'I blew the lot'
reading in English£5.5m lottery winner flees Spain penniless as bank seizes villa and bar
By Daily Mail Reporter from dailymail.co.uk
When Lawrence Candlish won £5.5million on the National Lottery in 1997 it promised to make his dreams come true, including buying himself the double hip replacement he needed.
The generous factory worker immediately shared his fortune with his many relatives, splashing out £370,000 to buy seven houses in the same street in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear so that they could be close together.
Eventually he moved with his family to Benidorm on Spain's Costa Blanca to make a new life.
Unlucky: Lawrence Candlish who won £5.5 million on the Lottery and moved to Spain is reported to be back home in England, broke
But now the 36-year-old Newcastle United fan is back in England and admits he has 'blown the lot.'
The penniless Geordie's Spanish villa has been seized by the bank and he has abandoned his Irish-themed pub.
His sister has also lost her Spanish home and his mother's may follow. It is reported that Lawrence, 36, was so broke he had to borrow his taxi fare to the airport.
Away: Benidorm, in the Spanish Region of Valencia, where Lawrence Candlish made his home
Since the hard-drinking Geordie's's win, which put him at 61 on the Sunday Times rich list, fortune has not been kind to him.
His best friend died, and in 2000 he and his family fled Tyneside after thugs torched his house and his sister's car.
Then, in 2009, his beloved father was found hanged in the home his son bought him.
Before Lawrence returned home from Spain, he told friends on Facebook: 'I won the lottery 13 years ago and blew the lot so I have plenty of stories to tell.'
He added, worryingy, 'Mite have 6 grams of coke so I can chew me ear off watching Emmerdale.'
Lawrence's story echoes that of former binman Michael Carroll who turned up to collect his £9.7million win wearing an electronic offender's tag.
Nine years on, the self-styled King of Chavs, is back to where he started - on the dole after squandering his fortune on drugs, gambling and thousands of prostitutes.
Loser: Lottery winner Michael Carroll blew £9.7million jackpot
But last year he insisted he is just as happy getting £42 a week in jobseeker's allowance.
Carroll said: 'The party has ended and it's back to reality. I haven't got two pennies to rub together and that's the way I like it. I find it easier to live off £42 dole than a million."
'It's a bit strange going on the dole again because that's what I was doing before I won.
Home: Tyne Bridge at Gateshead, which Lawrence fled after his house was torched
Vocabulary:
lot - куш, выигравший лотер. билет
(fled, fled) - ; ;
to seize – конфисковать
splash out – кутить
to blow -
a thug – бандит
to torch – поджечь
chew one's ear off - ; ;
Emmerdale, known as Emmerdale Farm until 1989, is a popular and critically acclaimed long-running British that has been broadcast on since 1972. It is set in the fictional village of Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994) in , England
а binman – мусорщик
electronic offender's tag – электрон. метка (по ней полиция отслеживает местонахождение преступников, выпущенных на условии пребывания в пределах опр-ой территории, не выходя за нее)
a chav – гопник, молодой представитель раб. класса
be on the dole – получать пособие по безработице
to squander – промотать, безрассудно тратить
live off – жить за счет чего-то
not have two pennies to rub together (British, American & Australian) also not have two nickels to rub together (American) - to be very poor. Example: She's been out of work for months and doesn't have two pennies to rub together.
