A mysterious multi-millionaire sent five Christmas cards with £200 inside to residents of Ely after picking the city randomly from Google.
The Oxfordshire businessman – who goes under the pseudonym Tom Jones – went through the alphabet picking towns and then used Google’s Street View to find road names.
When he got to ‘E’, Ely was his first choice to pose as secret Santa and surprise five lucky residents by making their 2018 Christmas a bit more special.
His generous escapades have now been turned into a book called Giving Away My Millions
Writer Nick Fisher contacted the Ely Standard to tell the extraordinary story of how he came to pen the book about the random acts of kindness by the millionaire.
Nick, 55, from Stockport, was first approached by the mystery man on a car park in Oxfordshire last year, where he asked if he could have a pound for the parking machine – while standing beside a £150,000 Bentley.
Nick reluctantly agreed, but little did he know he would get two fifty pound notes back along with his pound coin.
“He said ‘here, this if for you’ and it transpired that it was one of his tests he does where he rewards people for their generosity,” he said.
Nick, who is a former bricklayer-turned-author, went on to trace the millionaire and offer to write a book about the “avalanche of good things” he has done.
In recent weeks the book has received tabloid coverage and sparked media interest from across the country.
Father-of-two, Nick, explained: “We exchanged emails and I said would you like to write a book?
“Since then it has been bizarre to say the least.
“There is an avalanche of good things he has done for people, from leaving money in jeans pockets in changing rooms to wads of notes at cash machines.
“At Christmas he decided to go on Google Street View and pick an area from each letter of the alphabet. He sent five Christmas cards in each town or city and Ely was one of them.
“He then went on to Royal Mail’s postcode finder to sent the card with £200 in it addressed to ‘The Homeowner’ and wrote inside ‘Happy Christmas’ or ‘From your secret Santa’.”
But Nick remains tight-lipped on who the mystery man really is, saying he doesn’t want to lose the “secret thrill” of it.
“He has a recognisable accent and is a self-made businessman who invested in a lot of property.
“But hopefully this will put people out of their mystery in Ely, as ‘Tom’ would say.
“If you are reading this and got lucky to get one of the cards this Christmas then now you know where it came from!”
Visit www.givingawaymymillions.com to find out more and get a copy of the book, now available on Amazon.
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