How to create a Singleton parent class

I'm trying to create a Singleton parent class that I can reuse every time I need a singleton.

But I'm having several problems.
First, when I make the destructor protected, VC++ 6.0, fails to compile it.

class Singleton
{
protected:
 ~Singleton();
   Singleton();
  //copy constructor and assignment constructor here ****
public
  static Singleton* GetInstance(){static Singleton s; return &s;}
};

I don't see why this doesn't compile.

I'm also not sure if I should make Singleton a virtual class or a template class.

Does any one have some example code for a Singleton parent class?

Any advise as to what would be better (virtual or template)?

And how can I get the compiler to compile a class that has a protected or private distructor?