f**king laughed my ass off

for me I'd probably get a crazy set of speakers, an awesome turntable and cd player, and build myself a recording studio with the best gear possible. The rest I'd invest either in charity or save for my children's tuition. 

EDIT: possible future children that is

I've always liked you Andy.

To quote somebody, I would spend about £50 million on loose women, drink and gambling. The rest of it I would just waste.

Might use up most  of it that way though.

The rest? Family, charity, the usual.

If you die it's a different matter as the money is deemed to be part of your estate so your beneficiaries are liable to inheritance tax. If you die without any beneficiaries the government takes the lot.

You could gift it away before you die as long as you don't pop your clogs within seven years and as long as you don't give too much in one go because the money given away is still counted as part of your estate. There are legal ways around this of course, and that involves employing an accountant.

It's a tricky business winning more money than you know what to do with.

You are liable to income tax on most investment income, though, and, if you invest in property, on any letting income, and capital gains tax upon disposal. Given the amount of investment and/or letting income on such a win, this would be at the higher rate of income tax, so, although the win itself is tax free, the consequences are not.

As regards gifting, well, the annual allowance is so small (it was £7,000. Not sure now, as this is not my field) as to pale into comparison with the amount won, so, as you suggest, detailed tax planning for inheritance tax from a specialist would be absolutely vital to invest in trusts and such things to legally avoid the tax.

^ I know, but paying tax on interest on money you won is kinda money for nothing so that's no big deal, any way, you're not going to invest that kind of money in this country anyway so those smarmy accountants are going to have to earn their fees if they want paying.

Anyway...

1. Quit work - amount left: £108,000,000

2. Buy the company I worked for and close it  - amount left: £100,000,000 + interest + £1,000,000 on sale of company assets

3. Re-employ the few people I liked doing something they liked and are good at - amount left: £100,000,000 + interest

4. Take a holiday -  amount left: £98,990,000 + interest

6. Start a small independent record label and sign all my friends who are in bands, including Season's End of course - amount left: £96,000,000 + interest

17. Employ some musicians to record an album of Cacophony of Silence music - amount left:  £86,870,000  + interest.

19. Start an new venture making old-skool guitar effects pedals - amount left:  £82,720,000  + interest

20. Open a British Tea Shop style café/restaurant - amount left: £82,500,000 + interest

21. Learn the art of blowing glass - amount left: £82,498,500 + interest

24. Buy an apartment in Barcelona - amount left: £79,000,000 + interest

40. Vintage guitar effects pedals are flying off the shelves quicker than we can produce them - decide to reinvest in new manufacturing facility rather than subcontract - amount left: £67,440,000 + interest

41. Reopen the Palace cinema as a truly independent Art House cinema and café bar - amount left after deducting 12 months running cost losses: £66,850,000 + interest

42. Buy a book on Philosophy and burn it - amount left: £68,849,990 + interest

43. Pass "Go" - collect £200 from banker - amount left: £68,850,190 + interest

46. Buy the café that's on summit of Mount Snowdon and remodel it as Noah's Ark  - amount left: £64,000,000 + interest

47. Commission a pair of stegosaurus sculptures for above - amount left: £63,950,000 + interest

50. Design and manufacture a high capacity MP3 media player that is compact and not crap - amount left: £63,000,000 + interest

Buy a life time family VIP season ticket to Elland Road

Visit all the giant wave sights around the world

Travel all the time

Buy an estate in Torridon, Scotland- preferrably with a moat ;-)

Choose 10 random families and change their lives forever

adopt 10 orphan's added to my three - give them a stepping stone to the mindf&%k of the journey called life

Blow a 2 million on a four day progfest in UK - Money to be given to the bands, especially Caravan and Camel who always seemed to get shafted by their record companies

Try buy a date with Clare Forlani

 

Personally, I'd spend my time touring record fairs and collecting old records in mint condition (easier online, but lots more fun in person) and with most of the money I'd buy land for myself and friends and family, plus more land elsewhere (it'd be amazing to own a mountain, for example)

Thanks Stewart. I tried to avoid the obvious maudlin topics of giving money to charity (which I definitely would do) and to family (which I definitely would do) and friends (meh... perhaps not) and concentrate on using the money selfishly on things that interest me personally. It also purposely ignores the obvious reality that my wife would have spent this cash several times over before we even saw the cheque from Camelot (or whoever runs it now-a-days).

Mountains are not my thing... an island however... 

Of course the interest, even being conservative, is going to clock-up something like £250,000 per month and most of us could do all we ever dreamed of with just that monthly income. Imagine the fun you could have at record fayres with just that "piddling" amount each month. Taking interest into account the pile would decrease even slower and I'd expect that some of my entrepreneurial ventures would also provide income even if most of them were a constant drain - but as you imply spending a silly amount of money is not as easy as you'd expect.

Assuming that it's possible to get a copy of anything listed on PA (currently 43,326 albums) and assuming that they average forty five minutes each.  It would take 193 weeks to listen to it all (assuming you managed to get everything).  Longer if you take breaks for sleeping, or listening to something different, or playing anything more than once.

 

Also, we're talking about £108 million pounds here.  If each album cost £2,500 you could do it.  But if each album was £25 (and the vast majority are a lot cheaper than that, of course) you would only use up 1% of the money.

 

What else would you do?

In terms of what to do with the rest of my life I'd probably look to support bands I'm interested in and the festival scene to try and get the word out.