile phone salesman from Port Talbot in South Wales (where else for an opera singer?), inevitably clinched his victory with a spirited performance of Puccini’s Nessun Dorma.

But how good is he? That’s not so easy to judge.

As is normal for such shows, the audience was encouraged to applaude every high note and familiar phrase. The judging panel comprised the usual suspects of light-entertainment producers, a former tabloid editor and an actress. The singer was also helped by amplification in the studio, so the strength of his voice was not tested. It’s possible that at Covent Garden or La Scala, he wouldn’t be heard at the back of the auditorium.

His voice reminded me of a young Harry Seccombe, a much-loved Welsh comedian who sang a bit of the heavy stuff.

Not surprisingly, Paul Potts first sang opera at the age of 28 for a karaoke competition where he dressed up as Pavarotti.

ITV says, “He went on to perform in Barrymore’s My Kind Of Music (1999). The money he won from the show (£8000) along with his savings was spent on attending various training courses in Italy. From his Italian opera class he was selected to sing in a master class for Pavarotti and Katia Ricciarelli – who he says were very impressed. Paul reckons he’s spent £20,000 in total to get to where he is today.”

Paul has performed in four semi professional operas in the UK and some concerts. His proudest performance was with the Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert in front of 15,000 people.

A motorcycle accident is reckoned to have held him back from reaching his full potential.