[2] Soon after winning the jackpot, Carroll stated he would not be tempted into spending his money lavishly and only wanted to buy a three-bedroom house near a lake, where he could go fishing.
Carroll, who was very generous to family and friends, gave his mother, aunt and a sister £1,000,000 each,[2] and claimed by September 2003, he had to start living off the proceeds of the bond.
In 2005, Carroll participated in a celebrity boxing match in which he fought Mark Smith, formerly a cast member of TV show Gladiators;[4] the fight was officially declared a draw by the judges.
In June 2005, Carroll was given an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO) after it was found that whilst drunk, he had been catapulting steel balls from his Mercedes van, breaking 32 car and shop windows, in Downham Market, where he was living.
The film investigated Carroll's vilification by tabloid papers and whether there was more to him than being a "lotto lout", which included contrasting imprisonment for affray alongside penning a "dappy" love song for his daughter.
[4][6] The next month the New York Times reported that Carroll was, after archeologist Howard Carter, Swaffham's "most famous resident" and an object of "national fascination", following the rescinding of an offer to turn on the town's Christmas lights.