Man who took vow of poverty wins the lottery

Former monk Ray Cockrum from Knoxville won just over €191 million in the Tennessee Lottery - and most of it will be going to charity.

It is the largest jackpot ever won in the Tennessee Lottery but the man with the winning $259 million Powerball ticket plans to use most of the money to support the performing arts.

Roy Cockrum of Knoxville - also known as Brother Roy - took a vow of poverty when he joined The Society of Saint John the Evangelist, an Episcopal religious community in Massachusetts. He left the monastic order in 2009 and moved back to Knoxville to take care of his elderly parents.

Cockrum - who also worked as an actor and stage manager in TV and theatre - plans to set up a foundation with his winnings to support performing arts organisations across America.

Roy - who bought the winning ticket back in June - appeared at the Nashville headquarters of the Lottery on Thursday to collect his prize. He has chosen to take the one-off cash payment of the prize which will see him receive around $115 million.

During a press conference, Roy said that his vow of poverty has prepared him well for his new life as a millionaire.

“I really believe the best way to prepare for this tsunami of cash has been to live under a vow of poverty for a number of years,” he said,

“It gives great perspective”.

He also outlined his aims for the windfall:

"It's going to be my job to work very hard to make sure that every single penny of this prize is a blessing to whoever it touches."

That's lovely, isn't it? We doubt we'd be that generous if we won that amount of money - we'd be on the first private jet out of here en route to our new private Caribbean island.