Much merriment here in the newsroom this week after the news that retired Ipswich couple Richard and Cathy Brown scooped £6million on the lottery.

The couple, who love sailing, are well known to us here having worked at the newspaper for many years, and, of course, their good fortune sparked a newsroom-wide discussion on how each of us would spend that sort of cash.

Most of us decided on the obvious things such as cars, travel and a new house, my thoughts immediately turned to a chauffeur to go with my blue Maserati, a never-ending supply of gin and a lick of paint for my front room.

I’m not so sure that I would go public with such a windfall despite my liking for a modicum of fame on the Felixstowe peninsula where I have a small flat with sea views (distant).

When I expounded this view one colleague asked how I would keep it secret from my friends – I resisted the temptation to reply that it would be unlikely I would see anyone I worked with ever again but it got me thinking.

Could you hide such a boost to your bank balance? I reckon I could.

You can’t always tell when someone is rich – they sometimes even do their own shopping.

And giving up work and buying a new car can easily be put down to going on benefits.

And I can always feign a small bequest from a non-existent rich relation when I buy a helicopter and hire a cook.

Perhaps the big question is would you give anything to charity? Lottery winners usually seem to but I’m still in my 30s – I might need that money when my non-existent state pension comes through and who knows how much healthcare will cost when the NHS finally calls it a day. And if rising food and petrol prices are anything to go by we’ll all need to be millionaires to survive at all into old age.

Unfortunately it is all probably somewhat academic because, as my colleague Paul Geater pointed out, the chances of any of us in the newsroom winning are statistically much-reduced as we all now know someone who has won the lottery.

I’m hoping that lighting might strike twice.