What A Win! Famous Instant Millionaires

Fingers crossed - it can happen!

She was only 18 when Ianthe Fullagar from Ravenglass, Cumbria, spent £2 on a EuroMillions lottery ticket in September 2008. Her numbers came in, and she won a share of a huge £102 million, which was split between 15 people (only £7 million each then!). While being interviewed for TV, Ianthe said: "Me and my mum were both screaming so loudly that my dog, Brock, didn't know what was happening and bit me on the bottom".

But perhaps the most famous instant millionaire of recent times is Londoner Judith Keppel, a distant relative of Camilla Parker Bowles, who was 58 when she became the first person to win £1 million on hit TV show Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? in 2001.

After picking up the huge check (and a kiss on the cheek) from Chris Tarrant, Ms Keppel remained very calm and celebrated with a glass of Coca Cola. How she remained so restrained is a mystery - we'd waste no time in popping open the champagne if a million pounds suddenly appeared in our accounts!

Danny Boyle, director of 28 Days Later and Trainspotting, obviously thought becoming an instant millionaire would make a good plotline. His hotly anticipated new film Slumdog Millionaire is about a teenager who scoops the top prize on the Indian version of the show. It stars Skins star and new acting talent Dev Patel, and it's out on January 9th. Fingers crossed one day we'll be the ones sleeping on pillows stuffed with £50 notes!