£22m lottery winner still works as a glazer 30 years later
A man who won a huge jackpot in the early days of the National Lottery still works as a glazer three decades later.
Mark Gardiner, 61, was only in his thirties when he scooped half of a £22.5 million prize back in 1995. It was then a record sum - but turns out it wasn't a life-changing one.
While his business partner and co-winner Paul Maddison quit their glazing company soon after and moved to Scotland for a quiet life, Mark decided to carry on running the firm in Hastings - despite being £11 million richer. He is still seen driving his Croft Glass van around the area today, and insists he loves the job.
While Paul left to live a quiet life in Scotland after the win, Mark carried on working (ExpressStar)Explaining his decision to stick with it, he told the Mail Online: "Whether it was nervousness or fear of the unknown, I thought, 'I’m going to keep working'. There was no lightning bolt. It was more a case of clinging on to what I knew. It was my safety rail and I thought I would take time to decide when I was going to let it go." He said he didn't know if it would be weeks or months before he gave it up - and has found himself still leading the firm 30 years on. His comfortable financial circumstances however mean that he is rarely worrying about paying his staff, and is able to take days off.
His love life has meanwhile had plenty of ups and downs, and he is now on his fifth marriage - though he has only had four different wives, as he has now decided to tie the knot again with his childhood sweetheart, Bridget, who was also his first wife. The couple said they were reunited after Mark's firm was called out to do work on her windows, with neither of them being aware beforehand that they would meet.
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Lottery winner Mark in June 2005 (Daily Mirror)Mark has an 18-year-old son with Bridget, and children from previous marriages. He admits that given the chance to live his life again since the win, he probably would've chosen to invest in property rather than simply stick with trades - but still hopes one day to compete on I’m A Celebrity: Get Me Out of Here!
Once a pair of close friends, he lost touch many years ago with former business partner and co-winner Paul Maddison, who died aged 73 last November. Paul chose a different path to his own, reportedly becoming a Jehovah's Witness and moving to a six-bed mansion with a 40-acre estate in Perth, Scotland. He became fiercely protective of his privacy, and installed security cameras, remote-controlled gates and an intercom to vet visitors at the gates. Paul was rarely seen emerging from the estate, and was not thought to have many guests.
Recalling on how he and Paul went their separate ways, Mr Gardiner said shortly after his death: "When we won the lottery he decided to retire. He's a bit older than me and he felt he'd done enough for Queen and country and wanted to try something different. He moved up to Scotland to be near his sister and we lost touch but I still had a fondness for him as he was a good guy."
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