My sister has just won a holiday to New York. I believe that etiquette in these matters is to quietly disappear for the relevant three days and come back in a good mood. NOT to phone everyone you know in rainy Scotland and tell them about it.

Personally, I have only ever won two competitions. I won four cans of Tennents lager when I was about eight (my Dad looked after them). Slightly more recently, I won second prize in a Vox magazine competition. I won a Terminator 2 Laserdisc. Unfortunately, I didn’t win first prize which was a Laserdisc player to play the bloody thing on. Still in a cupboard if anyone wants to bid on it…..