'Spend, spend, spend' Pools winner Viv Nicholson dies

Harry Palmr

Ah more innocent times!

In 1961 when Viv Niocholson won a 24 points payout on the football pools - £152,319. She vowed to "spend spend spend" and she and her husband did just that, clearing the lot in 3 years. Its about £3.5 million in today money. When her husband died in 1965 the bankruptcy law of the time deemed everything to be in his name and she had to go to law to get what she could - about 35k, pretty much everything that followed was bad news - loss of friends, an arrest in Malta, deportated back home, three more marriages and a spell in a strip club singing Big Spender all the time being pursued by the tabloid media. Its fair to say she'd be a shoe in for Celeb BB and I'm a Celeb get Me Out of Here if she were younger and verging on tragic now.

Nicholson was immortalised by the Smiths when she featured on the cover of Heaven Knows I Miserable Know, she took some control of her own legacy with her autobiography and the subsequent Play for Today tv film and stage drama based on it.

Of course the thing is - it was "only" 3 million in today's terms, now people blow far more than that - remember Michael Carroll who got through over 10 million.

Mint Aero

Go bhfoiridh Dia orainn Rest in peace deer sweet baby angel. Hush now your pain is over. My heart pours out to all those involved.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

What do you want? A eulogy?

Well, she and her husband could have been set up for life if they had handled the money correctly rather than blowing it.

anncoates

All I remember about her is that for a while as a 14 year old I thought it was Myra Hindley wearing the saucy boots on the cover of Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.

Dozen Wicked Words

She certainly appeared to be a "character". She moved to Malta but got deported for fighting a policeman apparently. Would definitely be great fodder for Jeremy Kyle or Big Brother and other lowest common denominator TV.

Cold War Kid

This probably won't be of interest to anyone outside of older British people and Smiths fans.
I am entirely aware of her due to The Smiths.

Not sure what the big deal was about her tbh. Maybe it was a big deal back then I guess.

Dozen Wicked Words

Cold War Kid wrote: »

Not sure what the big deal was about her tbh. Maybe it was a big deal back then I guess.

Rags to Riches and back again and very open about it all I suppose.

Harry Palmr

Cold War Kid wrote: »

This probably won't be of interest to anyone outside of older British people and Smiths fans.
I am entirely aware of her due to The Smiths.

Not sure what the big deal was about her tbh. Maybe it was a big deal back then I guess.

You illustrate the difference between now and then - then the only place such fodder could be covered was a few papers so they could string things out for months even years. Now you get about 15 minutes before the next "tragic case" wanders into the sights of our trash dominated media.

Breaston Plants

Mint Aero wrote: »

Go bhfoiridh Dia orainn Rest in peace deer sweet baby angel. Hush now your pain is over. My heart pours out to all those involved.

Deer??

dd972

Won £3.5m and blew it all, and she was from.....Yorkshire??


Yeah, f**ing right !

LDN_Irish

dd972 wrote: »

Won £3.5m and blew it all, and she was from.....Yorkshire??


Yeah, f**ing right !

I dunno man, seems plausible. Have you seen the price of Yorkshire Teabags??