Phyllis Shelley from Totton celebrated her 106th birthday with Paul Potts from Britain's Got Talent

Phyllis Shelley said the personal visit by singer Paul Potts, who triumphed in the TV talent show in 2007, had “made her day”.

Paul drove from Port Talbot in Wales to say happy birthday to great-grandmother Phyllis after she had written to him asking for a signed photograph.

He said: “There aren’t many people who are fortunate enough to make it to the age of Phyllis, and she’s in good health.

“Initially she just wanted a card but I’ve been to visit a 105 year old in the north and it’s a very special achievement.

“I’d be lucky to get to that age – in fact my wife says I’ll be lucky if I make 70.”

Phyllis, of Little Haven nursing home in Dibden Purlieu, was born in Cheshire but moved to Totton at the age of three and, after leaving Testwood School at 16, became a nanny for boxer Joe Beckett’s three children.

She then went on to work for Colonel Clifford in Southampton, before marrying Fawley refinery engineer Ted Shelley in 1936.

The couple had three daughters – Janet Collier, who lives in Spain, Wendy Yateman who lives in New Zealand, and Sue Shelley, who sadly died from cancer at the age of 54.

After moving to Blackfield, Phyllis and Ted became the licensees for Shelley’s off-licence until 1958, when the license was transferred to the Yeoman hotel. The couple lived in a bungalow that Ted built.

Having lived through two world wars, the invention of the telephone, the television and the internet, Phyllis, whose maiden name was Chamberlain, marked the day with 30 family members and friends in addition to her famous guest.

Daughter Janet, who had travelled over for the party, said: “Mum’s dad was an ambulance driver in the First World War and she always said she could remember seeing the soldiers coming over the bridge from Southampton to Totton all bandaged up.”

Phyllis, a great-grandmother of eight, is one of three children and said the key to a long and happy life was “hard work, good genes and Guinness”.