What did Britain's biggest EuroMillions winners spend their money on?
A single Briton could scoop the biggest National Lottery win in UK history if they hold the winning numbers for tonight's EuroMillions draw.
An estimated £172m jackpot could potentially be won by a single ticket holder.
Senior winners' adviser at the National Lottery, Camelot's Andy Carter, said: "Friday's exciting EuroMillions jackpot is an estimated £172 million.
"If one UK winner banks the entire sum, they would instantly become Britain's biggest ever National Lottery winner."
A sole jackpot win would eclipse the UK's current record prize of £170,221,000, which was won by an anonymous player in a EuroMillions draw on 8 October 2019. But while some winners decide to avoid publicity, others are happy to share the news.
So who are Britain's biggest known lottery winners so far, and where are they now?
Colin and Chris Weir: £161,653,00 (2011)
Colin, a former TV cameraman, and Christine, a former psychiatric nurse, scooped £161m on the EuroMillions in 2011.
The couple set up The Weir Charitable Trust in 2013 and Mr Weir completed a takeover of Scottish football club Partick Thistle, purchasing a majority shareholding in November 2019.
The club named a part of their stadium after Mr Weir, and he pledged to gift his ownership back to the fans.
The Weirs also made a donation of £1 million to the Scottish National Party independence campaign ahead of the 2014 referendum.
However the pair divorced in 2019 after more than 30 years together. The split was said to be amicable.
Sadly, Colin Weir passed away in December 2019, aged 71, after suffering a short illness. Partick Thistle players wore black armbands after his death and club fans gathered outside the stadium for his funeral.
Adrian and Gillian Bayford: £148,656,000 (2012)
Former postman Adrian Bayford and now ex-wife Gillian won £148,656,000 in August 2012. The couple celebrated their lottery win by eating takeaway pizza, but split up soon after moving into a huge home that set them back more than £6 million.
Bayford spent a reported £2m upgrading the estate, which includes stables, a gym, a swimming pool, a cinema, a billiards room, a bar and seven bedrooms but sold it in 2020 having split from Gillian just 15 months after their win.
He then dated Polish sausage factory worker Marta Jarosz; was engaged to stable girl Sam Burbidge; and had a relationship with waitress Lisa Kemp, but none of the relationships lasted.
Millionaire Bayford put the house, in Linton, Cambridgeshire, on the market because it reportedly reminded him of the bad luck he suffered since his jackpot win.
In April this year, ex-wife Gillian revealed she had become a mum again aged 48 and was overjoyed at the birth of her daughter, Emilie, with her property developer husband Brian Deans, 40.
Frances and Patrick Connolly: £114,969,775 (2019)
The Connolly couple won almost £115,000,000 in the New Year's Day draw in 2019.
The pair – parents to three daughters and grandparents to three grandchildren – made a list of 50 people with whom they decided to share their good fortune. The first thing they did was buy Mrs Connelly's sister her childhood home to prevent her having to sell it and move out.
Watch: 'I think we've won': Couple scoop jackpot
During lockdown, Frances and husband Patrick extended their generosity to around £60 million to loved ones, charity and those in need during the coronavirus pandemic, in what the National Lottery operator said is one the biggest ever giveaways.
The couple, from Moira in County Down, bought the ticket online after forgetting to do so during a shop trip earlier in the day.
Neil Trotter - £107,932,603.20 (2014)
Just like his Only Fools and Horses namesake - Delboy Trotter - the mechanic from Coulsdon was so confident of winning he told colleagues after buying a ticket that “ this time tomorrow” he would be a millionaire.
He told them: “I’m going to win the EuroMillions and going to retire.”
He used his winnings to buy a Grade II-listed mansion with its own lake and 400 acres of land. However, in 2019 Trotter revealed it had been a "struggle" adjusting to the life his prize gave him .
He told the BBC: "It's taken me probably five years to get my life to where I want it.
"It's been a bit of a struggle, adjusting to having so much money but this is the dream, it was my dream to buy a big house with some land and a lake.
"I've always worked all my life so going from having to work to not having to work anymore was quite a strange thing to adjust to and I soon found out sitting at home watching telly all day was going to be quite boring."
Dave and Angela Dawes: £101,203,600.70 (2011)
Food company supervisor Dave Dawes and wife Angela - a volunteer for the British Heart Foundation - hit the EuroMillions jackpot in October 2011.
It was only the third time the couple, from Cambridgeshire, had played the lottery.
The couple quickly splashed out on a £4.5m flat in Fulham, near to Mr Dawes' beloved Chelsea FC.
They later bought a luxury countryside mansion in East Sussex, purchasing the rural former £4m home of Tom Jones, where the singer lived in the 1960s.
They gave £1million each to 20 close friends and relatives and also set up a charity - but their win also ended up in the courts in 2017 when Mr Dawes' son Michael, then 32, took action against his father after being cut out of his will.
Then in April 2019 the couple were bound up with cable ties and hit during a robbery on their luxury mansion.
Robbers made off with approximately £20,000 in cash as well as jewellery and a Range Rover - which was found burnt out nearby.
Three men were arrested following the burglary but were released without charge and police said the case had been dropped due to a lack of evidence.
