Teenager in £7 million lottery win toasts luck with beans

Published on Tuesday 30 September 2008 22:30

AT JUST 18, Britain's newest multi-millionaire celebrated in the only way she knew how – a student feast of beans on toast and cider.

Ianthe Fullagar, who has just completed her A-levels, spoke yesterday about how a 7 million EuroMillions lottery windfall would change the course of her future.

Ms Fullagar, 18, from Cumbria, could not stop screaming when she discovered her new status as a multi-millionaire. The noise so startled her pet dog, Brock, that he jumped up and bit her on the buttocks. She then hid the winning ticket in her bra.

Ms Fullagar, and Brock, can be excused such hysteria. With her share of the record 102 million jackpot, she can afford some time off before deciding how her fortune might improve the rest of her life.

The youngest EuroMillions winner is already on a gap year, ahead of a law degree starting next year.

Her wealth will help her foray into the legal profession after her course – she intends to start her own law firm.

Ms Fullagar, from the fishing village of Ravenglass, recalled the ecstatic moments following her 7,055,142 win.

"At first I thought I had matched three numbers. I couldn't believe it when I realised I had the five main numbers plus a Lucky Star," she said.

"My mum called the National Lottery line and it was only then that I realised I had won a share of the jackpot.

"We were both screaming so loudly that my dog, Brock, didn't know what was happening and bit me on the bottom."

She added: "I didn't know what to do with my ticket, so after hiding it in my bra and jewellery box, I settled for my gym bag until it was confirmed I was a winner.

"It still hasn't sunk in, but we have already celebrated with a traditional family party – beans on toast, curly fries, cider and loads of ice-cream."

Britain's newest millionaire had only played the EuroMillions game once before, but on hearing how the jackpot had swelled last week to more than 100 million, she decided to buy another lucky dip ticket.

She shared her prize with 14 other players from around Europe. Four of the tickets were bought in Britain, including one that has yet to be claimed.

Ms Fullagar, who passed A- levels, in English, maths and biology, plans to pamper herself with a holiday in Egypt, and buy a black Ford Ka, as well as treat her younger siblings with a trip to Toys R Us.

Ms Fullagar received advice from another winner. Callie Rogers, also from Cumbria, who won 1.9 million five years ago, aged 16, said: "The thing about money is, you worry if you don't have it, and if you do have it, you wonder if it is going to last."

Her mother, Zoe, a nurse, is confident her daughter will remain level-headed. She said: "I'm not going to let her run away with all her fancy ideas. We're going to stay really grounded and stay as a family."

Jackpot brings pleasure and problems

IANTHE Fullagar is the latest teenager to strike it rich courtesy of six lucky numbers. Many have gone on to invest wisely towards content and secure lives, but others have found it difficult to deal with the change in lifestyle a lottery win can bring.

Callie Rogers, of Workington, Cumbria, gave Miss Fullagar advice yesterday on the importance of keeping a level head.

Miss Rogers was just 16 and living with foster parents when she won 1.9 million in 2002. She suffered a series of broken relationships and accusations that she was using her wealth to steal boyfriends from other women.

She has since bought a house and settled down, and has a sizeable sum invested in property. Perhaps the most notorious teenage lottery winner was Michael Carroll, who was 19 when he won 9.7 million six years ago. The Norfolk youth enraged his neighbours by turning a field adjacent to his newly purchased villa into a dirt racing track. Though she won a share of the largest EuroMillions jackpot to date – 102 million – Miss Fullagar's prize is not the biggest by a Briton playing the Europe-wide Lottery. Angela Kelly, from Glasgow, won 35.4 million last year.