【ZT】
His doleful expression, ramshackle appearance and booming voice have made him an unlikely national idol.
But Paul Potts, a 36-year-old operatic mobile phone salesman, sang his way to victory in ITV1's hit show, Britain's Got Talent.
After opening the show with a stirring performance of Puccini's Nessum Dorma, Potts, from Port Talbot, received a standing ovation from the live studio audience and was unanimously praised by the programme's three judges, Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden.
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After his victory was announced Simon Cowell confirmed that Paul will be in a recording studio next week, recording his own album.
As well as receiving a cheque for £100,000 - which will cover £30,000 worth of debts he has amassed trying to achieve his dream of stardom - the tenor will now perform in front of the Queen at this year's Royal Variety Performance.
Success means that Potts, who currently works for the Carphone Warehouse, is likely to secure a lucrative record deal - and has already been lined up to appear in a series of shows and concerts.
Indeed, his first round audition - in which he left the judges speechless and Miss Holden crying - has already taken over as the number one most watched clip on internet website, YouTube.
Although the former supermarket shelf-stacker has not sung since a near fatal motorcycle accident in 2003, his victory is perhaps tinted after it was revealed that he has received professional voice training.
It has also emerged that Potts has, in fact, been struggling for 10 years on the fringes of the operatic world, and after winning £8,000 in a TV talent contest eight years ago, spent his earnings attending various training courses in Italy.
He has even performed at a master class in front of Luciano Pavarotti and Katia Ricciarelli - leading to accusations that he held an unfair advantage over the other five finalists.
His victory, however, was a close-fought thing.
Potts beat six-year-old singer Connie Talbot, who gave a touching rendition of Over The Rainbow - which she had learnt performing to her terminally ill, bed-ridden grandmother.
The gap-toothed school girl from Sutton Coldfield is, though, set for a bright future after being provisionally signed up to Cowell's own record label, Sony BMG.
Indeed, she has already been given odds of 2/1 by bookmakers Ladbroke's to produce a number one hit single by the end of the year.
Elsewhere on the show, 11-year-old Bessie Cursons, who was described by Cowell as the most 'professional' of all the acts, impressed the audience with a skit of Get Me To The Church On Time.
Damon Scott, a 27-year-old ventriloquist, was also a surprise hit with his Michael Jackson puppet act.
Performing alongside a monkey called Bubbles, to Jackson's Earth Song, he is now likely to be signed up to a full-time agent and hopes to secure future television work.
The Kombat Breakers, a break-dancing group from Coventry, also impressed, head-spinning and backflipping their way through a high-octane routine to Run DMC.
Fronted by 25-year-old Leeroy Bailey, and made up of Simeon Henry, 17, Tyrone Miller, 16, Leon Lea, 18, Philip Bolton, 17, Ryan Stilwell, 20, and 13-year-old Darrian Stevenson Joseph, were described by the judges as 'modern role models'. After securing corporate sponsorship, the seven-strong group hope to use their newfound fame to get signed up as a professional touring act.
Surprise finalists, the Bar Wizards, flared to Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, throwing cocktail shakers and glasses into the air with abandon.
While a night in front of the Queen is no longer a possibility, the Manchester-born duo has already been inundated with bar-tending job offers.
Potts, meanwhile, who is married to his wife of four years, Julie - whom he met in an internet chat room - first sang opera eight years ago at a karaoke competition.
Wearing a scruffy suit and an open-necked shirt, he captured the public's imagination after being described by the judges as a 'lump of coal' that could be turned into a 'diamond'.
After Potts was confirmed as the winner Simon Cowell said that 'Britain's got Talent' has been the best show he had ever worked on.