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4th October 2023
09:19am BST
A World War Two vet has become the oldest-ever winner of the Postcode Lottery, taking home £685,713.
"I never thought I'd win, I just hoped," said Bernard Botting, a 98-year-old ex-marine from Burnham-on-Sea in Somerset.
Botting, as quoted by the BBC, told how he used to play the lottery with his late wife, and had made plans in the event they ever won.
"When we started the lottery, my wife and I said that if we ever won, we must share it with family, they're all going to get something," he said.
Botting's wife, Doris, passed away in 2017, aged 93.
But he never stopped playing the lottery.
Botting's son-in-law, Alan Marshall, joked: "You can retire now, dad," after seeing the size of his winnings.
People were delighted with Botting's win so late in life, with hundreds extending their congratulations to him on social media.
Five of the pensioner's neighbours also received prizes of £228,571 from the Lottery.
His neighbour, Shirley Baynham, 71, thanked her late husband Les for her win.
"My husband always loved doing the Postcode Lottery, but he passed away four years ago," she said of her win.
"I wanted to keep it going, so I changed it over to my name.
"It seems as if he's looking down on me and looking after his sons and grandchildren."
More than 1,050 other people in Burnham-on-Sea have also won prizes of more than £1,000 after the TA8 2 postcode area was drawn.
