Unsung heroes of the National Lottery
Last Updated: Thursday 7th July 2011, 15:59
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To mark the 15th anniversary of the UK’s National Lottery a list of the top 50 unsung heroes has been drawn up and the number one spot was awarded to Michael Faraday, the man who discovered electromagnetic induction in 1831. Other names in the top 50 include artist Banksy, singer Midge Ure and even a fictional character from BlackAdder, Baldrick. However the unsung heroes of the National Lottery are the people who buy the tickets according to Sir Matthew Pinsent, Olympic rowing champion.
Sir Matthew is an ambassador for the National Lottery and has this to say to Sky News:
“The face of the UK has been changed over the last 15 years that the UK Lotto has been played and it’s the people who buy the lottery tickets that have become the world’s biggest unsung heroes.”
£25m each week is the figure quoted by Sir Matthew as the amount raised each week for good causes up and down the country by people who buy lotto tickets and when you look at it that way, we are all heroes.
The list of the unsung heroes of the National Lottery was compiled after a survey was undertaken of 2,000 people and here are the top 10, with the exception of Michael Faraday who we have already mentioned:
2 – JM Barrie –Left the rights to Peter Pan to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity
3 – Edward Jenner – Pioneered the Small Pox vaccine
4 – John Peel – the well known Radio 1 DJ
5 – Alan Turing – invented the earliest form of computer which led to decoding of messages from Enigma
6 – Baldrick – character from BlackAdder
7 – Midge Ure – famous singer and part of the team behind Band Aid and Live Aid
8 – Percy Shaw – inventor of the cat’s eye
9 – Time Berners- Lee – created the World Wide Web (the reason you can buy National Lottery tickets online!)
10 – Fred Scott – a cameraman who bought us footage of the Middle East conflict
Whilst your name may not be in the list for the unsung heroes of the National Lottery, you are considered one.