FRIDAY the 13th could not have been luckier for Radcliffe postman John Derbyshire when he found out he had won £100,000 on Spot the Ball.

Jubilant John (62) quit his job straightaway and now plans to enjoy his retirement in style.

Amazingly, he had no idea he was a big winner, even after reading about his own good fortune in the national press.

And he left home on Friday morning completely unaware that the cheque was in his morning post!

"One of the lads read in the paper that "a Mr J Derbyshire from Manchester" had won the jackpot. I thought to myself "lucky chap" never imagining for one second it was me." When his wife Irene received a phone call from Littlewoods to confirm the good news, she opened the day's mail, and discovered the bumper cheque. Littlewood's had been trying to contact John earlier in the week, but without success.

Irene then telephoned her husband at work and, with just one hour of his weekly shift left, he decided to quit. He told his workmates that he was the mystery winner after all, and this would be his last shift at the Royal Mail bulk mail-handling depot in Westhoughton, where he had worked for seven years.

"It's so strange, when you think about retirement you imagine how your last day would be, but I could never have predicted it would end like this. I don't even know where my last bag of mail was destined for, it all came about so fast," he added.

Now John and Irene plan to treat the family, and to travel the world.

"Neither of us has ever been abroad, or even flown in an aeroplane. We have no children of our own but are very close to our family, and we shall be looking forward to treating them all," added Irene.

John, who spends just £1 each week on his Spot the Ball entry, said he would carry on doing the competition, and can't wait for the next Friday the 13th!