But the luck of the Irish certainly wasn't with John Major on March 17th when he finally put the British people out of their misery and set the general election for Thursday, May 1st.
Much mythology attaches to prime ministers and their choice of election dates.
It proved only the longest nightmare in the life of a Conservative government, wracked by internal dissent and battered by public perceptions of incompetence and sleaze since shortly after Mr Major's surprise win in 1992. The previous autumn, when the Tories had briefly recovered their senses for conference week, suddenly seemed it might have been a more auspicious backdrop for the always-audacious bid for a fifth term in office. And from there it was downhill all the way. The Tories had decided there was no coat-tail effect, only personal salvation left. But not for that many.