A DUMMY and his clever ventriloquist from Basingstoke have been declared one of the 45 most talented acts in the country after gaining a place in the semi-finals of Britain’s Got Talent.

As reported in last week’s Gazette, Steve Hewlett and Arthur Lager secured four ‘yes’ votes from the judges on the ITV programme, after auditioning for them at the London Palladium. And now, the 38-year-old has taken a step further in the contest after being selected to perform in the semi-finals tonight, beating thousands of other hopefuls to make it through.

Viewers watching last Sunday night’s show saw judges Amanda Holden, Simon Cowell, Alesha Dixon and David Walliams deliberating over which acts to put through, before calling them all back to reveal who had made it.

Steve was seen celebrating with his dummy Arthur Lager, after he was told he had a place. He said: “It was one of the most nerve-wracking things I have ever done. There were four of us in the room and we were there five minutes. They built up the nerves. You didn’t know how you were going to react. It was the best feeling.”

But Steve had to keep his big news secret from his family for two months following filming. He watched the show with them and said: “I wanted them to have the feeling I had when I was told.”

The father-of-one, who started ventriloquism as a 12-year-old pupil at The Vyne Community School, in South View, will compete again on tonight’s show, and is hoping to secure enough public votes to take him through to the live finals next Saturday.

The semi-finals have been shown on ITV throughout the week, with nine acts competing for just two places each night before the live finals, when the winner will be chosen to perform in front of The Queen at The Royal Variety Show. Tonight’s show, which starts at 7pm, is the last semi-final.

Steve said his act is all prepared, and revealed to The Gazette that he has a “special surprise” which he is saving for the final, if he makes it through.

Since appearing on BGT Steve, who grew up in Basingstoke and has family here, but now lives in Eastbourne, has built up an army of fans on Facebook and Twitter, many of whom watched him at a show at Viables on Saturday night. He said: “It was brilliant. It was packed. We had a really good night. I did an hour and the place was buzzing. I met everyone afterwards and did a signing and took photos with Arthur Lager. It was nice to talk to the public. They were really supportive. It was nice to have my home-town backing me.”

For more information about Steve visit his Facebook page facebook.com/stevehewlettvent.

*You can wish Steve good luck by using the comments box below.