Stoke lottery winner's pool table purchase key to England call-up

Neil Jones will travel to Malta in November to lead an England team at the European Pool Championships

A man who bought a pool table after winning £2.4m on the lottery is now cueing up to represent England at the European Pool Championships.

Neil Jones, 59, from Stoke-on-Trent, and his partner Julie Kirkham, won the money just before Christmas 2010.

The former tiler said before the win he had not had enough money to get through Christmas.

He will now be represent his country as captain in Malta next month which he says will be his "proudest moment".

"Winning the lottery allowed me to put those hours in. If I didn't win, I wouldn't have been able to buy the table, I wouldn't have had the time - I'd still be on my hands and knees tiling," he said.

While his partner watches Coronation Street, he is constantly playing pool, he told BBC Radio Stoke.

They couple kept their win to themselves at first until they went public on 1 January 2011.

Neil Jones said he had spent thousands of hours practising at home

A celebration at a pool hall with friends led to Mr Jones measuring up his dining room so he could buy a decent pool table.

He was able to take advantage of lockdown, continuing to practise when pubs and pool halls were shut.

He was chosen to represent England in a Home Nations tournament earlier this year and will now fly to the European Championships in November to captain the England B1 team.

While he is excited for Malta he said he was a "rabbit in the headlights" when he had previously played in the Home Nations but had now settled his nerves.

"You can't just buy a place in the England team, you've got to put the hours in," he said.

Neil Jones and his partner won just over £2.4m in December 2010

Before his lottery win on 8 December 2010, he said did not have enough money sorted for Christmas.

"We didn't spend a penny until the new year. I stuck to my plan of everyone getting £100 for Christmas - I wanted to get our old life out of the way."

"I didn't have that much money left in the world when I won, and now I'm captaining my country.

"I can't wait to fly out to Malta, put on that England shirt and lead the team out."