Safeway Song For Xmas UK No 1?

LONDON, UK (Top 40 Charts) - Robbie Williams and Nicole Kidman could be thwarted in their festive chart ambitions by an ageing crooner and the song he wrote in a supermarket. Newcomer Gordon Haskell, 55 - was the lead voice of King Crimson and Les Fleur de Lys (the legendary 60's group) - now is making a last minute challenge to be Christmas number one with a ditty he composed during a shopping trip to Safeway with his mum.

Robbie and Nicole are the hot favourites to capture the coveted top spot with their cover version of Frank and Nancy Sinatra's classic "Something Stupid".

But Haskell's song "How Wonderful You Are" has become the most requested song on Radio 2 after being championed by DJs Johnnie Walker and Ken Bruce.

Shopping

The song cost just �200 to produce after Gordon scribbled the final lines in his pocket diary while waiting for his 82-year-old mother to finish her weekly shopping.

But radio listeners have already pre-ordered 150,000 copies and the success has won him a �2.8m recording contract.

How Wonderful You Are is now ranked fourth by the bookmakers, ahead of festive singles from the likes of S Club 7 and Cliff Richard.