A £1million lottery winner has credited his late father for his success after selecting his birthday and date of death as the lucky numbers.
Darren McGuire, 46, from Bolton, discovered his incredible win just before heading off on a family holiday to Cornwall. He admits the rest of the week was 'basically just a blur'.
The gas engineer said: '[Dad's] date of birth (22.03.48) and the date of his passing (21.09.11) made us millionaires – thank you Dad.'
He added that the life-changing windfall was also foreshadowed by two roses in their garden that had suddenly bloomed that morning - after four years of doing nothing.
'The very morning of the draw, two rose bushes in our garden that have done absolutely nothing for over four years, suddenly bloomed to produce a perfect red rose.
