Shopping: If I Win The Lottery Tonight... Ian McCaskill Pantomime Villain Formerly Known As The Weatherman

IT'S DIFFICULT to say what I'd do if I won the lottery because I don't do it. I'm too mean and I understand about probabilities and I don't want to win pounds 10 - pounds 10 is more trouble than it's worth.

If I did win the lottery I'd give a quite a bit of it to charity. I'm a pensioner and have very simple tastes, so I don't need the money all that badly. I can't think of anything I need. I really wouldn't want a shiny car as it would just get vandalised. Maybe it's a result of getting older, but possessions are just an encumbrance.

My favourite charity is the breast cancer charity Breakthrough. It's a new charity doing marvellous things. Until a few years ago, breast cancer was something that people didn't even talk about. It wasn't mentioned. One of Breakthrough's achievements is raising the awareness of breast cancer. I'm very interested in women; I do greatly prefer the company of women to men. I've lost good friends to breast cancer - my first wife, my mother, my mother-in-law, and all sorts of relatives. When you have two daughters, it becomes of pressing importance to you. You worry about them too. Until Breakthrough came along there wasn't a charity that was specifically targeted at breast cancer.

I doubt I'd spend any money on my family - ungrateful lot! - they don't need the money. Not that they are rich; I don't think that it does much good receiving money early in your life. My daughters are quite young, 25 and 23, and a little money would be handy at this stage, but I don't think it would be helpful to get a lot of money. I think there has to be a bit of work somewhere along the way. This is the old Scottish Calvinist coming out in me. I suppose the wife could get a new frock.

We could do a little more travelling but we don't have time to travel at the moment - I'm busy rehearsing for the pantomime and my wife's studying English and drama at university, up in Yorkshire. I'm hoping she doesn't want to do a PhD as it would be nice to take the odd break in the Caribbean; St Lucia, Trinidad or Tobago maybe. I'm not a beach person, but I like to know it's there. I'd also like to know the Far East better and there are parts of Australia I have not yet seen.

Ian McCaskill is performing in `Puss in Boots' at the Theatre Royal, Windsor, to 16 January (01753 853888)