IT'S easy to imagine he would be sunning himself on some Caribbean beach or whizzing around the foothills above Monte Carlo in a sporty convertible.

But instead it was business as usual today for a Canterbury quiz buff who has bagged a quarter of a million pounds on a hit TV show.

Like most of the other Monday mornings in the last 15 years Andrew Whiteley, 48, spent it serving customers at his specialist games shop in the centre of Canterbury. And it's a routine he has no intention of altering.

"I think the money will enhance our lives rather than changing them," he said. "It means we don't have to worry any more. We can pay the mortgage off and we've got a nice little nest egg to fall back on. We're happy."

Hardly surprising, given that he was hoping at best to reach the £32,000 staging post on the popular ITV1 quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? broadcast on Saturday.

But presenter Chris Tarrant didn't want to give him that and Mr Whiteley obliged him by rattling off the correct answers to all of the first 14 questions.

It wasn't until he sat on the brink of half a million pounds that he encountered problems with a question about the Statue of Liberty. In the end he took the money and ran but, on reflection, he's not sure whether he made the right decision.

"Technically, I suppose I should've had a go at it because while I stood to lose £218,000, on the other hand I stood to win an extra 250,000 and, what's more important, the chance to win the million pounds."

But he's not complaining and nor is his wife Wendy Wood, 45, who works for Customs and Excise in Gravesend. She's in line for a new car, but it won't be anything too extravagant.

"We're going to replace her car when we feel it needs some major work done. But it's not going to be a Porsche, just a little runabout to get her A to B. We'd neither of us buy a fancy car just for the sake of having one."

Originally from Cheshire, Mr Whiteley set up Westgate Games, now based in The Borough, in 1987. Nor surprisingly, the business stocks the Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? board game.

The self-confessed trivia fanatic is part of the Phoenix pub's team in the Kent Quiz League and no stranger to high-profile successes. He was part of the Unicorn pub's triumphant side at this year's KM Big Quiz.