EuroMillions Winner Goes Public

The British winner of the £35.4 million EuroMillions jackpot on Friday 10 August has come forward to claim her prize and opted to allow her win to be made public knowledge. The winner is one Angela Kelly, a forty year old postal administrator from Glasgow, and her prize of £35,425,411.80 makes her the biggest UK National Lottery prize winner in history.

Angela took some time in coming forward to claim her prize for the simple reason that she wasn't aware of the fact that she'd won it. She checked her EuroMillions ticket only after reading in her Monday newspaper that the £35.4 million prize had still not been claimed. She was amazed to discover that her Lucky Dip ticket had the exact same numbers that had been drawn the previous Friday, making her wealthy beyond her wildest dreams.

"I didn't know what to do at first - I just couldn't believe it," Angela said. "It was only when everyone in the office started cheering that I realised that it must have been me who'd won. I rang the National Lottery phone line there and then to make my claim but my hands were shaking so much that it was really difficult to write my name on the back of the ticket like they asked.

"My son rang me at work shortly afterwards so I said to him, 'We've won a wee bit of money!' and then had to call him back later to tell him the big news properly when it had quietened down a bit," Angela continued. "It is such an amazing feeling to have won this much money but to be honest, I'm still in shock and it's only just starting to sink in"

Angela now intends to give up work, move to a new home in the same area, take an upgraded trip to Canada and enjoy "a dream holiday" in Hawaii - a destination she has wanted to visit since childhood. A brand new car (her 14 year old son John wants her to get a Mercedes), treats for family and friends and a manicure are other things on the shopping list.

21 August, 2007