Article: I ALWAYS OFFER A PRAYER TO ERNIE FOR GOOD LUCK; Flashback: Ernest Marples, left, Postmaster General in the Fifties, discusses Ernie with SW Broadhurst, who devised the machine Prizes galore: Cheryl Tebbutt is a firm believer in Premium Bonds - in April, she won [pounds sterling]10,000. Left, Ernie 4, the latest model of the machine that picks winners.

Byline: RICHARD DYSON

Have you ever sent a begging letter to Ernie, the machine that pickswinning Premium Bond numbers, beseeching 'him' to choose your bonds? Have youever sent him a letter of abuse for his perverse meanness in never choosingyour numbers? If so, don't worry. You are not alone.

Ernie - the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment - receives thousandsof letters a year. He also gets teddy bears, cards, flowers, crucifixes, holywater and countless other bondholder talismans.

Ernie seems to bring out the superstitious side of our nature. Cheryl Teb-buttis one of the more superstitious, and successful, bondholders.

She ...

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