"Spend, Spend, Spend" - The Miner's Wife Who Won Big

Witness History

BBC

Personal Journals, Society & Culture, History

4.5 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2017

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1961, Viv Nicholson became a household name in Britain when she and her husband scooped a massive win on the football pools. Asked what she would do with the money, Nicholson famously replied "Spend, Spend, Spend" and the tabloids followed her closely over the next few years as she spent the winnings on the high life. Viv Nicholson's story later became a successful West End musical and stage play. Simon Watts talks to her son, Howard Nicholson, author of "You Don't Know Viv".

PHOTO: Howard and Viv Nicholson (left and centre) with British entertainer Bruce Forsyth (Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds hello and thank you for
0:30.8	downloading witness from the BBC World Service.
0:33.8	I'm Simon Watts and today I'm bringing you the story of Viv Nicholson
0:38.0	who became a celebrity in Britain in the 1960s
0:41.4	after a huge win on the football pools. The story of in the
0:45.0	60s after a huge win on the football pools.
0:44.0	The story of her roller coaster life
0:46.0	later inspired a musical.
0:49.0	All I'm on the gravy train
0:52.0	wait goodbye to traveling. In 1961, Viv and Keith Nicholson, a young couple from a mining town in Northern England
1:02.0	won riches beyond their wildest dreams.
1:05.0	Well I always wanted a big American car so that was my first thing, a big American car.
1:10.0	I couldn't drive much.
1:11.0	And then we bought a show house and then I just filled the
1:15.9	wardrobes up with clothes and shoes and we did quite a lot of going abroad as well.
	...

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