A couple who scooped the entire £115million EuroMillions jackpot on New Year's Day celebrated in the most British way possible - with a nice cup of tea - having spent several excruciating hours believing it was a scam.
Patrick and Frances Connolly, who rent an end of terrace home in Moira, County Armagh, and drive a Renault Laguna, have become the fourth biggest winners in UK history.
The couple, who have three daughters, including twin girls, and several grandchildren, have said the first thing they will do is make dozens of people they love rich and promised many will be millionaires.
Mrs Connolly, 52, said today: 'We celebrated with a hug and a cup of tea - then wrote a list of 50 we would share it with. The joy for us will be when we tell them all face to face'.
The teacher had 'nagged' her husband 'Paddy' to buy a 'Lucky Dip' ticket on New Year's Day having forgotten the day before.
She said today: All the time we've been doing the National Lottery I don't think we've got three tenners. The only thing I ever won was a guess the number of sweets in the jar. We were chuffed to bits."
Mrs Connolly, who has been off work with an injured leg, revealed they will shun a mansion for a bungalow 'because I can't walk up the stairs' but will buy herself a second hand Jaguar.
Mr Connolly, 54, who plans to retire as an operations manager, will shower his wife with gifts - one for each of the 28 years they have been happily married - adding the win is 'the icing on the cake' for the happy life they've had.
Patrick and Frances Connolly have been revealed as the new winners of the EuroMillions, collecting £115million in the New Year's Day draw and unveiled in Holywood, Belfast today
The couple, who have been together for 30 years and married for 28, say they will not adopt a jetset lifestyle - but will buy a bungalow and a new car to replace their Renault Laguna
Mr Connolly said they had enjoyed a wonderful and happy life together - and with their three daughters - and this win is the 'icing on the cake'
The lottery-winning couple rent this end of terrace house (centre) in Moira, County Armagh
He revealed he was 'nagged' into buying a ticket by his wife on New Year's Day after forgetting the day before and said they have 'never won more than a tenner'.
He looked up the draw numbers just before going to bed - and quadruple-checked they were correct because: 'I was sure it was a scam'.
The father-of-three then told his wife they'd won the jackpot - she swore at him before giving him a big hug and making him a hot drink.
'We then sat in silence and stared at each other for ten minutes and stayed up all night', Mrs Connolly said.
In an extraordinary press conference at a luxury hotel just outside Belfast, the couple revealed:
- Frances and Patrick Connolly forgot to get ticket on New Year's Eve so he bought one online on New Year's Day after his wife 'nagged him'
- They scooped £115m on a lucky dip - but Patrick says he didn't believe it initially, though it was a scam, and checked the numbers four times on four websites before telling his wife;
- He asked her: 'Do you want the good news? We've won' - Mrs Connolly asked it it was 'more than a tenner' and her husband said: 'No you don't understand. We really won!'
- Believing it was a scam they waited for three hours until they had an email confirm the jackpot was their's, then had to wait until 8am to confirm with the National Lottery on the phone;
- The stunned couple had a cup of tea, shared a hug and then compiled a list of 50 people they plan to make rich - and many will be handed more than £1million;
The Connollys have instantly joined the top 20 richest people in Northern Ireland and are far wealthier than country's top sportsman, four-time major winning golfer Rory McIlroy.
They have three grandchildren, two boys and a girl, from three daughters, one aged 30 and twins aged 24.
One twin is in New Zealand doing a Masters degree. She will be travelling home and, during her stopover, has upgraded from a hostel to a modest hotel.
The couple can now enjoy wealth beyond their wildest dreams with no limit now on the homes they own, the clothes they wear or the cars they drive.
But they were on the verge of moving to Croydon, south London, where Mr Connolly had been offered a new job as an operations manager. But he will now retire.
The couple, who scooped £114,969,775.70, said their first priority was to write a list of family and friends to share their good fortune with.
They said the list stands at 50 - none of whom have been told of their imminent good fortune.
Mrs Connolly, 52, said: 'This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too.
'This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.
'I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers too - never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million.'
The couple have a list of 50 people they will make rich from their windfall and many will receive more than £1million
Mrs Connolly said when she saw her husband was looking at the lottery she realised they must have won something
Patrick and Frances Connolly, who are from Moira, County Armagh, have become the fourth biggest winners in UK history
Mrs Connolly, 52, said they celebrated in a low-key way, adding: 'We don't really do excited'
Mr Connolly, 54, said the win felt 'unreal'.
The couple said they sat in silence after they had realised they won, struggling to take it in.
Mr Connolly said: 'We really didn't know what to do or how to react and we didn't sleep a wink that night. We rang Camelot at 8am in the morning to verify the win.
'Then it started to dawn on us that it was true even though it still hasn't really sunk in.'
The couple, who rent a house in Moira, are regular Lotto players but only normally bought tickets for EuroMillions when there was a big jackpot. Mr Connolly bought his lucky ticket online.
He said he checked the results on his laptop later that night and then turned to his wife and said: 'I think I've got some good news for you.'
Mrs Connolly said when she saw her husband was looking at the lottery she realised they must have won something.
'I said it must be more than £2.60,' she joked. 'We won £2.60 the week before.'
The couple went public with their news at the luxury Culloden Hotel in Co Down on Friday morning.
Mr Connolly is a business man and Mrs Connolly is a teacher who has been off work for a period of time due to a leg injury.
Mrs Connolly, 52, said: 'This is a massive sum of money and we want it to have a huge impact on the lives of other people we know and love as well as on our future too.
'This win gives us the chance to really make a difference for our family and friends.
'I always hoped we would win the lottery one day, but when we did, it would be just our luck that lots of others would win on the same day with the same numbers too - never in my wildest dreams did I think we would ever win almost £115 million.'
The parents of three daughters, who scooped £114,969,775.70, have become the UK's fourth biggest lottery winners
The couple went public with their news at the luxury Culloden Hotel in County Down this morning
Mrs Connolly, who said their ticket was a lucky dip, insisted the win would not change them as people.
The grandmother of three said deciding how far to spread their good fortune would be tough.
'I'm going to cry myself to sleep that I can't help everybody. That will be really tough,' she said.
Mrs Connolly said she was going to spend some of the money to support a local community football club in Hartlepool she used to work with, St Francis FC.
The couple lived in Hartlepool for 25 years.
Asked whether she would have to increase her personal security, Mrs Connolly joked: 'I've never met anybody I couldn't take down myself, to be fair.'
Noting her leg injury, she indicated a huge mansion was not on the cards.
'I want a bungalow because I can't walk up the stairs,' she said. 'There's no way I'm joining the jet set.'
Mrs Connolly said they had always been happy but the win would make them a 'hell of a lot happier', adding that they would travel and help people in the community.
She added: 'I cannot see us being in the limelight for a long time.
'There are no skeletons, there are no dirty pictures, there is not enough to keep us in the public eye.'
This is the cheque that will soon be paid into their bank account, but the couple will now spread the wealth to the people they love
At least three couples, including £148million winners Adrian and Gillian Bayford, splitting up after winning the life-changing sum having suffered the so-called 'EuroMillions curse'.
In July 2011, Colin and Chris Weir became Europe's biggest lottery winners when they scooped more than £161million. The family made a £1million donation to the SNP shortly after winning.
The Bayfords won their fortune in August 2012 but their marriage ended 15 months later, having suffered the so-called 'EuroMillions curse.
The third biggest winner was an unnamed ticket-holder who claimed just over £121million in October 2010 - but chose not go public.
The likelihood of matching the seven numbers in the EuroMillions draw is a staggering one in 139,838,160.
In the New Year's Day draw their winning EuroMillions numbers were 1, 8, 11, 25, 28 and the winning Lucky Star numbers were 4 and 6. Another ten players won £1million each in the New Year's Day draw.
The New Year's Day win follows a series of high-profile lottery prizes in recent years.
In July 2011, Colin and Chris Weir, from Ayrshire, Scotland, became the biggest lottery winners in the UK, and across Europe, when they scooped more than £161 million.
Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Suffolk, took home more than £148 million in August 2012, while the biggest prize awarded in the country in 2018 was £121 million, handed to an anonymous winner in April.
And last November, builder Andrew Clark, 51, from Boston, Lincolnshire, discovered he had won £76 million, six weeks after the draw.
He said he stockpiled tickets in his van, only checking them every three months.
Referring to himself as 'the man who nearly lost £76 million', Mr Clark revealed he stockpiled lottery tickets in the visor of his van and only checked after Trisha nagged him to.
Mr Clark has bought a four-bed house, an £80,000 Mercedes-Benz AMG C 63 and a Nissan Qashqai since he found out he was the winner last week.
He said he and his family will stay in the UK over the festive period and enjoy dinner in a restaurant in Skegness on New Year's Eve.
Mr Clark also revealed that he will be sharing his millions with more than 20 people in his family, including Trisha's 14-year-old daughter, who has special needs.
He said: 'She will be set up for life. Any care she needs she will have.'
Self-employed Mr Clark revealed himself as the winner at a press conference in Grantham.
Mr Clark has two sons from a previous relationship and three granddaughters aged nine, six, and two. He has put £200 each in his grandchildren's Christmas cards, adding they would all be 'well looked after.'
He said: 'They'll not want for anything.
He celebrated going public with his huge £76 million jackpot by later watching his girlfriend's daughter perform in a school nativity play while her 'over excited' mum was confined to bed with a migraine.
Self employed builder Mr Clark, 51, believed to be a divorcee, has his own home but mostly lives with his partner in her detached house in a quiet street in Boston, Lincolnshire.
She's selling the £220,000 property - numbered unlucky 13 - to move into a 'bigger and better' dream home in the area.
The lucky winners have become the fourth-largest winner in UK lottery history after the bumper jackpot. Pictured: The New Year's Day draw taking place
Who is the biggest ever UK lottery winner? Two couples and a former car mechanic top list
Here are the six previous biggest UK winners of the EuroMillions draw so far
1. In July 2011, Colin and Chris Weir became Europe's biggest lottery winners when they scooped more than £161million.
The couple, who have been married for 30 years, said they were ‘not scared’ of the wealth because they were going to have ‘so much fun’ with the money.
The pair, a retired TV cameraman and a retired psychiatric nurse, from Largs, in Ayrshire, said their children Carly, a photography student, and Jamie, a call centre worker, would be bought their own homes and cars.
The family made a £1million donation to the SNP shortly after winning.
Colin and Chris Weir became Europe's biggest lottery winners when they scooped more than £161million in 2011
2. Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Suffolk, took home more than £148 million in August 2012.
The marriage ended just 15 months into their new jackpot winning lives, citing the stress of the money as the reason they needed to split.
At the time, a spokesman for Mrs Bayford said: 'Gillian Bayford confirms that her marriage to Adrian has broken down irretrievably and they have separated.'
It came after Mrs Bayford was forced to deny she had an affair with the couple's gardener, Chris Tovey.
Adrian and Gillian Bayford, from Suffolk, took home more than £148 million in August 2012
3. An anonymous ticket-holder took home £121m
4. Couple from County Armagh scooped the entire £115million EuroMillions jackpot on New Year's Day 2019
5. An unnamed ticket-holder claimed just over £113million in October 2010, and chose not go public.
6. Neil Trotter, from south London, won nearly £108million, going from former car mechanic to multimillionaire in March 2014.
Neighbours in Croydon described he and partner Nicky Ottaway moved out ‘almost overnight’ after they scooped the EuroMillions jackpot last March.
Mr Trotter admitted at the time that he was like his namesake, Del Boy Trotter from Only Fools And Horses.
Neil Trotter, with partner Nicky Ottaway, won nearly £108million, going from former car mechanic to multimillionaire in March 2014
7. A couple from Cambridgeshire, Dave and Angela Dawes, won more than £101million on their third go on the EuroMillions draw in October 2011.
Mr Dawes said he 'didn't sleep a wink' the night of the win, as it was too late to call Camelot after the couple checked their numbers.
Last year, the couple were taken to court by his son, an Afghanistan veteran, Michael Dawes, 32, who said he was 'ungenerous in spirit'.
But a judge ruled the millionaire father does not need to keep bailing out his son, who burnt through £1.6million in two years, and came back for more, failing to heed his stepmother's advice to stop eating at the Ritz and go to McDonald's instead.
8. A UK winner got a £93 million payout in June 2015, but decided to remain anonymous.
Dave and Angela Dawes won more than £101million on their third go on the EuroMillions draw in October 2011
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News Pictures County Armagh couple win £115million EuroMillions jackpot
You don’t have to pack away your bikini just because you’re the wrong side of 20. These body-beautiful stars reveal their secrets to staying in shape and prove you can smoulder in a two-piece, whatever your age. Read on and be bikini inspired!
TEENS
Hayden Panettiere
Size: 8
Age: 18
Height: 5ft 1in
Weight: 8st
To achieve her kick-ass figure, Hayden – who plays cheerleader Claire Bennet in Heroes – follows the ‘quartering’ rule. She eats only a quarter of the food on her plate, then waits 20 minutes before deciding whether she needs to eat again.
Hayden says: “I don’t have a model’s body, but I’m not one of those crazy girls who thinks that they’re fat. I’m OK with what I have.”
Nicollette says: “I don’t like diets – I see it, I eat it! I believe in eating healthily with lots of protein, vegetables and carbs to give you energy.”
kim cattrall
Size: 10-12
Age: 52
Height: 5ft 8in
Weight: 9st 4lb
SATC star Kim swears by gym sessions with Russian kettle bells (traditional cast-iron weights) and the South Beach Diet to give her the body she wants. To avoid overeating, Kim has a radical diet trick – squirting lemon juice on her leftovers – so she won’t carry on picking.
Kim says: “I am no super-thin Hollywood actress. I am built for men who like women to look like women.”
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