Lottery-winning teacher starts new career as novelist

An art teacher who won £2m on the Lottery will not be returning to school this week.

Instead, Mike Law, from Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, will take advantage of his good fortune to pursue a new career - as a writer of historical novels.

The 52-year-old, who worked in the teaching profession for 23 years, won the money with his wife Andrea in 2021.

He stayed on for two more years because he felt he had a responsibility to help his students finish their courses.

Mr Law, who also taught photography, said he had taught and known some of those students for many years.

"I wanted to be with them on their journey, see them through their coursework, and make sure they were ready for their exams," he said.

Mr Law said he always had a passion for writing and Roman Britain and wanted to make the switch to novelist while he was still relatively young.

He said his first novel would be set at Wroxeter in Shropshire, now an English Heritage site, in AD199 and be based around a group of legionaries.

"I have been given this chance and I'm very lucky to be able to have a go at making a long-standing passion my job," he explained.

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