Voltaire the Lottery Winner

Generali

http://www.damninteresting.com/the-enlightenment-guide-to-winning-the-lottery/

François-Marie Arouet knew how to get into trouble. After a very public scuffle with a nobleman nearly ended in a duel, the young playwright was exiled from Paris, the city where his plays were only just coming into fashion. He lived in dreary England for two whole years before slinking back to France, where he lived in the house of a pharmacist. There he experimented with various potions and poultices, but nothing would cure the vague sense of impotence and dread that dogged him.


Finally in 1729 the gates of Paris were opened to Arouet again, but he was still ill-at-ease. At a dinner party held by the chemist Charles du Fay, Arouet, better known by his pen-name Voltaire, found the cure he had been looking for. He met a brilliant mathematician called Charles Marie De La Condamine, who promised a panacea better than any Voltaire had found at his pharmacist.

I would definitely recommend a read of the story of how the greatest author in the French language and maybe any language could afford to lounge about and write.

chewmylegoff

I would be happy to administer the MSE lottery syndicate. Just send me £10 a week each and we'll be rich in no time!