John Alder, known as the 'Fortunate Cooper', won £20,000 in 1767 with a ticket costing £12.

Now a blue plaque is to be placed on the front of his old pub, The Mitre, which today is Mason's drapery shop in Stert Street.

It was proposed by the Abingdon Joint Environmental Trust and has been approved by the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board.

Planning permission must be sought to place the plaque on the shop front because it is a listed building. But Mr Alder may be the only recipient of a blue plaque in Abingdon. The Blue Plaques Board says future nominations must have national or international significance to qualify for recognition.

Other famous Abingdon people proposed are Sir John Mason, a Tudor diplomat after whom the John Mason school was named; Arthur Preston, a former mayor, alderman, Freeman, antiquarian and historian, and James Townsend, schoolmaster and historian.

John Creemer Clarke, the last Liberal MP for the old Borough, and a clothier and philanthropist who helped fund the building of Trinity church and cottage hospital, and William Fletcher, an artist who joined the Newlyn Group of artists in Cornwall and who exhibited at the Royal Academy, have also been nominated.

The owner of Mason's shop, John North, said: "We are honoured to have been chosen to have a blue plaque placed on our shop front.

"Mr Alder was a famous name in Abingdon. He gambled a lot of money in those days but won a vast amount. I don't do the lottery but I must think about doing it. Who knows, his luck may rub off on to me!"

John Alder was a barrel maker and publican. When he scooped the jackpot he gained the nickname the 'Fortunate Cooper.'

His prize of £20,000 is reckoned to be worth more than £1m in today's terms.

It is believed that he bought and registered the ticket number 3,379 for £12 from the Crown and Thistle Hotel, but his wife was not pleased with events. She was worried that he might fritter away the winnings. She had good cause to be concerned because it emerged that her husband had bought the ticket from the £22 she had given him to pay the brewer.

But Mr Alder was generous with his money. He allowed Mr Powell of the Crown and Thistle to use half the money interest free and wiped the slate clean of regulars who had built up big bar bills.

He paid for a new coach body for the 'Abingdon Machine' stage coach owned by Francis Blewitt, on the side of which was painted Coopers Arms along with the winning lottery number.

He also bought a set of chimes for St Nicholas Church. But it was not long before his gambling instincts emerged again. He bought a race horse which raced at Abingdon.