BGT's Ashley and Pudsey celebrate book launch

BGT's Ashley and Pudsey celebrate book launch
BGT's Ashley and Pudsey celebrate book launch (Image credit: PA)

Pudsey's incredible dancing skills made him the first canine winner of Britain's Got Talent. Now he's aiming for a new accolade - top of the best-seller list with the book of his life story, Pudsey: My Autobidography. The six-year-old mongrel, a Border collie, bichon frise, Chinese crested cross, turned up with owner Ashleigh Butler at London's Foyles bookshop to promote the book on the eve of its publication. The book is described as "the story of a small dog's incredible adventure from a puppy growing up in the Butler household to winning one of the nation's favourite television shows". Ashleigh, 17, is said to have signed a 100,000 pound deal for the book. That is on top of the 500,000 pound prize for winning the sixth Britain's Got Talent contest with that elaborate dance routine performed to the Mission Impossible theme tune. Pudsey and Ashleigh have also flown to Los Angeles at the behest of Simon Cowell. The pair, from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, are embarking on a national tour to promote the book, which is published by Sphere, an imprint of Little, Brown Books, and costs 9.99 pounds. Asked how Pudsey copes with the limelight, Ashleigh said: "He's a show-off at the end of the day so he loves his photo being taken. He knows when the camera's on and the camera's off. "He puts on his little charmer act and as soon as the camera's off he says 'I'll see you then. I'm going over there and I'm going for a sleep'. He has his little bed with him so whenever we're not filming or doing photos he just goes and sleeps."

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.