A TEACHER who stunned judges on television talent show The X Factor grew up in Hayes.

Danyl Johnson, 27, lived in the area until the age of 12 and went to Grange Park Infant and Junior School in Landsbury Drive, Hayes.

The singer amazed judges with his impressive rendition of the Beatles hit With a Little Help from My Friends on August 26 and has been tipped to be as successful as Susan Boyle.

Since his clip appeared on You Tube it has received a massive 1.5 million hits.

Simon Cowell, judging the performance, hailed it as one of the best first auditions he had seen.

Danyl now lives in Reading where he works as a teacher. He used to be called Danyl McCubbin but changed his surname when moving to the area because he believed it would be a better stage name.

Dhruti Shah, a journalist at the BBC who lives in Hayes, went to Grange Park School with Danyl. She said: "I can remember him in nursery; he had a really cheeky face and he was really nice.

When I saw him on TV I realised he used to be called Danyl McCubbin at school but I under-stand he later changed his name.

"We did a lot of productions at Grange Park and a lot of plays - that was one of the best things about the school.

"I'm really proud someone from my school has got so far on X Factor and has been dubbed the world's next Susan Boyle."

Commenting on his performance, Danyl said: "I just couldn't believe the reaction I got from the judges.

"I didn't even know they were going to let me do that song; it could have been one of three.

"I decided to jump around a bit and got carried away. I was just feeding off them. I'm glad they liked me because if they hadn't it would have been horrible."