£71m lottery winner: I’ll spend my fortune on wine and women ...and waste the rest
£71million Lotto winner insists he won’t fall for gold-diggers
BRITAIN’S newest eligible bachelor has joked he will spend his £71million EuroMillions jackpot on wine and women, and “waste the rest”.
Twice-divorced Ade Goodchild, 58, said he has no plans to settle down but warned potential golddiggers he is no soft touch.
The former metal factory worker said: “Anybody who I think I couldn’t have pulled before has got no chance, because I haven’t suddenly become more attractive overnight – just my wallet has. “I do like tall redheads, mind.” Ade sounded like football legend George Best as he joked while quaffing champagne: “I’ll spend my money on wine and women, and waste the rest.” But after two failed marriages he insisted “love would have to come find me”.
Sports-mad Ade, whose family is originally from South Wales, revealed he celebrated finding out about his win on Saturday by watching Wales win the rugby union Grand Slam with his dad.
He said: “We had slightly fancier beer, nice Italian beer, sent out for pizza and had some spicy wings – the sort of things millionaires do every Saturday.”
He now wants a new house with a hot tub, “a few staff ” and dream holidays to places such as the Grand Canyon and the pyramids.
He said: “I’m not a gardener but I’d like a bit of space for the dogs and a nice spot for my hammock on sunny days, so it would be good to have someone to take care of the view for me. I think I could also get used to a driver and even my own cook.”
Ade bought the winning ticket at a Co-op in Hereford, where staff said he was a “genuinely nice, lovely guy”.
He went public about the jackpot at a four-star hotel in Great Malvern, Worcs, yesterday. He said: “I’m not one of these winners who is going to say ‘this win won’t change me’.
“It b **** y well will, or at least I’ll give it a damn good go.”
Ade revealed that his first priority is to go looking at new houses with his parents. He said: “Like all parents, they worry about my mortgage, bills and how long I will have to work for. I’ve told my parents they can stop saving now and spend my inheritance.”
Ade said he plans to help his extended family financially, too, after having to keep the win a secret from them at a pub family gathering in Abergavenny on Sunday.
He said: “I didn’t want to spoil our day. Most of them know now though.
I am going to enjoy sitting down and chatting about how I might be able to help them.”
Cousin Michelle Lintern, Co-op store &, right, feeling bubbly
57, of Caerphilly, said the relatives would happily help only child Ade avoid gold-diggers. She said: “He’s a bit vulnerable with all that money but we are all very protective of him. We are all about the same age and very close.”
Last night Ade’s first wife Catherine Berkeley said she wished him well... and did not want a penny of his winnings. She said: “I could not be more pleased. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer man.”
She said they met in the pubs of Hereford when she was just 19 and married in 1980, before divorcing in 1987. She added: “We were so young when we got together – it feels like a different lifetime.” Ade said he divorced from his second wife Susannah only two years ago. The pair, who were married for 23 years, have stayed friends and she still walks his labradoodles Taz and Mutley.
He said: “I called to say I’d won £71million on the lottery but she didn’t believe me. She knows I’m a leg puller. We are still in touch and there’s no bitterness.”
But he declined to reveal whether his ex would get a cut of his winnings although close pals revealed it is more than likely he will share some of his fortune with her.
However, Susannah’s parents, Malcolm and Lesley Smith, said she had told them she didn’t want a penny of his winnings and he could keep the lot.
Mrs Smith, 76, reportedly said Susannah now works 14-hour days doing two jobs.
She claimed: “Poor Susannah had been unhappy for years. She said he had let himself go, become very selfcentred. She put up with it for as long as she could but she’d had enough.
“He wouldn’t do anything around the house or garden, or even walk their two labradoodle dogs. Even after they split up, she had to go back to the house every day to walk them.”
Ade admitted he was not perfect but said: “What man of my age hasn’t made mistakes?
“I have regrets but I hope haven’t hurt or upset anyone.”
He added: “I’m certainly not a stupid man but I have done stupid things. I think now I have learned from them and just put them all behind me.”
A DAD who was “too skint” to go to the pub for some weekend drinks with friends scooped £3.8million on the lottery on Saturday, Camelot said.
I’m not saying ‘it won’t change me’. It b **** y well will, or I will give it a damn good go ADE GOODCHILD CELEBRATES WINNING BRITAIN’S 15TH BIGGEST LOTTO JACKPOT