Hallelujah

I was very pleased that Alexandra won X-Factor on Saturday night. She was clearly the best singer in the competition. It's arguable whether she's a better singer than Leona Lewis, the 2006 winner, but she's probably a lot more versatile as evidenced by the wide range of styles she tackled throughout the competition.

The winner's single, a cover-version of Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah', seemed a slightly odd choice at first, but Alexandra's rendition is absolutely incredible.

Seems like the Christmas number one is already guaranteed!

Sting on the lute

The BBC website has some video clips of Sting playing the lute, including this one where the former Police frontman talks a bit about the history of the lute and attempts to play a bit of John Dowland!

There's also a video of him performing a very mellow and evocative version of 'Message in a bottle' as well as a 17th century motet.

Love it!