In her radio program on BBC Radio 2, Elaine added that she is a “huge supporter of Susan Boyle” and admires “what she has achieved”.

Elaine continued that Susan Boyle has “handled the extraordinary situation of being catapulted to worldwide stardom with tremendous strength, charm and dignity”.

She also said: “I thoroughly enjoyed working with her on the ITV special that we recorded together only last month.

“I’ve always said it’s very hard for someone to be fast tracked to stardom without any prior experience, and I know this because it happened to me when Evita opened.

“Today it’s so much harder with the phenomenom of the internet, Facebook and YouTube particularly, it seems that it only takes minutes for fame to spread around the world and that is why I used the word ‘virus’ – obviously a mistake because it was misinterpreted.

“But I wasn’t referring to Susan herself – I was referring to the speed of her fame spreading around the world.

“So Susan, I’ve always said and I continue to say that I support you and I admire you – keep up the good work, girl!”

You can listen to Elaine’s statement here:

As I suspected, Elaine Paige was very unhappy with the quotes that were attributed to her by the press today.

Here is Elaine’s statement, in her own words, taken from her Facebook page.

?I was dismayed to read the remarks attributed to me today in the Daily Mail which were incomplete and misinterpreted.

“I am a huge supporter of Susan Boyle and admire what she has achieved; she has handled the extraordinary situation of being catapulted to worldwide stardom with tremendous strength, charm and dignity and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her on the ITV special we recorded together only last month.

“I have always said it?s very hard for someone to be fast-tracked to stardom without any prior experience ? I know this as it happened to me when ?Evita? opened and I found it extremely difficult in the beginning; today, of course, it?s much harder with the phenomenon of the internet ? Facebook, YouTube etc ? it seems it only takes minutes for fame to spread around the world ? and that?s why I used the word ?virus?! I wasn?t referring to Susan herself; I was referring to the speed of her fame spreading as fast as a worldwide viral marketing campaign.?

So there you have it.

Here are the quotes that were attributed to Elaine in the newspaper reports, comments that Elaine allegedly made at the South Bank Awards.

When Elaine Paige was asked directly if she was happy about Susan’s success, she allegedly replied: “I don’t particularly feel any pride for her – I’m sure she is proud of what she has done.”

“It’s all about turning someone into an immediate celebrity at the expense of longevity and working hard and experience.

“Susan Boyle is doing terribly well considering she literally came to the attention of the world overnight with the advent of YouTube.

“She was like a virus really that spread across the world in a nanosecond.

“She is a girl with no experience of anything to do with theatrics, the music business, or art in any way.

“She has done terribly well to be a major star overnight with YouTube.”

When asked if she thought Susan’s success would last, Elaine allegedly replied: “That’s a good question. She is a major star because of YouTube. Longevity is gained through knowledge, experience and effort so it will remain to be seen.

“When I started, YouTube didn’t exist but even then with 15 years of experience prior to my success with Evita it was difficult, so I admire the way she handled her sudden success.

“Britain’s Got Talent and The X Factor just take a bunch of people from real life who think they can sing and try and turn them into overnight “stars” with a couple of songs.

“Ha ha. It’s not entertainment.”

And here is what I said about the quotes before Elaine’s statement on Facebook

Let’s not jump on a “We hate Elaine Paige” bandwagon. First of all, Elaine Paige was very nice about Susan when Susan first entered the public spotlight. She met with Susan and subsequently performed on Susan’s TV Special, as the guest, not the star. Elaine Paige has to date behaved very graciously towards Susan.

Maybe she was just having a bad day – maybe she said other things and the remarks are taken out of context, who knows?? I don’t think Elaine’s remarks are spiteful in any way, I think she is just being a little too “honest” about how she feels, and she should perhaps have been more savvy about how her marks could appear in the press.

I do feel though, that Susan wouldn’t want people to be mean about the lady she has idolised for years. What do you think?

In other news, it has been confirmed that the video of Susan Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent audition was the top video of the year, with YouTube owners Google saying the video was watched more than 120 million times.

Susan’s TV special: I Dreamed a Dream – The Susan Boyle Story was also a big hit, becoming the number one rated television special in the history of TV Guide Network. The Americans were particularly excited about Elaine Paige’s duet with Susan Boyle. Misti in Seattle tells me: “Everyone here is SO excited and thrilled about Susan’s duet with Elaine and wanting more! In fact we are very happy for Elaine as most of us had not even heard of her before and now SHE is also going to have a wonderful career here in the USA as well as her British one.

Misti continues: “She was so sweet to Susan at the beginning when others were making fun of her and she has been so gracious about being the “guest” and giving Susan her “star” time. They both just sparkle together and sound wonderful.

“I am so hoping they do an album together and bet they will as the producers will not let THIS money maker slide through their hands.”

I think we’d all like to see more collaboration between Elaine Paige and Susan Boyle, wouldn’t we? An album of duets would be lovely.

For those of you who don’t know Elaine Paige, she has had a long career in musical theatre in the West End, but became better known by the public when Andrew Lloyd Webber selected her to play Eva Peron in his new musical Evita, back in 1978. It was Elaine Paige who recorded the original “Don’t Cry for me Argentina” and the other songs from the musical, long before Madonna remade them.

And finally, Susan Boyle is unsurprisingly odds on to secure the Christmas number one album spot in the UK, according to the bookmakers Ladbrokes.

Susan and Elaine sang “I Know Him So Well”, from the Musical Chess, a song written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus of? Abba with the lyrics written by Tim Rice. Elaine originally performed the duet with Barbara Dickson.

According to the Telegraph, Susan was not told about the duet until shortly before the performance but appeared overcome with joy to sing alongside Paige. (However, I’m not sure I believe this – they would need time to rehearse a duet together, surely?)

Following the duet, Susan said: ?I never thought I would see myself standing on the same stage with such an icon from West End theatre, let alone singing with her as an equal.?

Elaine said of the duet: “It was a pleasure to finally sing with Susan, she was a delight to work with and I think we more than did justice to one of my favourite songs.”

Also on the show, Piers Morgan will be presenting Susan with a gold disc to celebrate her album selling more than one million copies.

Whilst performing the ballad “Who I Was Born To Be”, Susan decided to jazz it up with a cheeky dance routine in the middle of the song. Reportedly, Susan repeated the jig during the second take, even though the producers asked her to keep still. She likes a giggle, does our Susan!

Susan Boyle said that she aspired to sing like Elaine Paige when she auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent, so it must be nice for her now to get the recognition of her idol.

Ms Paige said: “Susan’s learning fast – she’s got over the initial shock. Yes, she still seems quite vulnerable but there’s a streak of Scottish grit beneath the surface.

“And she’s got a good team around her. So let’s hope they continue to protect and look after her. I wish her great success.”

Page compared Susan’s success story to that of her best known character Evita. She said of Susan’s first performance on Britain’s Got Talent and subsequent rise to fame:? “I found it rather emotional, a rags to riches kind of story – a bit like Evita herself. But it was more than that.

“I felt I knew what Susan was going through, the full horror of it all. You could see it in her eyes. I hadn’t been very confident when Evita changed my world but I was a professional.”

Meanwhile, in other news, Misti from Seattle has informed me that Susan Boyle’s CD will also be distributed by Integrity Music, a US retailer of Christian books and music.

“I don?t think I have EVER known of them to do this with an album that is mostly secular songs”, says Misti. “I am so thrilled for her.”

(A note for my American friends and other visitors from outside the UK. A council house is a house owned by the local council or district authority. Previous government legislation gave council house tenants the “right to buy” their council houses at a reduced market value dependent upon how long they had lived in the house.)

Gerry Boyle, Susan’s big brother, told the Daily Record: “Susan walked into the local council office and told them that although she was living in London, she didn’t want them to rent her house to anyone else.

“I think people were a bit shocked to see her but they told her they had no plans to let it go to anyone else – and now she wants to buy it. She will never forget her roots.”

Gerry also added : “She has been given a mobile phone for the first time but can only make calls. She hasn’t got her head round texting yet.”

Gerry also told The Scotsman that Simon Cowell has had Susan Boyle’s cat, Pebbles, transported to her luxury Kensington flat and has given her a credit card so she can go shopping. Susan has had fun buying new clothes, getting her teeth whitened (we know Mr Cowell is an advocate of cosmetic dentistry) and she has a personal assistant called Julia.

It is also rumoured that Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber is helping Simon Cowell and Susan put together her new album.

Susan told Gerry about meeting her idol Elaine Paige for the first time: “It was fantastic to be on TV with Elaine,. When I watched the interview back I felt like a megastar for the first time. I can’t believe how much my life has changed in the past few weeks. I am so happy.”

However, Susan has also expressed fear about her life going back to the way it was previously, asking: “What happens if it all stops?”

“It was like watching a kid at Christmas. It really was a dream come true.”

Elaine Paige gave Susan some useful advice, telling her to “look after her voice”, “not to say yes to everything” and to make sure that she does not “burn out”.

Ms Paige also told Susan that she would be “honoured” to sing a duet with her on her forthcoming album.

I wonder what song they should sing together? Any suggestions?

It has been an extraordinary week for Susan Boyle. She has become a global superstore. Her original audition has been viewed more than 25 million times on YouTube. She has been interviewed by American chat show hosts and Oprah has her lined up. No surprise then, that her heroine Elaine Paige has suggested a joint collaboration.

Just before her life changing performance, Susan Boyle revealed that it was her dream to be a singer as successful as Elaine Paige whose songs she had sung many times. Now Miss Paige has added her own message of support to Miss Boyle. She has written on her website:”Ever since Susan’s appearance on Britain’s Got Talent my Radio 2 inbox has been flooded with emails.”

“It seems her performance has captured the hearts of everyone who saw it, me included … it looks like I have competition! Perhaps we should record a duet?”

“She is a role model for everyone who has a dream.”

The odds of Susan Boyle winning Britain’s Got Talent have become very short, with Ladbroke’s offering 2/5, which must be unsettling for the other contestants on the show, although Simon Cowell insisted that it would not be “A one horse race”.