How comedy gave disabled Britain’s Got Talent champion Lee Ridley his voice after suffering brain damage as a toddler

ONLY six years ago, Lee Ridley was sent packing after trying out for X Factor.

The comedian, who can not speak let alone sing, was ushered out of the audition room after delivering two verses of R Kelly’s I Believe I Can Fly through his iPad speech app.

But the man who calls himself Lost Voice Guy has got the last laugh, literally.

The 37-year-old Geordie, who has cerebral palsy, was crowned Britain’s Got Talent champion on Sunday night after capturing the nation’s hearts with his unique comedy act.

So where does that leave him in the list of all-time great Newcastle-born stars?

He says: “I’m definitely above Jimmy Nail and Gazza, but not quite at Alan Shearer level yet.”

Watching Lee be crowned king of BGT in front of an audience of 10.6million, Simon Cowell told The Sun: “This show brings joy. And I know this sounds corny, but that’s what it’s all about.

“You think you’ve got problems? Have a look at Lee.”

Lee’s journey to fame has been far from straightforward.

As a toddler he suffered a brain infection, caused by a cold sore, which left him in a coma for two weeks.

It also led to him developing hemiplegia, a common type of cerebral palsy.

Such was the severity of his illness, mum Janet, 62 — who is married to David, 62, and also has and daughter Nicola, 33 — gave up work as a nurse to care for him full-time.

The condition means Lee’s right side is much weaker, forcing him to walk with a limp, and has left the muscles in his mouth and tongue too weak for him to speak.

As a child he was also diagnosed with epilepsy, of which he jokes: “Obviously, I didn’t have enough to cope with.”

Talking yesterday from her home in Stanley, near Newcastle, Lee’s 91-year-old gran Ethel Foster paid tribute to him for all he has achieved.

She said: “At one stage the doctors said they didn’t think he would survive but he pulled through and his mum and dad had to nurse him day and night.

“It was a tough time. He has never been able to talk but he has always been funny.

“He has had to overcome more than most to get where he has.”

Lee, who grew up in Consett, Co Durham, attended a specialist primary school where he learned sign language.

But when he was given a purpose-built Lightwriter — a device which turned his typing into speech — at the age of 12, the beginnings of his comedy career started to form.

The gadget, featuring an American-accented voice, was a step up from his Touch Talker, which was so large he had to carry it around in a suitcase just to be able to communicate.

Ethel did not make the trip to London to watch Lee beat fellow comic Robert White and singer Donchez Dacres in the final because she was too nervous.

She said: “I was confident he would win but I was too nervous to go and watch it. I’m still nervous now.

“I watched it here instead with my son and daughter-in-law and we were screaming and shouting.

“I was really proud of him but I knew he could do it because he has always made people laugh.”

Lee had to battle back from injury earlier this week after a bad fall in his London hotel following his semi-final win on Monday.

Rather than licking his wounds, he made them a key part of his winning routine, joking he was now Lost Balance Guy.

He added: “This time I managed to stay upright all night, which was an improvement.”

And even his post-victory interview was not plain sailing — with host Declan Donnelly suffering an awkward moment offering Lee a microphone before remembering he can not speak.

Fan fave Lee has also become known for his ironic shirts poking fun at his condition, with slogans such as “I’m only in it for the parking” and “I was disabled before it was popular”.

But it was not always comedy that caught his attention. Growing up, Lee always fancied a career in writing and got a masters in journalism from the University of Central Lancashire, funded by the BBC News Sponsorship Scheme.

He had stints at north east newspapers the Sunday Sun and the Evening Chronicle before getting a job with Sunderland City Council’s communications team.

But after attending a comedy gig by fellow Geordie Ross Noble, he decided his calling was making people laugh.

Ross, a regular on TV panel shows, spent a large part of his set impersonating the late physicist Stephen Hawking.

After the show, Lee approached him and issued this challenge through his voice aid: “Do you want to see who can do the best Stephen Hawking impersonation?”

Ross thought it was so funny that he began using the anecdote in his set.

Lee was so chuffed he began blogging about his wish to break into the industry — and the gigs soon followed.

His first paid performance was for £500 at central London’s Soho Theatre in 2012. But it did not go to plan.

His technology, at this point an iPad with a series of pre-written gags on it, crashed leaving him having to improvise — which he did by managing to joke: “Sorry ladies and gentlemen, my iPad has just crashed. Where the f*** is Steve Jobs when you need him?”

He appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe later that year and won the BBC Radio Stand-Up Comedy Award in 2014.

Lee also starred in a short documentary for BBC3 called Lee Ridley: Voice of the People, which investigated accents around Britain to see whether he should put a new one on to his tablet.

Lee has also written a semi-autobiographical sitcom for Radio 4 called Ability, about a disabled man leaving the family home to live on his own.

He now has national fame — and a BGT winner’s cheque for £250,000. He says he plans to spend some of it on a new voice for his iPad, adding: “I’m definitely going to get a Geordie accent.

But I also think I’d like to help the people who got me to where I am.

“I have several support workers who help me get to all of my gigs, so I’d like to reward them properly for all their hard work.”

Simon Cowell said he thought the public had chosen the right winner.

Talking exclusively to The Sun, he said: “When I saw him backstage afterwards with his family, it’s a big deal.

“It’s a brilliant story, his sense of humour, his timing, everything, it was genius.
“Off the back of this, my gut feeling is that he’s going to get a lot of work, which is what it’s all about.”

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