Colin Thackery Unveils New Dame Vera Lynn Portrait

Britain's Got Talent winner Colin Thackery has unveiled a new portrait of forces sweetheart, Dame Vera Lynn.

The Chelsea Pensioner, who won the talent contest last year by singing her songs, revealed the painting alongside Dame Vera's daughter at the Royal Albert Hall.

"It's like one of these paintings that you've got to keep looking at because you keep seeing different things," Mr Thackery, 89, said.

The artwork was created by Norwegian artist Ross Kolby.

It features a number of symbols representing Dame Vera's life, including a Spitfire and the White Cliffs of Dover, in reference to her famous wartime song. 

"What I wanted to portray of Vera, you couldn't do it in a classical way, because her life is so rich and her story is so full of symbols," Mr Kolby said.

"I decided to do it in a very unrealistic way - from the Bay of Bengal, you have a horizon running all the way through to the White Cliffs of Dover - symbolising where she went and where she came from.

"Above Vera's head, you have a sky with the exact constellation of stars from 14th June 1944 when she sang for 6,000 troopers in the jungle of Burma."

The specially commissioned painting was released ahead of Dame Vera's 103rd birthday in March.

It is the first piece of artwork to be hung at the Royal Albert Hall in decades - a venue where she performed more than 50 times.

"The whole thing is wonderful," Dame Vera's daughter, Virginia Lewis-Jones told Forces News.

"[Mr Kolby has] captured a lot of elements of her life and the stars are very, very interesting... I didn't know you could do that!"

Dame Vera, who could not attend the unveiling, thinks the portrait is "brilliant", according to Mrs Lewis-Jones.

For the launch, a documentary on Dame Vera's life was made and a collection of coins dedicated to her life and songs were also released.

Meanwhile, Mr Thackery performed his Britain's Got Talent-winning rendition of Dame Vera's "We'll Meet Again" to the crowd.