A Dartford schoolboy from Welling is "over the moon" to be in the final 12 acts of the X Factor.

Charlie Jones, 14, joined the ITV talent show in August and is now the youngest contestant to get through to the live stage of the competition.

He graced the pages of News Shopper back in April after he netted more than 300,000 views of his YouTube tribute to Justin Bieber in the last two weeks alone.

Now the Wilmington Grammar schoolboy is delighted to be in the programme which launched the careers of the One Direction boys only a few years ago, as part of an eight-piece boyband. 

Meanwhile his mum has revealed to News Shopper his favourite pre-show ritual before breaking hearts on stage is "doing his hair".

Julie, 44, from Welling, said: "It’s been a whirlwind. We haven’t had any girls camped out our house just yet, we’re keeping our fingers crossed on that one. 

"He went for his auditions and he got a massive standing ovation for one of them. 

"At one stage in the competition they told him he hadn’t made the next round then they bought him back shortly with seven other boys and Simon Cowell gave them this lifeline - Charlie came offstage with the biggest smile ever. 

"They're best mates now and can share the pressure. He’s over the moon."

The teenager who already has more than 30,000 Twitter followers, has honed his performance technique from attending Italia Conti in Chislehurst at the weekends.

News Shopper:

Julie said: "He’s nervous just before getting on stage but then he loses the nerves once he’s performing.

"His only pre-stage ritual is his hair - he spends time doing that. 

"Put it this way - I’m sitting by his schoolbag right here, it’s full of textbooks but also hair products.

"He loves the photoshoots, he’s not camera-shy - it’s a young boy’s dream."

Julie is delighted to be with Charlie every step of the way.

She said: "I just feel overwhelmed when I see him perform.

"Trying to keep it to ourselves has been hard. 

"You want to shout it from the rooftops."

Follow Charlie on @CharlieJones