From Britain’s Got Talent, a four-Kleenex stunner:
For Peter Boxell, appearing on last night’s Britain’s Got Talent had a truly personal resonance.
For when the 70-year-old grandfather sang I Miss You with the mesmerising Missing People Choir, it was to perform a song he wrote himself in memory of a child who has been gone for nearly 30 years.
Lee Boxell, his only son, disappeared on September 29, 1988, after telling his father he was going to watch Crystal Palace play just a few miles from their home in Cheam, Surrey.
Lee, 15, never made it to the match. Nor did he ever return home. There is no explanation, his body has never been recovered and there have been no sightings. It has cast a long shadow over the lives of Peter, his wife Christine and their daughter Lindsay. The words of Peter’s song – ‘In my dreams, I see your face, walk with you, hold you safe’ – are addressed directly to their vanished son.
‘When I sing, it’s a message going out to Lee,’ Peter told The Mail on Sunday. ‘It’s me saying “Where are you? I hope you are safe and well.” ’
The song was performed by Peter and his fellow members of The Missing People Choir.
Read more and watch the video above.
And today we celebrate...