Britain's biggest ever Lotto winners are enjoying their record £33million jackpot just over a decade after their next-door neighbour scooped his own share of a £500,000 lottery windfall, it has been revealed.
David and Carol Martin were tucking into a bacon and black pudding roll on Sunday morning when they discovered they had won half of the historic £66million prize money - catapulting them to the top of the Lotto rich list.
The husband and wife, both 54, revealed they stared at each other silently for five minutes before having lots of cups of tea and later phoning their 26-year-old daughter Lisa, who works for a recruitment company in Australia, to tell her the good news.
But when friends arrived with a bottle of bubbly at the now multi-millionaire couple's £176,000 semi-detached house in Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, the Martins joked that they had to dash out to a local supermarket to pick up a £5 set of champagne flutes because they didn't have any.
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Celebration: David and Carol Martin, a husband and wife from Hawick, celebrate winning the UK's biggest-ever Lotto jackpot of £33million
A toast: The couple were presented with a cheque for £33million earlier today (left) and celebrated with a glass of champagne (right)
All smiles: Mr Martin, who enjoyed a swig of champagne from the bottle, said the first thing he wanted to buy was a pair of £200 brogues
Mrs Martin, who works at a local Boots chemist, said: 'We just kept looking at each other and going "No, it canna be".' She and her husband, a mechanic and handyman, then had to dash out to buy some cheap glasses when their friends brought over some champagne to celebrate at the couple's 'ordinary' £176,000 semi-detached house.
It was there that the winning ticket, bought from Morrisons, had been left on the mantelpiece overnight Saturday and the couple did not check it until the following morning when prompted to do so by friends.
Ever since then the Mrs Martin and her husband, a handyman and mechanic, have been calling in sick at work until eventually telling their employers of the white lie this morning.
Ever since then the Mrs Martin and her husband, a handyman and mechanic, have been calling in sick at work until eventually telling their employers of the white lie this morning.
Mrs Martin said her workmates were 'excited' for her and had guessed that something was up.
'They know that I'm never sick, so they thought there was something going on,' she added.
Mr Martin revealed the first thing he wanted to do was 'buy myself a nice pair of £200 brogues', a range rover and an automatic for his wife.
Meanwhile, it emerged this afternoon that the Martins were not the first residents on their street to taste lottery success.
Next-door neighbour Brian Nichol, a computer operations officer, was part of a work syndicate who scooped half a million pounds on the lottery in 2002.
All we could do was drink lots of hot tea and try and make sense of it all
Lottery winner David Martin
But by the time the cash was shared out among the syndicate's members, Mr Nichol, 59, ended up with just £9,400 in comparison to his neighbours' massive windfall.
Joking about the luck of residents in his street, Brian Nichol said: 'Funnily enough, there's now two lottery winners on this street.
'I won about half a million as part of a syndicate of 49 people. It ended up being about nine grand in the end though. So David and Carol's win is just a little bit bigger than mine.
'I spent the money on a three-week holiday in Florida.'
He said the couple were 'lovely people' who deserved to win - but said they lived so quietly that he hadn't even heard a peep of celebration from their home.
Mr Nichol added: 'We've been neighbours for 16 years and they've always been really lovely neighbours, you couldn't get better neighbours if you tried.
'I found out when my daughter texted and then phoned me to say it was them, I was chuffed to bits for them.
'You'd have never known though, I've not heard any screaming from their house. They're pretty quiet people and don't go out too much, but David is a keen golfer down at the course.
Sharing a kiss: The Martins revealed that they were eating a bacon and black pudding roll when they decided to check their lottery ticket
Delayed discovery: The Martins' winning ticket, which was bought from Morrisons, sat on their mantelpiece at their home in Hawick (pictured) overnight Saturday and the couple did not check it until the following morning when prompted to do so by friends
Lucky place to live: The couple live on Longhope Drive, Hawick, a street where it was revealed today a neighbour has also won the lottery
White lies: Mrs Martin, who works at a local Boots chemist (believed to be the one pictured in Hawick), said she had been calling in sick
The Martins said at a press conference today that another of their first purchases will be a first-class ticket home for their 26-year-old daughter Lisa, who is working for a recruitment company in Australia.
Mr Martin, who has a heart condition and will soon need a minor operation, revealed that she was the first person the couple contacted when they found out about the win.
He said: 'We caught Lisa on the telephone as she was driving to work and told her to pull over.
'She thought something bad had happened as we normally only Skype or WhatsApp her to keep the costs down. So, when we telephoned she was really worried.
'Then we told her we’ve just won 68 million in Australian dollars. She couldn’t believe it and thought we were pulling her leg.'
The family have not been together for more than a year but the couple have offered to pay the plane fare home as soon as Lisa can arrange it.
The Martins said they hoped to be reunited at the weekend so that they can begin planning their futures at their 'ordinary' home, where Mr Martin's Ford Fiesta is parked outside. He described it as a 'great little car.'
Mrs Martin said: 'Lisa loves it out in Australia and has been trying to gain residency over there.
'She’s been in Australia for more than five years and we last saw her at Christmas 2014. We can’t wait to see her again. With all this going on, it doesn’t seem right not to be together.'
The couple said that they were in such disbelief at discovering they had all six numbers that they did not say anything to each other for about five minutes.
They had cups of tea because they don't own champagne flutes, but Mrs Martin said that would soon change, telling Sky News: 'We’ll have to get a crystal set.'
Mr Martin also revealed he was keen to help flood victims battered by recent storms, while on a personal front he spoke about going to a number of live sporting events.
He talked about going to Wimbledon and the Masters golf tournament and was also keen on buying a holiday home.
A keen golfer, vice-chairman of Mr Martin's local club Billy Hush said: 'Honestly the money couldn’t have been won by a nicer bloke. You couldn’t find a nicer guy more deserving of it.'
Millionaires: Mr Martin said the couple, both 54, stared at each other silently for five minutes when they found out, before celebrating their windfall with lots of cups of tea because they don't own champagne flutes. They were presented with their cheque at a press conference
Jackie Kennedy, cashier at Morrisons, where the winning ticket was bought
Neighbours at their semi-detached home in an estate on the outskirts of Hawick also described the Martins as a 'lovely couple.'
One said:'This really is great news. I just heard this morning as I was asking where they had gone. One of the others told me he had heard they won the Lottery.
'They are a lovely couple and well deserved winners. They are a hard working pair and have a daughter who lives in Australia.
'I look forward to seeing them when they come back home. They are a lovely lovely couple.'
Staff at the tobacco counter in the Morrisons supermarket in Hawick were left 'ecstatic' when they learned that they had sold the winning ticket.
Cashier Jackie Kennedy, 49, was one of four cashiers manning tills at the counter when the Martins bought their ticket.
She said: 'When we found out it was one of us who sold the ticket we were absolutely ecstatic.
'It's lovely to see a nice couple like that win, they'll have financial security for life, and it's great news for the town after the floods and the job losses last week.
'I liked how they corrected the folk on TV when they mispronounced Hawick. That as very funny.
Famous: The Martins have become the talk of the town in Hawick, according to local resident Sam Cornwell, who tweeted earlier on
'We don't know which one of the four of us who sold the ticket though because it was absolutely manic at the kiosk that day.
'I suppose now they'll probably be shopping at Harrods and Fortnum and Mason but I don't think it'll change them as people.'
Laughing Ms Kennedy added: 'If they want to hand a cheeky million over that would be great.'
Now a multi-millionaire, Mr Martin admitted it would be a nice treat to be able to buy a £200 pair of brogues, while when his wife was asked what she would like to buy he suggested diamonds.
The couple are unsure what else they will spend the jackpot on, but Mr Martin is hoping to get a new Range Rover, while his wife would like an automatic car to help her up the hills around Hawick.
On his first purchase, Mr Martin said: 'It sounds stupid but (I'd like) just a nice pair of shoes, a pair of brogues at £200. It sounds really, really stupid but it's just how it is. It will take a little while to sink in, to be honest.'
The 54-year-old, who works for Borders Care and Repair which helps elderly and disabled fit equipment in their homes, described the moment he and his wife realised they had won.
Fun facts: Mr Cornwell put the Martins' win into context by comparing it with the town's population and average wage. He also brought up the budget for the flood defence scheme in Hawick, which has been hit by floods brought on by several winter storms
He said: 'My mate Keith had popped over for a chat on Sunday morning when he mentioned that there had been two Lotto winners in the big rollover the night before.
'I hadn't checked my ticket, so I removed it from the mantelpiece and thought I'd take a quick look but for some reason we couldn't find the results in the paper.
'After Keith had left, Carol and I were tucking into bacon and black pudding rolls when we decided to check the ticket against the results on her phone.
'I had three lines, all Lucky Dip tickets, and as Carol called out the numbers, I realised that the first line matched up one by one. We must have checked it another ten times or more.'
Mrs Martin said: 'We just kept looking at each other and going "No, it canna be".'
Her husband added: 'I remember Carol said to me, "What have we done?" That's the enormity of it. (With) £50,000 we'd have been doing cartwheels in the living room.
'I've dreamt of this moment many times but when it actually came, it was a just total shock.
'We were both stunned into silence. We kept re-checking the numbers as we thought there must be a mistake.
'Then we called Camelot to see if it could possibly be true. The lady at the end of the phone was really nice and told us we were right, we were winners.
'All we could do was drink lots of hot tea and try and make sense of it all. The information just wasn't going in.'
The couple, who have been married for 28 years, are planning to retire as soon as possible and said they would love a new home in the country, local to where they live now, and a holiday home in the sun.
They admitted the massive sum would 'certainly change' their lives as they were unveiled as the winners at a hotel on the outskirts of Edinburgh.
The pair also hinted about helping some of those affected by the floods which hit the UK recently. Their 'tight-knit' hometown was among the places affected by the flood damage when the River Teviot burst its banks.
The average wage in Hawick is about £15,000 per year and if the Martins' lottery win were to be shared between the town's population everyone would get around £2,200 each, according to a local resident.
Sam Cornwell tweeted that the Martins were the talk of the town following their success.
Speaking more about how the couple intended to spend their money, Mr Martin said: 'It’s everyone’s dream to win the lottery. I’ve talked about winning and what I would do so many times. But now it’s actually here my mind’s gone blank.
'Parts of our community have also been hit by flooding and we know lots of people who have struggled in recent times, so there’s a lot for us to work out but it’s a nice problem to have.''We don’t have all the answers yet but we’d like to help our closest friends and family, and there are charities which are important to us too.
He is a keen golfer but has been unable to play for some months due to a heart condition called Atrial Fibrillation.
Mrs Martin added: 'David has been suffering in recent months from an irregular heart rate and has been taking medication to help control it.
'He will need to have a small operation soon to help steady the pulses and after that should be back out on the golf course before too long.'
The Martins were asked he they would invest any cash in Hawick Knitwear - where more than 120 jobs are at risk after the firm went into administration last week.
Mr Martin said it was a 'difficult question', adding: 'The knitwear industry has not had an easy time, but it is not just the knitwear sector. Lots of places are having a hard time at the moment.'
A neighbour in Martins' street in Hawick told MailOnline: ‘They’re a really lovely couple. We’ve been neighbours now for about 16 years. It couldn’t have happened to nicer people.’
The man, who asked not to be named, added: ‘David will do anything for you and Carol is well known for working in the local chemists. I’m chuffed to bits for them.'
Hawick’s Honorary Provost Stuart Marshall told the Selkirk Advertiser: 'You could not meet a nicer guy than David Martin.
They know that I'm never sick, so they thought there was something going on
Boots worker Carol Martin on lying to her employers about being sick
'He used to come to Pringle’s Glebe Mill many years ago to repair frames and was a first class mechanic and I really do think the whole of Hawick will wish both him and Carol all the best for the future. Good luck to them in whatever they decide to do.'
The Martins' winning Lotto Jackpot ticket was bought from Morrisons in Hawick and the winning numbers were 26, 27, 46, 47, 52 and 58.
The couple’s win has catapulted them to the top of the Lotto rich list, but the prize was split between two tickets and the other winners have not yet come forward.
Saturday's massive jackpot - the biggest ever - was the result of 14 rollovers.
New rules stipulated that once the amount went over £50 million it would have been shared between the next tier down of winners if no-one matched all six numbers.
Prize winners have 180 days after the draw date to come forward, which means Saturday night's joint winner has until July 7 to claim their prize.
The previous record jackpot was £42million, shared between three ticket holders in 1996, while Iris Jeffrey, from Belfast, was the biggest ever individual Lotto winner when she scooped £20.1million in 2004.
Work colleagues Mark Gardiner and Paul Maddison from Hastings won the largest prize on a single Lotto line, collecting £22.5million in 1995.
Mother with cancer who scooped £20m in 1994 was the UK's previous biggest winner - but she's not the only player to bank a huge prize
A mother with cancer became the biggest ever individual Lotto winner when she scooped £20.1 million back in 2004.
Belfast housewife Iris Jeffrey, 58, only realised she was sitting on a fortune after organisers Camelot pleaded for the person holding the prize ticket to come forward and claim the prize.
She said at the time: 'I had put my old tickets in the glass cupboard at home and forgotten about them. It was not until I was at home with my husband Robert watching TV when I saw that there was an outstanding Lotto prize.
Previous winners: The previous record jackpot was £42million, shared between three ticket holders in 1996, while Iris Jeffrey, from Belfast (pictured), was the biggest ever individual Lotto winner
'I wrote down the numbers and checked them against my ticket. I thought that I had all six but could really not believe it (until) I asked my daughter Wendy to check for me.
'I didn't realise what happened.
'When she confirmed the win I said "Oh, I've won, that's nice", I really don't think I realised quite what had happened."
She also revealed how she was going to spend the fortune, by splashing out on a brand new Renault Clio or Volkswagen Golf for her 62-year-old retired husband.
But the first real treat for the winner herself was going to be a brand new washing machine.
Meanwhile, work colleagues Mark Gardiner and Paul Maddison from Hastings won the largest prize on a single Lotto line, collecting £22.5million in 1995
Work colleagues Mark Gardiner and Paul Maddison won the largest prize on a single Lotto line, collecting £22.5million in 1995 (pictured left). But Mr Gardiner later revealed in 2013 (right) that the win ruined his life
Mr Gardiner spent it on a sprawling listed mansion with manicured grounds and kidney-shaped swimming pool, a gleaming Aston Martin and a series of exotic holidays.
But back in 2009, he revealed that as soon as the news was out, his life was ruined. Trying to escape unwanted publicity, he said he encountered jealousy wherever he went.
Mr Gardiner's riches have brought with them a deal of trouble: bitter ex-wives, estranged daughters and a slew of court cases launched by friends and acquaintances anxious to avail themselves of the Gardiner good fortune.
He was 32 when he and Paul Maddison, his business partner in a struggling double glazing firm, became the sole winners of the multi-million pound jackpot in June 1995.
But by 2013, such was the toxic legacy of his windfall that the then 51-year-old said he could count on one hand the number of people he remains in touch with from his pre-lottery days — and that includes his family.
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The Lotto wins may be large but they are nothing in comparison to the amount of money Britons have won on the Euromillions game. In July 2011, Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs, North Ayrshire, became Britain and Europe's biggest winners when they banked £161million.
The couple, who had been married for 30 years, were catapulted into the Sunday Times Rich List above Beatle Ringo Starr and Sir Tom Jones.
Mrs Weir, a psychiatric nurse and Mr Weir, a TV cameraman and studio manager, were reportedly hounded from their home after their win, having been inundated with hundreds of letters begging for cash.
They were said to have fled to Spain after letters began piling up at their £200,000 three-bedroom home.
Since then, however, the couple been incredibly generous with their winnings.
They donated their home to their neighbours after buying a second house, and Mr Weir gave £750,000 to his local football team, Largs Thistle.
The second-highest British Euromillions victors were children's nurse Gillian Bayford and her record seller husband Adrian, who claimed the second-highest jackpot in August 2012.
A sprawling £20m Caribbean villa for sun-lovers or £1.3m Bugatti Veyron for petrolheads: How you can spend £33m and still have a lot of change
From a tranquil Caribbean hideaway to a multi-million pound super yacht, these are just some of the alluring ways to spend £33million and still have plenty of change left over.
When it comes to yachts, it's best not to have Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich's in your sights. Worth £1.5billion, that super yacht is in another league entirely, but one that is 200ft long and sleeps 12, with a gym, sauna and cinema, is not out of the question.
Or perhaps buying your own island is more attractive?
Chris Krolow, of Private Islands Inc, says he has helped lottery winners buy islands in the past. ‘People are generally seeking privacy, luxury and relaxation,’ he adds.
As for getting there, you’ll need a private jet — and although after buying the island the Gulfstream G280 is out of your reach at £14.74million (at businessair.com), you can console yourself with an Airbus H15 helicopter (£6.82million).
A private yacht, not too dissimilar to the one shown, is also a possibility. One with a gym, sauna and cinema would certainly be affordable
Talking of sneaking off to the Caribbean, how about following in X Factor judge Simon Cowell's footsteps and buying a £22million villa next door to the prestigious Sandy Lane resort in Barbados? That would still leave enough money to snap up his £10 million townhouse in West London, with £1million to redecorate it.
For petrolheads, the first choice is likely to be a Bugatti Veyron, the ultimate status symbol with a £1.38million price tag.
By doing so you would join the likes of Tom Cruise and Cristiano Ronaldo behind the wheel - and with the cash the Martins won you could buy 23 and still have just over £1million left over to fuel them.
Source- Dailymail
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