What Stewart Weir thought was a funny reply to a handful of text messages last week almost saw him make a few headlines of his own.
The former chief sportswriter for the Scottish Mirror had fired off the same reply to a few questions posed by friends and media colleagues.
Now a PR and online consultant, Weir told allmediascotland.com: “I got a few texts asking if I had any relations in Largs because someone called Weir had just won the £161 million EuroMillions prize.
“I sent the same reply out to all of them saying they were cousins but that we didn’t talk to them as they had always been tapping us for money.”
“Most people spotted that I wasn’t being completely serious with my answer and acknowledged the fact.
“But within a few minutes a message had been left on my phone from a news reporter saying he understood that I didn’t speak to my Lottery-winning cousins and asking if I’d be willing to expand upon my comments.
“Needless to say I quickly put them right, and Tweeted that the people in Largs were not relations of mine …yet.”
Weir added: “To be fair, the reporter at least sought to check the story was correct, thus saving everyone's blushes – so I'm not going to name anyone.”
