Comedy turn gets the bullet from Al Capone

The X Factor is coming to an end. It’s time to look back on 100 years of this talent show, and to celebrate its landmark moments. 1921: The very first X Factor opens

at the hammersmith Palais de Danse. Under its original title The Xylophone Factor, it features 50 different xylophonists performing popular numbers of the day.

The winner is the morbidly obese Mandy Lifeboat, with her rendition of I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles. Interviewed just before she takes to the stage, she reveals that she has just suffered a bout of hay fever, she wants to follow her dream, her nan has just been run over and her beloved budgerigar has a sore left foot. To cheers from the audience, panellist elizabeth Bowes-Lyon declares, ‘If one were ever to be married, one would so much like you to sing at one’s wedding.’ 1922: Original X Factor winner Mandy Lifeboat is tracked down under the arches at Charing Cross, playing old blues numbers on her rusty old xylophone. ‘My dream lies in tatters’, she says. ‘There’s no call for the xylophone in this day and age. I’ve been to hell and back.’ 1923: In April, the Duke of York, younger brother of the Prince of Wales, marries elizabeth BowesLyon at Westminster Abbey. The music for the service is entirely played on the organ. No xylophonist has been invited to take part. ‘It’s a disgrace,’ Mandy Lifeboat tells the BBC. ‘Talk about broken promises! I’m 100 per cent gutted!’ 1926: Novelist Virginia Woolf joins top comic Charlie Chaplin and leading American entrepreneur Al Capone on the panel of the X Factor. Controversy erupts when Capone (above) draws a gun on comedy hopeful Walter Wall, peppers him with shot and tells him to leave the stage because he’s no good. ‘Our viewers appreciate Mr Capone’s frankness and honesty’, says a PR spokesman for the production company. ‘he apologises if he inadvertently offended Mr Wall, and offers his best wishes for a full recovery.’ 1930: In the first major innovation since the X Factor was introduced, performers with no talent at all are encouraged to take part. This year’s winner is a yodeller who