National Lottery The English attitude to money is strange. It is 1974. In America, a factory worker looks at the boss's expensive new chauffeur-driven car. He dreams of the day when he, too, will have his own chauffeur. In England, a factory worker looks at his boss's expensive new chauffeur-driven car. He dreams of the day when the boss will get sacked and have to cycle instead. But in the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher told us that money was good. It became more socially acceptable to work hard and be rich. Then, in November 1994, the National Lottery started. Suddenly, it became socially acceptable to be rich without doing any work at all. In fact, in some weeks the Lottery has been won by car thieves, cheats and layabouts - on one occasion, even by a Frenchman - and nobody seems to mind. Until 1994 the only way of getting rich instantly was by doing the Football Pools. By predicting correctly which soccer matches end in a draw, you can earn millions. But doing the pools is complicated and takes time. The National Lottery is very simple and open to anyone. You buy a ticket for £1 and pick six numbers from 1 to 49. Each Wednesday and Saturday, a computer picks six numbers. If you have three matching, you win £10. If you have all six numbers matching, you win a share of the 'jackpot' - usually over £10 million. Every week, two-thirds of the adult population of Britain spends on average £2.40 on lottery tickets. Why? Because it is a subject to talk about. Before 1994, we all talked about the weather. In Britain the weather is quite unpredictable every week, and we developed a liking for random events. But now we can talk about the lottery, another random event which is much more interesting. So forget all those English phrases about the weather you learned at school. Nobody is much interested in the weather any more. Instead, talk about the lottery. Here are the sort of things you should say: 1. How to be generous for free Suppose your friend mentions that their house needs a new roof, but they can't afford it. You simply say: 'When I win the lottery, I'll buy you a new one!'. Of course, you know, and your friend knows, that you will never win. You only have a 1 in 14 million of winning a share in the jackpot. Even your chances of winning £10, which would only buy one roof tile, are less than 1 in 50. But they will be happy, and you don't have to pay anything. At every dinner party, every pub, every coffee morning, there is at least one conversation about what each person will do when they win the lottery. Everyone is so generous in Britain. So long as it costs nothing. 2. Choose your numbers carefully We are superstitious about numbers, but not always the same ones. 13 is supposed to be unlucky, but if we won £13 million, we would not think this a bad omen. In fact, we each have our own lucky and unlucky numbers. The easiest way to pick six lottery numbers is to ask for 'Lucky Dip', where the ticket dispenser prints out your ticket with six random numbers already selected. But most people choose their own numbers, and over half keep the same ones every week. Your own numbers are no more likely to win, but are more fun. You must have highly detailed reasons for your numbers. So tell a good story behind your numbers. Say something like, 'I always pick 3, because my next-door neighbour has three cats, 8 because my local pub is called the Eight Bells, 16 because I once came 16th in school sports day, 34 because it's my birthday,' and so on. 3. Rich is miserable! We know we will never win ourselves. So we tell ourselves that winning money is not good luck, but a curse. Suppose your friend tells you about a person in the newspaper who has won £5 million. Correct things to say are: 'That's far too much! It will destroy their life.' 'All their poor friends will hate them now. And their new, rich friends will hate them, because they didn't earn it like their rich friends did.' 'The newspapers will chase them until they die. They'll become recluses.' 'Their children will grow up spoilt.' And so on. None of this is true; surveys show that lottery winners are happy people with swimming pools and lots of friends. And if we really though money was misery, we wouldn't buy lottery tickets. But saying all this makes us feel better. 4. Charity From each £1 ticket, 50p goes in prize money, 12p to the government, and 28p to charity. This makes us feel generous every time we buy a ticket. We are not gambling. We are giving money to the poor and needy. For example, opera houses who cannot afford the star tenor's fees. 5. Cross your fingers It is easy to buy a lottery ticket. Simply look for a newsagent's with the lottery symbol - a blue hand with a smile on the palm, and the first and second fingers crossed. This is the traditional gesture to ensure good luck. For example, you can say, 'I hope you pass your driving test. I'll keep my fingers crossed.' But there is another meaning to the gesture. If a child has a hand behind its back with the fingers crossed, it does not mean good luck. It means they are telling a lie.

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