If British People Won the Lottery | Easy English 93

Hello, welcome to Easy English.

So today, I want to know what  the people of Brighton would do

if they found out they’d suddenly won the lottery.

Here we go.

What would you do you had just won the lottery?

I would immediately quit my job

and then would go to the  furthest place away from here

and travel my way back. - Wow.

Well what immediately comes to mind,

is buying a nice yacht in Monte  Carlo or somewhere like that.

A gin palace.

What would you do if you had just won the lottery?

Well, the difficulty is, I don't  actually buy the lottery ticket,

so that question is… can be philosophical.

In the sense; I don’t actually know  if I support the lottery. - Oh.

What would you do, if you just found  out you’d just won the lottery?

What would I do? - Yeah. - That  is such an interesting question,

because I'm sure everybody does that, you know?

Whether it's in the pub, or with your mates.

It’s like, if I won the lottery  erm… I would stop. - Stop?

I would just… I wouldn’t do  anything. - Oh like, in the moment.

I would just stop. And then,  you know, you always say;

I’m going to give up my job,  I'm gonna travel the world.

I think I would just pause and then wait. - Right.

And then, you know, (a) month, two months time,

think what I'm gonna do.

So tell me;

what would you do if you’d just  found out you’d won the lottery.

I think I’d probably panic.

I have a friend who once walked into a shop

where they were selling lottery tickets

and he shouted out to everybody;

''it's a tax on the stupid''.  And his view was that;

essentially your statistical chance

of winning the lottery are so small,

it's a ways of getting money from people

who have no understanding of statistics.

And I think the problem about  the lottery sometimes is that,

everyone aspires to having  lots of money overnight.

And, I think the problem is, a lot of people just,

would find the psychological adjustment;

having so much money, really  quite difficult and traumatic.

And I think there’s quite a lot of evidence

that people who win the lottery, really do panic.

And it causes such a massive  change to their lifestyle,

they just can’t adjust to it.

The er… I mean there’ll probably be like,

a series of things I would do.

Okay, yeah this is good.

But the first thing I would do  is… get some security, I think.

Okay. - You know? Hundre… I  mean, that’s a lot of money.

You don’t have to announce it though,

I think some people always can say…

you can stay anonymous if you win it.

Yeah but, I mean… I mean maybe  more as an abstract concept,

I think I would get some security.

And… and then I think the first thing I would do

is educate myself in terms of like,

how much money I would need to keep  myself safe and healthy and secure.

And the people I love,  health and safety and secure

until the end of our lives.

So I'd work out what that figure would be. - Yeah.

Then I would work out how…  and I’d keep that, selfishly.

But then, I would work out how best  to spend the money that I had left.

And… and how best to make a  positive impact, using it.

I mean it’s… it’s for a  nanosecond I don't mind saying;

oh I’d do this and I’d do that,

but I don't want to have full on  conversations about what I’d buy and…

because I just can't be bothered  to get… there's no point, you know?

It’s… it’s… - Well unfortunately for you,

we’re gonna have a five minute conversation.

So what happens, because  you just said to me before,

that you don't play it, right? - Yeah.

But let's say, you’re walking  along the under-cliff and then,

you… on the bottom of your shoe,

bit like ''Charlie and the  Chocolate Factory'' you just see;

ah! I got… - The winning number.  - The winning numbers are there.

Yeah, the winning numbers are there.

Yeah, I would definitely. - Would you cash it in?

Yeah. Well that's a no-brainer. - Okay.

And how do I know they’re the winning numbers?

Ah I dunno, you just got a feeling.

Oh just… just… just forget that bit. - Yeah, yeah.

Okay, they’re definitely the winning numbers.

So now, in your bank is hundreds of millions,

a hundred million, maybe. - Oh God.

You’re gonna make me go off  now and buy a lottery ticket.

I would definitely help out  friends and family, obviously.

Help my sister and my mum ‘cos they're skint.

Help anyone else close to me that needed it,

depending on obviously, how  much I need… needed myself.

But I mean, I think once you've got a few mill,

you don't really need anymore.

So if you won a hundred mill, you  can help out quite a few people.

I'm not talking charities, you know.

That’s… I've done my charity work.

No, I’d help friends and family.

So it would be, how… how can  I help erm... our family.

That would be my first;

what can I do to make their life  easier or erm… you know, is it;

buy them a house, so they never  have to worry about renting or,

you know? Yeah, it would be what  could I do to help them first.

Okay. - I have no major  ambitions to travel the world.

Erm… and especially at the  moment, I'm quite happy,

I'm quite happy in Brighton. - Yeah.

I don't want to go anywhere,

but I'm sure in two years time  or three years time I might say,

I want to go somewhere. But  no, definitely pause and think.

When you say you’re gonna travel your way back,

is this by your ow… are you  gonna now, buy this like,

one of these mega yachts? Do  you know what I mean like,

what Jeff Bazos has, parked up in Monaco?

Probably not, I’d still go in the  old economy seats on the plane

and maybe… maybe… maybe. ‘Cos I don't like flying,

I’d probably yeah, get a… get  a boat, but somebody else’s.

Yeah, not a yacht. - Okay. - I would still…

I’m probably not thinking this through here,

I’m… I'm may… I’m mega rich and I  would still flying economy, yeah.

But also flying; you’d get  home like, within probably…

the furthest you could get is  probably within two days, I imagine.

So maybe, I’d… I’d start off…  start off in New Zealand,

go to Australia, go to Japan. - Okay, okay.

Head… head back across China,  Russia, trans-Siberia railway.

Huh? - In a rush or no rush? - No rush, no rush.

I’ve got… I’ve got the rest  of my life to get back here.

Okay, so you'd spend… what like,

60 years getting back to Brighton or something?

Possibly yeah, yeah quite… quite… quite easy,

I might stop off in Jerez, buy  a little… buy little bar run a…

run a sherry bar in Jerez for a little bit.

Yeah, I’d take… I’d take my time.

So you’d actually kind of live quite a humble…

you’d be super, mega rich,  but you’d actually kind of,

live a, quite a humble lifestyle really, still.

I think so, I mean I’ve noticed,

I’ve not said I would give  any of my money away, though.

I mean I… I would… I would still keep the money.

Last thought. How much? Fifty percent of it?

If it’s hundreds of millions?

Yeah I mean, I probably would  give some to my family, possibly.

I mean yeah, I mean yeah,  ‘cos if I'm gonna disappear

for the rest of my life, then yeah,

they probably could do with some cash.

That was going to be my next question actually.

Because… because you're not being so flash,

my next question was going to  be; would you tell everyone?

Would you let everyone know you’d won?

No. No, I wouldn't tell anybody that I’d won.

Okay, just small like,  instalments to your family, maybe?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I don't  have a big family, so that's fine.

That would… that would… that would  work, it’d be okay. - Brilliant.

And how big are we talking?

Humble little sailing yacht,  or the big, mega yacht?

No, 60 to 90 feet. 90 feet,  90 feet with a beautiful deck.

Where you could just sit  there and while away the time

with a nice gin and tonic and  some nice smoked salmon, you know?

That kind of thing. - Nice!  - And I’d also probably um…

I’d buy myself a nice Ferrari.  Might give a few bob to charity.

You’re… you are just suiting  that Monte Carlo kind of…

Oh yeah! - High roller lifestyle.

Yeah, I’ve not had a bad life; I’ve done okay,

but um… that’s… that would be a little bit extra.

And… and how about you; what would you do?

Erm.. well, I kind of understand  exactly where Karen's coming from.

Yeah. - And, I don't do the lottery either.

And, we were just talking  earlier about how glad we were

that we were not stupid rich, really.

But, I think what I would do,

if someone said you’ve got to have all this money

and we're giving it to you is;

I would probably, I would spend some on myself,

because I think I would want  to live right next to the sea,

so I’d try… I’d try and  get myself a place to live,

right next to the sea, so I could just come on out

and jump in that water, whenever  I felt like it, ‘cos I love it.

Yeah, that is a good point. - I would do that.

And somewhere that would be  safe to grow old in, probably.

Because that's one of my  preoccupations at the moment.

But other than that, I would…

I would be happy to somehow insure  that as many people as possible

got solar power on their roofs, that erm…

that the Green Party was well  funded to get into government.

And I would support lots of  people to be Green MPs, okay.

And erm… Well, it depends how  much money it is I suppose really.

That’s a great answer. - You can  put it to good use, you know?

You could put it to good use. - And yeah.

And to get homes insulated and  you know, just all that stuff,

that's what I would do, ‘cos I  think that’s we need to do now.

So there's a thing called the  ''Effective Altruism'' movement.

So I might you know, interface  with them to see you know,

what their suggestions were, in terms of like,

having the most impact you know, with the money.

Yeah, yeah sure. - And um… I probably…

I’d almost certainly buy a large  wood and possibly an island.

Oh yeah? - Yeah, you know,  to have a bit of autonomy.

That I think is… that's the…

if you have independent means as they say,

I think that's the thing it gives you;

it gives you autonomy and… and  that’s quite important to me.

No, I’d help friends and family. - With what?

Buy them properties, buy  them whatever they needed.

Like a stability… - Yeah, yeah, I  definitely buy my sister a house,

‘cos she’s… she hasn't got one.

And, I don't really know what I’d do for my mum

‘cos she's quite elderly,

she hasn't really got a lot of time left

and she wouldn't want to go anywhere.

But, I’d probably get her more  care or something like that.

Like a health investment or  something? - Yeah something, yeah.

Okay. - Or you know, big pots  of caviar for her last few days,

that sort of thing. Just sort  of, indulge her in stuff.

There's a term, there’s a… langue…

a word in the Swedish language  called ''lagom'', which means enough.

And it's er… informs quite a lot of  the way that people in Scandinavia

think about wealth and possessions

and it really does get to a sort  of fundamental philosophical point

about erm… how much you really need.

And I think a lottery stretches  and tests the boundary

of what enough is. And so,  I would think that, for me,

it would make me think quite  deeply about how much money

I really needed and how much my family would need.

And I think that's quite a  low amount really, relatively.

You know, a £180… £180 million  someone won the other day.

Yeah, yeah; The EuroMillions.  - and I just… at one level;

it’s obscene, another level; I think it's a curse

and I think everyone should  consider this whole issue

of ''lagom'' and how much is enough.

Thanks for watching this week's episode.

Let us know in the comments below,

what you’d if you hit the jackpot  and we'll see you next week, bye.