The tennis this weekend caused quite a stir. In the big Murray VS Federer debate, loyalties across the country were torn between supporting a Brit and supporting a tennis favourite. Of course, if you admitted you were supporting anyone other than Murray, the aftermath was almost as bad as telling an avid football supporter that 'it's just a game'.
But despite the broken hearts all over the nation, Oxfam had rather a good reason to smile about Murray's defeat.
In 2003 an Oxfordshire man made a wager of £1,520 that Federer would win seven Wimbledon titles by 2019. The odds were 66/1. In 2009 this man, Nick Newlife, died leaving the betting slip to Oxfam in his will. On Sunday Federer won his seventh Wimbledon title.
The charity will now be able to claim the incredible sum of £101,840 from William Hill. Surely this is the ultimate act of charity; it's technically a gift from behind the grave...
I wonder if Mr Newlife ever thought his bet would come through... and if he did, why not leave it to family? Perhaps Mr Newlife didn't have any family he could leave the slip to, or perhaps he really was kind enough to think that Oxfam could benefit from the money more. Either way, he has undoubtedly shown immense generosity.
I used to work in a small Oxfam shop. I volunteered there every weekend and gradually came to love the family of volunteers I had joined. Many of them were elderly - I'd like to think that this was because the population of my neighbourhood had more elderly residents, rather than an example of the younger generation's lack of selflessness...I can just imagine the conversations that will occur in that shop when they hear about this bet. I can also guarantee that courtesy of older Oxfam volunteers everywhere, Mr Newlife's family will be receiving a lot of home-baked goodies...
So although Murray didn't quite make it , and us Brits have to endure another year without a Wimbledon finalist, at least some good came out of it!
And after all - there's always next year....