87-year-old veteran moves ‘The Piano’ judges to tears with original composition
12 May 2025, 18:06 | Updated: 16 May 2025, 11:06
Diana used to sneak away from school to play the piano and now she is performing on national television.
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An 87-year-old RAF veteran said she was “living her dream” after she delighted judges with her own composition on the latest episode of The Piano.
Diana wrote ‘Dreams’, a piece for the piano, following the death of her husband Phil after they had been married for 63 years.
The couple met in the RAF, which she joined because she knew it had a band when she was unable to apply to the Royal Academy of Music. They married in 1958 and were together until he died from Parkinson’s disease in 2021.
“We only had eyes for each other,” Diana said, “and that first year without him I don’t remember much about it.”
She spoke about how she was drawn to the piano amidst her grief, remembering the day she began writing the piece she performed for the show.
“One evening I was feeling really, really lost. I remember going to the piano and I was just dreaming on the piano, improvising, and somehow, out of that came a tune,” she said.
“I just went with it really and suddenly I found I could write music, something I never thought I would do in my life, and then I felt different because I kind of realised I was working on something and I was feeling that this is not the end.”
“I never believed that i was actually good enough,” Diana added, “I would like to say to people never give up on your dreams, because I’m living mine at my age.”
Read more: 18-year-old pianist stuns with original Beethoven and Chopin medley at Sheffield train station
Watching her performance in Newcastle station from a separate room, Mika, one of the judges on The Piano, said: “Just imagine her while she was composing this, weaving a piece to comfort her from her sadness. It’s simple but it’s doing exactly that.”
The hit television series returned to Channel 4 earlier this month for a third season, with pianist Lang Lang being replaced by Jon Batiste, and Claudia Winkleman and Mika both returning.
The series searches for some of the greatest amateur pianists from across the UK, and was won in 2024 by Brad Kella and in 2023 by Lucy Illingworth.
Read more: Lucy improvises infectious boogie-woogie duet with fellow ‘The Piano’ winner Brad Kella
Watch Diana’s performance below.
87-Year-Old Diana Performs Moving Original Composition 'Dreams' | The Piano Series 3
