News archive 2009

King’s student in The X Factor final

12 Dec 2008, PR 266/08

King’s College London is cheering for one of its students who is a finalist on The X Factor  tomorrow evening (13 December). Jonathan Gill, 21, known as JB, is a second year Theology & Religious Studies student at King’s, who is taking a year off to focus on the show.

JB is a member of JLS the first group to reach the final of ITV1’s The X Factor. The other two acts are Eoghan Quigg and Alexandra Burke.

The Principal, Professor Rick Trainor said: ‘On behalf of King’s College London I would like to wish JB the very best of luck for the final of The X Factor on Saturday. He is not only a promising student in our Department of Theology & Religious Studies but also a talented musician. We will be cheering for JLS to pull off a momentous victory.’

‘Absolutely thrilled’

On reaching the final JB said ‘I felt like jumping up and down to celebrate. I hugged all the guys. I am absolutely thrilled to be in the final’. Earlier this week JB thanked King’s students and staff for all their support.

The show is now in its fifth series and previous winners include Leona Lewis and Shayne Ward. This year there were 100,000 applications to take part.

The other members of JLS are Marvin Humes, 23, from South East London, Ortise Williams, 21, from Fulham, and Aston Merrygold, 20, from Peterborough.

The contestants have performed songs including A Million Love Song’s and Umbrella before judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh, Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole. Louis Walsh is the band’s mentor.

The X Factor is tomorrow (13 December) from 19.10 on ITV1. Read more at http://xfactor.itv.com/. The winning act will be chosen by viewers telephone votes.

[Image from talkbalkTHAMES]

Notes to editors

King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 25 universities in the world (Times Higher Education 2008) and the fourth oldest in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, King's has 19,700 students from more than 150 countries, and 5,400 employees. King's has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top group of UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of approximately £450 million. An investment £500 million has been made in the redevelopment of its estate.

King's has a particularly distinguished reputation in the humanities, law, social sciences, the health sciences, natural sciences and engineering, and has played a major role in many of the advances that have shaped modern life, such as the discovery of the structure of DNA. It is the largest centre for the education of healthcare professionals in Europe and is home to five Medical Research Council Centres, a total unsurpassed by any other university.



Further information
Alex Bevis, Communications Officer,
Public Relations Department, King's College London
Email: alex.bevis@kcl.ac.uk Tel: 020 7848 3202

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This information is provided by the Public Relations Department
Tel: 020-7848 3202  Fax: 020-7848 3739  Email: pr@kcl.ac.uk