Pauline Pearce has become a bit of a legend in and around London, after her brave behaviour during the riots there last year, but few would have expected her to show up on Britain’s Got Talent.

The 46 year old grandmother shot to fame last summer, when in the midst of the riots of 2011, she berated looters in Hackney, furious at their arson and stealing. In the middle of the night the grandmother gave an impromptu and impassioned speech, which then became a bit of a YouTube hit, with thousands of fellow Londoners agreeing with and supporting her actions.

She was subsequently mentioned on and interviewed for dozens of TV and radio shows but this week, she hit the headlines again after trying out for ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

This time, she wasn’t there to make a speech but to sing and it is claimed that the talented lady blew Simon Cowell, David Walliams, Alesha Dixon and Carmen Electra away, when she turned up to Hammersmith Apollo, with her amazing jazz rendition of Louis Armstrong’s What A Wonderful World. She had previously sang Ralph McTell’s The Streets Of London, but Cowell asked her to change her song.

Simon told Pauline – who was dubbed the ‘Hackney Heroine’ and the ‘Symbol of defiance’ last year – that he loved her ‘wonderful voice’ and found it easy to give her a yes for the next round.

However, he was slightly concerned by the fact that she was carrying a heavy cane and asked Pauline if she was going to hit him, to which she responded:

‘Only if you’re a rioter!’

Britain’s Got Talent returns to our screens at the end of March 2012 and we are hoping that Pearce’s audition makes the live shows.

In the meantime listen to her singing in the video below and watch the following clips, to see just how brave she was in standing down the riotous teens in her area.