Lottery winner dies at 46

But less than 12 years later, York man Ken Southwell has died, a brain tumour claiming his life at the tragically early age of 46.

His sister organised a farewell party for the father-of-three at a York pub.

Winner who kept feet on ground

THE "York lad born and bred" who shot to fame when he won Britain's first National Lottery draw has died at the age of only 46.

Popular Ken Southwell hit the headlines when he matched all six numbers in the inaugural draw in 1994, sharing a £5.8 million jackpot with six other winners.

He scooped more than £800,000, but always remained down-to-earth, and continued to live in the city he loved.

In 1996 he married Julie Haskins, the girlfriend with whom he had celebrated his lottery win.

Mr Southwell waged a long and courageous battle with ill health, but on Thursday last week he died at the home of his sister, Christine, in Holgate, York.

Julie and Christine were too distressed to talk about their loss.

Mr Southwell is also survived by his three children, Danny, Ellie and Jordan.

Mr Southwell was a former policeman, who as a satellite and cable installer had helped set up the network for the National Lottery.

He became an overnight celebrity when he won £839,254 on the first night of the draw on November 19, 1994.

He had bought his winning ticket at the Jackson's store in Fulford five days earlier, while picking up some groceries.

Then living in Copmanthorpe, Mr Southwell told The Press he had bought his ticket "as a memento" of the first draw, but his life changed forever when he turned out to have picked all six winning numbers.

He heard he had won while having a shower at his girlfriend Julie's house in Copmanthorpe.

Shortly after his win, Mr Southwell splashed out on a classic Porsche and a Range Rover, but he invested much of his winnings in property and on securing his family's future.

He quit his job with Knaresborough-based Tele Aerials Satellite shortly after his win, before setting up his own engineering firm in 1997.

He then jointly took over Mowbray York Ltd, running a caf and ice-cream bar in Stonegate.

The firm also ran the Bay Horse pub in Gillygate, and the Woodman pub in Bishopthorpe.

Away from work, Mr Southwell had been a keen musician. A trombone player, he had been a member of two bands: Jump The Gap and The Goosehorns.

A collection at Mr Southwell's funeral will be shared between brain tumour charity the Samantha Dickson Research Trust, and the Royal National Institute of the Blind.

'The daftest thing about it was these hordes of press round York looking for me, when me and a mate were sitting in the King's Arms'

HE spent six months installing machines for the National Lottery, never dreaming the first-ever draw would bring him fame and riches.

Ken Southwell told the story behind his big win in an interview with The Press in 1997, when he also recalled his overnight conversion to celebrity status.

He said: "I had spent the past six months of my life fitting lottery machines, sorting out the satellite links.

"It became so, sort of, everyday, that we had missed out on how monumental this launch was going to be. We missed out on lottery fever.

"We had run out of tea or something, and I went to Jackson's and the man in front of me was buying a ticket. I had never seen a machine working and thought I may as well get a ticket as a memento.

"When I handed it in, I only had five numbers on it. I quickly had to scribble another number on, and that was that."

That scribbled ticket quickly changed Mr Southwell's life, when his numbers - 3, 5, 14, 22, 30 and 44 - were drawn as the first winning line.

Mr Southwell was in the shower when his girlfriend, Julie, whom he later married, called him to say he had won. The couple had been due to meet friends at the Royal Oak pub in Copmanthorpe. Mr Southwell said: "I rang a mate and said we were going to be a bit late because we had won the lottery, and he said: 'So have I; **** off'!

"When I finally got to the pub I was holding this ticket and wondering how much it was going to be. I hoped it was going to get to £25,000, and we ended up watching the updates on Ceefax.

"It was a splendid celebration, but the following morning I had to do a job for a mate on his roof and it was chucking it down. I wanted a beer, but there would have been no point going back to the Royal Oak in Copmanthorpe, because there would have been nothing left to drink."

As news of a York winner spread, the national press descended on the city.

Mr Southwell said: "It was when the representatives of Camelot tracked me down that I realised a lot of people wanted to know. One of the nationals had even put a reward on my head.

"The daftest thing about it was these hordes of press round York looking for me, when me and a mate were sitting in the King's Arms."

Mr Southwell acknowledged the win had changed him, but not enough to make him turn his back on the city and people that mattered to him.

"My friends are all here and I love this city," he said. "I'm a York lad born and bred."

He once told The Press the win had not made him any happier - he had been happy before his numbers came up, and happy afterwards.

Mr Southwell was reluctant to be typecast as the man who won the lottery, saying: "It is sad that I got fame for something that has not benefited anybody else but us."

But he acknowledged the win had altered his life. He said: "I was 35 when I won it, and the next thing for me at work would have been management, which I did not want, so I would probably have stayed on a similar salary and a more hands-on job.

"I saw a panel of financial advisers. I had more or less decided what I would like to do with the money, but they fine-tuned it. I was no finance man - before the win I worked, I got paid and I spent it, not necessarily in that order.

"It was the biggest gamble if you consider that first £1 a gamble. And I have a general criticism of the lottery in that I still can't believe that three numbers is a tenner and six is a zillion quid.

"Now I'm a fairly successful businessman and am maintaining everything I have built up over the last three years.

"I don't want to be known as Kenny Southwell the lottery winner - I want to be known as Kenny Southwell the businessman."

Sister organised emotional farewell

AN emotional party was held for friends and relatives to say their goodbyes, six months before Ken Southwell died.

As he battled against his long illness, people he knew turned out at a special event at his local pub, the Ship Inn in Acaster Malbis.

Landlord Richard Dearlove, 43, said: "Just before Christmas his sister organised a party at the pub as a farewell party, while he was still able to appreciate it, and all his friends turned up, and it was a good night with a big turnout."

Recalling the lottery win, Mr Dearlove said: "It was very exciting. It went like a little whirlwind. On that night, we were in the Ship Inn and it went round on the grapevine that Ken Southwell had won."

But despite the inevitable fame, Mr Dearlove said Mr Southwell remained the same as before.

He said: "I can honestly say it never changed him whatsoever.

"He had a wicked sense of humour and kept that right to the end.

"The night we put on at the Ship Inn - his sense of humour was there right to the end. I felt very sorry for him as he was sat there and people were going up to him."

Doug Abernethy, 59, of Copmanthorpe, was in the Royal Oak in the village the night Mr Southwell won.

Last night he said: "I knew Ken when he won the lottery. Bass owned the pub then and they gave him a keg of lager to drink at his own volition.

"I always remember the night he won it, because he had to borrow a tenner from his mates to buy a round of drinks.

"But he was a great guy, Ken. He had to borrow a tenner from his mate, and he paid for his mate's wedding in the Caribbean because of that. He was a very nice guy."

He added: "He was really well liked around the village and he will be sadly missed by a lot of people.

"He still had a lot of friends here in the village, and in this pub."

Other big winners

KEN Southwell was the first York winner of the National Lottery, but he was by no means the last.

Other big winners from the city and the surrounding area included:

May 1997: Grandparents Cynthia and Basil Taylor scoop £3.2 million, after buying a last-gasp ticket at Pybus newsagents in Boroughbridge.

October 1997: A 13-member syndicate from the 10 O'Clock Shop in Poppleton Road win £167,000 each.

August 1998: York nursery nurse Debbie Sawyer wins £44,000 on her wedding day.

December 2001: A three-man syndicate at the Groves Working Men's Club in York wins £76,000.

March 2002: Sherburn-in-Elmet couple Colin and Jackie Darbyshire win £1.5 million.

December 2003: Husband and wife Alex and John Dyer, stewards at Knaresborough Working Men's Club, win almost £6 million in a Lotto Extra Draw.

March 2004: Nine workers at Europower Hydraulics in Market Weighton share more than £7 million in a double rollover draw.

April 2005: York grandmother Diane Downing scoops £3.96 million.

June 2005: An 11-member syndicate from the Tesco store in Driffield, East Yorkshire, win a whopping £18 million.

September 2005: A syndicate of six in Cawood, near Selby, wins £320,000.

November 2005: Musician Roger Griffiths, from Boston Spa, near Tadcaster, wins £1.83 million.

Updated: 09:54 Monday, May 22, 2006