A pensioner from west Wales will scoop £500,000 on the TV quiz show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? - the largest prize so far in the British version of the programme.

Viewers will see Peter Lee, 65, from Cardigan, correctly answer 14 multiple choice questions.

At its peak, 19 million viewers are thought to have tuned into the show hosted by Chris Tarrant - and millions of others have phoned a premium-rate telephone line for a chance to take part.

Correct answers

Contestants on the programme, win increasing amounts of money by answering 15 general knowledge questions of varying difficulty, with a top prize of £1m.

Mr Lee, who served in the Royal Navy for 25 years, knew the name of the last British Governor of Hong Kong, the origin of the word Corgi, and the nickname of the American showman Willliam Frederick Cody.

His wife Sue was at home looking after their dogs and cat while he filmed show.

The win follows a £250,000 scoop earlier this week for garage owner David Neale from Doncaster in South Yorkshire.

Mr Neale, the second contestant to win £250,000, correctly answered a question about Nobel Prize-winning physicist Marie Curie.

Ordinary people

Quizmaster Chris Tarrant would not describe the moment Mr Lee collected the £500,000 cheque, and said that viewers would have to wait and see.

"We always want them to win so badly," he added.

"They are just very ordinary people playing for life-changing amounts of money," said the TV star.

Last year, three former contestants were stripped of their prize money after it was alleged that they had lied about their past.

Celador Productions, which makes the show, refused to pay Andrew Lavelle from Wrexham his £16,000 winnings after the company claimed he had lied on an application form about his criminal record.

Rules of entry state that anyone with a record - unless it is spent - is not eligible to enter