Elaine Thompson, who won £2.7 million on the National Lottery in December 1995 with her husband Derek, continued working night shifts at Marks & Spencer until her recent retirement. In a YouTube interview with Powerball winner Timothy Schultz, she explained why she kept the job.
Why she kept working
Elaine, from Newcastle, said she loved to work and couldn't stay at home for long periods. She told Schultz: “I love to work. I can’t be in the house 10 hours, 12 hours a day. It drives me insane. I mean, I’m nearly 70 now, so I had to retire. There has to be a time when you’ve got to stop. But I still miss work. And I worked for 50 years. I’d go back if I could.”
When asked if the win changed her, Elaine said: “It hasn’t changed me at all. I’ll not change for anybody. So no, I wouldn’t change for anything.”
Life after the win
Elaine and Derek, who have been together for almost 50 years, used their winnings to help their children through university and onto the housing ladder. Elaine said: “The major thing is my children have gone through university. They’re all on the housing, they’ve all got houses. They are happy, they’ve got children, I’ve got grandchildren. It’s just, we’ve had an extraordinary life.”
She also turned a two-star B&B in Lyme Regis, Dorset, into a five-star one within six months, and later bought a restaurant. The couple eventually moved back to the north east, where Elaine took the M&S job she loved.
Advice for future winners
Elaine advised lottery winners to take time before making decisions: “If you do win, the decisions you make on the day are completely different to weeks down the line. So we always say, take at least a month before you make any decisions on what you’re going to do, where you’re gonna go, whatever.”
Her life philosophy, she said, is: “You go to bed with a smile, you get up with a smile, whatever happens through the day happens, you can’t change that.”
