Man Wins $1.35 Million Lottery Using Late Dad’s Birth and Death Dates — and He Says His Dad Gave Him a Sign He’d Win

A man in England recently won over $1 million by using his late father’s birth and death dates in a national lottery.

Darren McGuire, 46, a gas engineer from Bolton, England, picked numbers based on those dates — March 22, 1948, and Sept. 21, 2011 — earlier this summer, according to the BBC.

“We all miss my dad so much, and that’s why I have numbers relating to him that I enter into lotto draws,” McGuire told the outlet.

“The very morning of the draw [on July 23], two rose bushes in our garden that hadn’t done anything for over four years suddenly bloomed to produce a perfect red rose. To me, it was a sign from Dad that this was the day — and it certainly was,” he said.

McGuire told the BBC that he plans to use the money to adjust his “work-life balance” and finally marry his partner of 20 years, Laura Thwaites, “in style.”

“We’ve been together for 20 years and were going to get married years ago, then Laura fell pregnant, and then we moved house. I also regularly work seven days a week as a gas engineer for a housing association — a job I love — so with all that we never got around to tying the knot,” he said.

Thwaites said the money will help them spend more time with their two children. “Family is the most important thing, as it was to Darren’s late dad, and having Darren at home with us more will be special — that’s what winning will do for us,” she said.

Thwaites added, “As for the kids, now that the win has sunk in for them too, one has asked for a PlayStation 5 and the other wants to go shopping for clothes and trainers … we’ll see what we can do.”

The family also plans to expand their home to create more space.

“We love our house, the area we already live in, and the people around us. We will be building an extension and using the roof to give everyone more room. We also want to convert the cellar into a bar and party room. We like a party and we will definitely be celebrating the win, several times over!” she told The National Lottery.

McGuire added that he would like to book “a week in Spain” with the family “to let it fully hit us.”