I won £15m on lotto after Mystic Meg told me to do something very specific with my ticket – she changed my life forever
LORRY driver Tom Naylor and his wife Rita will never forget Mystic Meg – because she made them multi-millionaires.
The couple owe their good luck to The Sun’s legendary astrologer after her prediction for Tom’s sign Gemini helped them to a £15million lottery win.
Back in 2001, it was the contest’s sixth biggest jackpot, and it changed the couple’s life for ever.
When news broke yesterday that Meg had died age 80, Tom said: “We’re so sad. She was wonderful.
“We still read Mystic Meg’s stars in The Sun every day and we’re proof that her predictions come true.”
Tom, 67, bagged the jackpot after reading Meg’s horoscope column during a tea break in his 16-ton lorry.
She advised Geminis: “Keep a lottery ticket in a yellow mug to add luck.”
After Tom won, Meg said: “Yellow is a Gemini colour and it was a very good day for Geminis because Mercury was very active.”
Tom says: “I always followed Meg’s advice. I didn’t have a yellow mug in my cab but the pages of my map book were yellow, so I stuck my ticket in that instead.”
Nine hours later he was flabbergasted to see his Lottery Extra numbers 2, 6, 11, 12, 13 and 24 come up as he and Rita checked the result on TV. Tom’s win was so large because the draw had rolled over 20 times.
Rita, 65, who worked at a leather factory, said: “It’s something you have always dreamed of but you thought could never happen to you.”
Tom used to get up at 4am to start work at 5am and would clock off 12 hours later. But the monster win meant he could quit his job at a haulage firm in West Bromwich, West Mids, where he had worked for eight years.
Back then, he was earning about £1,000 a month — whereas after their win the couple were earning £1,000 a DAY in interest on their prize pot.
Tom says: “Since then we’ve been able to buy all the things and do everything we always dreamed of.”
He and a pal picked the Lottery numbers in a pub, basing them on their birthdays and house numbers.
Tom bought the winning ticket at Frankley Service Station in Birmingham, and was presented with his cheque by actress Joanna Lumley at a ceremony in London.
The couple have carried on playing the Lottery, and still always follow Meg’s tips.
Tom says: “I’ve been playing since the very first draw in November 1994. From the very first time I played I knew I was going to win. I still play the same numbers. Because mine were all low numbers, I expected more than one winner, but that night we got the lot.
“I was actually watching Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and when that finished I got the ticket and turned on Teletext.
“The first thing that came up was the Lotto Extra numbers and I had the ticket in my hand. I was looking at the telly and looking at the ticket and back at the telly.”
‘Tears of joy’
Tom, whose birthday is June 2, remembers: “My eyes glazed over in total disbelief.
“I asked Rita to read the numbers again off the telly. I said, ‘I don’t believe it’.
“She burst into tears. She’s been in tears of joy ever since. We always say thank you to Meg and The Sun.”
Tom and Rita’s win meant they could swap their £50,000 three-bed semi in Wednesbury, West Mids, for a £500,000 barn conversion in Wheaton Aston, Staffs.
Their new home came with stables, which Tom converted into garages to house his seven new luxury cars — one for every day of the week.
Tom, who used to own a 20-year-old Ford Granada, has spent more than £750,000 on high-end motors, including a Rolls, Jaguars and a Land Rover Discovery, which he calls the “shopping trolley”.
He recalls: “When I told Rita I wanted to buy a car for every day of the week, her first question was, ‘Why’?
“I had it all planned out. I would have a Land Rover for doing the shopping in, a luxury car like a Bentley or a Roller for special days out, and a convertible.”
The couple have been on luxury holidays to places such as Dubai, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York, which they bought at charity auctions where the money went to Childline and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. They have even taken part in the Bullrun — a seven-day, 3,000-mile race from Montreal to Florida, in which only the world’s top supercars can compete.
Tom says: “We were never blessed with children, and we wanted to help children who haven’t had a great life or are terminally ill.”
He adds: “Once I won, a calmness came over me because I knew I’d never be in debt again. Car salesmen love me, especially when I pay cash.
“We’ve had fun with our Lottery win and I will never regret it until the day I die.
“And we’ll always be grateful to wonderful Meg.”
Meg helped us win, too
More readers tell how Mystic Meg helped to bring them luck…
Our lucky day
A GROUP of Sun readers won the Lottery after Meg predicted it was their lucky day.
She foresaw that the winning ticket would be bought in Sunderland before the Saturday night draw – and our Super Syndicates game netted them a share of a giant £14.1million jackpot rollover in 1997.
The winners split £2.3million, immediately booking holidays, buying furniture and treating loved ones. Among them were market trader Brian Rainbow and his wife Elaine, who treated the five kids they have between them.
The couple have since split up but Brian, from Blackpool, still recalls Meg’s prediction with fondness.
He said: “It was such a shame to hear about her passing – she was such a lovely woman.
“We were really happy to win. It was over £3,000, which we spent on furniture and clothes and taking the kids to Great Yarmouth.”
Other winners included postie Steve Simmonds, of Northampton, who planned a Disney trip with his wife and daughters, and Allan Hogan, 21, of Romford, Essex, who wanted to lavish luxuries on his cancer-stricken mum Val.
Gobsmacked
WHEN Meg predicted on TV that a black dog with a white face was important for a Lottery prize, Val Denby joked to her family that they would win – thanks to their border collie Ben.
But she and husband Alan, a joiner, were gobsmacked when their numbers came up as part of a syndicate which landed a £552,000 prize.
Alan, then 50, said at the time: “Val was on the phone to our daughter Karen. When Meg mentioned a black dog with a white face, she said, ‘Oh, that’s us!’
“The dog was watching TV and looking expectant. When our numbers came out, I said, ‘Oh, we’ve won the Lottery’, and Val just screamed down the phone.
“We checked the numbers again, rang Camelot, and then tried to get hold of everyone else in the syndicate.’’
And because Val, from Hull, bet £2 a week compared to the other syndicate members’ £1, she received a £110,400 share, twice as much as the others.
Footie win
IN 2002 Sun reader John Billson won nearly £23,000 after Meg’s horoscope predicted a rich future for him.
When his wife Helen showed him Meg’s prediction that “luck is linked to football scores” he decided to put on an accumulator bet.
John, then 42, wagered £6.50 and was lucky enough to win £22,797.
Sadly, since his cash bonanza, John, of Market Harborough, Leics, has died.
Meg helped me clean up
WHEN cleaner Mary Jones won £9.3million in 2004, she credited Meg for her good fortune.
Mary, of Gwynedd, North Wales, said: “I read Mystic Meg in The Sun and it said, ‘Don’t forget to check your Lottery ticket’. I couldn’t believe it when I realised it had come true.”
Mary, then 62, and husband Robert, 77, swapped their old Volvo for a new one and bought cars for their daughter and three sons.
But she kept her other part-time job selling tickets, ices and popcorn at the local cinema.
SUN READERS PAY TRIBUTE TO MEG
READERS have flooded our online condolence book for Meg with touching messages.
Andrew McGrow wrote: “You were correct with so many predictions for myself. RIP lovely lady.”
Eduvijes Cavazos said: “She was my daily read for many, many, many years.”
Neil McKay wrote: “Reading Meg is the first thing I do to start my day.”
Terrie Salisbury said: “There was no one like you for all these years.”
And Julie Swain said: “I will never forget her.”
MEG always provided her predictions early to meet our production needs. We will continue to print her brilliant column in the coming days.