Fergus Frater told everyone he had won the Euro lottery jackpot. His son was so pleased, believing that his dad would cut him in on a share of the winnings, that he quit his job. Frater's sister also looked forward to getting some of the money. But then
the REAL winner of the lottery stepped forward with the winning ticket, and Fergus promptly did a runner, skipping town to avoid the wrath of his relatives.
Pretending to win the lottery is, of course, not a new hoax. Our own Cranky Media Guy has done it before. But what I find odd is that Fergus made his own family the primary victims of the hoax. His son said:
"I could kill him ... but he's gone to ground and I've no idea where he is. He's never done anything like this before. We just can't work out what possessed him but he was telling everybody and the whole town thought he'd won. When I find him, we'll have words but at the end of the day he's my dad."
Fergus's friends are explaining it as a "prank that went too far."
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At one point, I was facing three TV cameras, one radio microphone and a newspaper guy taking notes on his pad (we were in a Denny's type place called the Village Inn in Lincoln).
The poor guy playing my son, Alan's daughter's boyfriend Jeff, looked terrified by all the press. I almost laughed at the look on his face.
Nothing like a good old-fashioned lottery hoax, although why Fergus Frater did it to his family I have no idea.