Each week, almost 2,000 people below the age of 65 die in England and Wales. Put another way, residents there are 250 times more likely to suffer a premature demise than to win a million pounds in the National Lottery, and you don’t even have to buy a ticket.

Yet few of us are comfortable contemplating our own mortality, so much so that 60 per cent of British adults do not have a valid will. This can be a costly and distressing omission.