A CROSS-DRESSING farmer is hoping for fame and fortune after stealing the show on national television.

Ken Prestidge wowed viewers when he appeared on ITV's The X Factor as a drag queen.

The 51-year-old dairy farmer from Redmire, near Leyburn, in North Yorkshire, whose stage name is Justin Watson-Hermes, failed to impress judges Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and Sharon Osbourne, when he sang dressed as a man.

But he won through to the next round after performing as his female alter-ego Justine in last Saturday's show.

Mr Prestidge said: "When I first went on, I sang Dusty Springfield's You Don't Have To Say You Love Me and Simon said I sounded like a six-year-old girl. Then Louis said he would like to see me in drag."

So the farmer, who breeds and milks pedigree dairy shorthorn cattle, went out and spent £400 on clothes, make-up and a blonde wig.

He said: "I used to dress-up as a woman ten-years-ago for parties, so I didn't mind.

"I've always been chasing fame and fortune and I went on the programme to kick-start my career.

"It's worked - people are calling me the new Lily Savage."

The farmer has previously taken singing lessons and attended short drama courses at acting institution, the Poor School, in London, and at the International School of Screen Acting, in Bromley.

He is a member of actors' union Equity and once had a minor role in a BBC drama.

He is now hoping for a record deal and is in talks with fellow X Factor contestant Jerry Coady about writing and starring in their own television show.

But Mr Prestidge said farming was still his first love. "I'm not going to get rid of the cows," he said.

"If I get some money from this I'll buy my own farm."

The farmer is now through to the show's Bootcamp stage.

Viewers will see how he got on in about five weeks.

A spokesman for the show said: "Justin, or Justine, has certainly been one of our more colourful characters this series so far."