Iconic portrait unites 30 winners worth more than £190m

to celebrate landmark birthday

Celebrity photographer, Rankin, has captured an extraordinary gathering to celebrate The National Lottery’s 30th birthday. In a landmark photoshoot, 30 millionaires from the last three decades came together to celebrate the birthday and share their life-changing stories.

It's exactly 30 years since National Lottery tickets first went on sale in the UK on 14th November 1994. Rankin, who has photographed icons from Queen Elizabeth II to the Rolling Stones, gathered the extraordinary individuals worth more than £190 million at his London studio. He created both intimate individual portraits and a historic group shot of the thirty winners – representing just a fraction of the 7,400 millionaires created since the first draw.

The landmark line-up – who have won £194,465,555 between them – includes Lesley Higgins from Aberdeenshire and Gareth Bull from Mansfield who won £57.9 million and £40.6 million respectively on EuroMillions. Major Lotto winners include Jackie King from Grimsby who won £14 million in 1998, Sarah Cockings from Whitley Bay who banked £3 million back in 2005 and Peter Congdon from Truro who won £13.5 million in 2015. The winners travelled from far and wide to take part in the photo-shoot, from the Scottish Highlands and Northern Ireland to Cornwall and Newcastle; with ages spanning from 25 to 80 years old.

Rankin said, “I am extremely lucky that I get to meet and work with extraordinary people, from famous actors and models through to NHS nurses. I remember when The National Lottery first started and it was intriguing to meet the real winners and hear their stories and experiences. They are normal people who have had an extraordinary thing happen to them, transforming their lives. That is what we set out to capture.”

The National Lottery 30th Birthday photo line-up includes:

Sarah Cockings (40) from Whitley Bay, represented 2005 in the line-up, the year she landed her £3,045,705 life-changing Lotto jackpot win. She said at the photo-shoot: “It has been an amazing experience and changed mine and my family's life. After winning I finished my degree, bought my own home and now have four wonderful children. Although people still remember me paying for boob jobs for my two sisters, and then having one myself! I’m still very close to my sisters - we all live just a few minutes from each other.”

Representing 2014 was EuroMillions winner Matt Myles from Herefordshire who at the age of 27 immediately quit his job and travelled around the world thanks to his £1,000,000 win. He said “It was a crazy year and I have the best memories. I picked up my winnings and flew straight to Bali, then on to Thailand, Brazil for the World Cup, which was unbelievable, then on to Ibiza on a mega holiday with 13 mates. My life revolves round my family these days, we live in a beautiful, converted chapel and I run my own car business too. I still have my giant cheque – it hangs in the shed above my ride-on mower to remind me how lucky I am.”

Millionaires across the UK

Since the first draw on 19 November 1994, The National Lottery has created more than 7,400 millionaires and paid out more than £95 billion in prizes. It’s not just the lives of individuals that have changed, a massive £49 billion has been raised helping support thousands of projects and charities, transforming communities across the UK.

The 7,400 lucky millionaires are located in villages, towns and cities in every corner of the UK. The large population across the South East of England has broken the four-figure barrier and now boasts 1,071 National Lottery millionaires. This is followed by 886 in London and 878 in the North West of England. Scotland has seen a stunning 692 new millionaires made across the last 30 years, Wales 408 and Northern Ireland 195.

Kathy Garrett, Winners’ Advisor at Allwyn, operators of The National Lottery, who has herself paid over a billion

pounds in prizes to lucky players over the years, said, “The National Lottery has been changing lives, helping communities and supporting charities for 30 years. On average seven millionaires are created every week across our games and these lovely winners are just a tiny fraction of the lucky players who have won incredible sums of money over the years.”

- Ends-

Picture credits:

Photographer: Rankin

Front row left to right:

Hannah Hallsworth (sitting on white box)

Debbie Goolding (sitting on white box)

Geraldine Bradley (sitting on white box)

Celeste Coles (sitting on silver case)

James Evans (sitting on silver case)

Kate Donaghey (sitting on white box)

Jamie Heavens (sitting on white box)

Joanne Jobson (sitting on white box)

Sarah Cockings (sitting on silver case)

Middle row left to right:

Matt Myles (standing, in cream top)

Matt Evans (sitting on white stool)

Sylvia Odolant-Smith (standing, in red top)

Ben Lowther (standing, in black & white jacket)

Lesley Higgins (standing, in silver sequin dress)

Natalie Cunliffe (standing, in black shirt)

Anne Canavan (sitting, in black lace top)

Jonny Johnston (sitting on white chair)

Jodie Langston (standing, in red dress)

Ceri Roscoe Roberts (standing, in white outfit)

Donna Hendry (sitting on white box, in red outfit)

Neil Leighton (standing, in black sequin jacket)

Back row left to right:

Julie Jeffery (standing, in silver top)

Brian Sharp (standing, in black top)

Viv Moss (standing, in red top)

Gareth Bull (standing, in white top)

Ray Wragg (standing, in white shirt & black blazer)

Jackie King (standing, in white top)

Dean Allen (standing, in white t-shirt & black jacket)

Elaine Thompson (standing, in black top)

Peter Congdon (standing, in black shirt)

Full regional breakdown of millionaires available at https://www.national-lottery.co.uk/life-changing/winner-millionaire-map (TO BE UPDATED on 14th November 2024)

Full nation and region results:

Nation/Region No. of National Lottery millionaires since 1994

Scotland 692

Wales 408

Northern Ireland 195

East of England 691

East Midlands 389

London 886

North West 878

North East 352

South East 1071

South West 572

West Midlands 622

Yorks & Humberside 681

‘A full table of The National Lottery 30th Birthday line-up can be seen here: (https://shorturl.at/vzHNj )’

For further press information please contact:

Allwyn Press Office: 020 7632 5711

• Allwyn is the licensed operator of The National Lottery® and is committed to raising money for National Lottery-funded projects designated by Parliament. Allwyn is not responsible for distributing or awarding these funds.

• The National Lottery generates, on average, more than £30 million each week for National Lottery-funded projects. In total, over £49 billion has now been raised and more than 690,000 individual grants have been made across the UK. With hundreds of lottery grants in every postcode district, most people will have benefited from a National Lottery-funded project at some point.

• The National Lottery has awarded over £95 billion in prizes and created more than 7,400 millionaires since its launch in 1994.

• For further information on Allwyn, The National Lottery and its games, please visit: www.allwyn.co.uk and www.national-lottery.co.uk

• Players of all National Lottery games must be aged 18 or over.

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