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Spend, spend, spend
"Spend, Spend, Spend" is a curiously sad and moving story, at the same time bursting with all the exuberance and inimitable candour that has kept Vivian Nicholson in the public eye since winning the Pools in 1961".
215 pages, Hardcover
First published February 1, 1978
97 people want to read
About the author
Vivian Nicholson
1 bookVivian Nicholson (born Vivian Asprey; 3 April 1936 – 11 April 2015) was a British woman who lived in extreme poverty who became famous when she told the media she would "spend, spend, spend" after her husband Keith won £152,319 (equivalent to £3,362,478.00 adjusted for inflation to 2019) on the football pools in 1961. Nicholson became the subject of tabloid news stories for many years due to her and Keith's subsequent rapid spending of their fortune and her later chaotic life.
After her husband Keith died in a car accident, Viv Nicholson's fortune rapidly dwindled to nothing: Banks and tax creditors deemed her bankrupt, and declared that all the money, and everything she had acquired with it, belonged not to her but to Keith's estate.
In 1968, Nicholson won a three-year legal battle to gain £34,000 from her husband's estate, but rapidly lost it all through more uncontrolled spending, as well as taxes, legal fees, unpaid bills, and bad investments.
In 1970, she relocated to Malta, but the following year, after she was arrested for assaulting a policeman, the Maltese authorities deported her, and she returned to Britain. She also remarried, but the marriage did not last. Her new husband, Brian Wright, later died in a car crash. She entered a mental home to escape from her next husband, a man named Graham Ellison, who abused her during the four days they lived together; the marriage lasted 13 weeks. Her fifth and last husband, Gary Shaw, died of a drug overdose.
Her alcoholism became serious during her wealthy years, but continued for many years after she lost all her money. She eventually became sober.
She made many attempts to regain both her public profile and her lost wealth, such as recording a song (titled "Spend Spend Spend", written by her brother) and appearing in a strip club singing "Big Spender". None of these efforts proved successful. After opening a short-lived boutique, she ended up penniless. and by 1976, claimed that she could not even afford to bury her fourth husband (they had broken up three years earlier) when he died.
In 1978, Nicholson co-wrote an autobiography with Stephen Smith, titled <>Spend, Spend, Spend which was dramatised for the BBC's Play for Today series by Jack Rosenthal. Spend, Spend, Spend (1977) was directed by John Goldschmidt (who won a BAFTA award for the filmed play) and stars Susan Littler and John Duttine.
Nicholson died at Pinderfields hospital, Wakefield, aged 79, on 11 April 2015, after having a stroke and suffering from dementia. In the years she had become a pop culture icona.
After her husband Keith died in a car accident, Viv Nicholson's fortune rapidly dwindled to nothing: Banks and tax creditors deemed her bankrupt, and declared that all the money, and everything she had acquired with it, belonged not to her but to Keith's estate.
In 1968, Nicholson won a three-year legal battle to gain £34,000 from her husband's estate, but rapidly lost it all through more uncontrolled spending, as well as taxes, legal fees, unpaid bills, and bad investments.
In 1970, she relocated to Malta, but the following year, after she was arrested for assaulting a policeman, the Maltese authorities deported her, and she returned to Britain. She also remarried, but the marriage did not last. Her new husband, Brian Wright, later died in a car crash. She entered a mental home to escape from her next husband, a man named Graham Ellison, who abused her during the four days they lived together; the marriage lasted 13 weeks. Her fifth and last husband, Gary Shaw, died of a drug overdose.
Her alcoholism became serious during her wealthy years, but continued for many years after she lost all her money. She eventually became sober.
She made many attempts to regain both her public profile and her lost wealth, such as recording a song (titled "Spend Spend Spend", written by her brother) and appearing in a strip club singing "Big Spender". None of these efforts proved successful. After opening a short-lived boutique, she ended up penniless. and by 1976, claimed that she could not even afford to bury her fourth husband (they had broken up three years earlier) when he died.
In 1978, Nicholson co-wrote an autobiography with Stephen Smith, titled <>Spend, Spend, Spend which was dramatised for the BBC's Play for Today series by Jack Rosenthal. Spend, Spend, Spend (1977) was directed by John Goldschmidt (who won a BAFTA award for the filmed play) and stars Susan Littler and John Duttine.
Nicholson died at Pinderfields hospital, Wakefield, aged 79, on 11 April 2015, after having a stroke and suffering from dementia. In the years she had become a pop culture icona.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 3, 2017
I have read this book a couple of times over the years and it was a very interesting read.
This lady won a huge sum of money on the football pools and announced that she was going to spend,spend,spend and she did.
Felt really sorry for Viv Nicholson on reading this story for it wasn't long before the money ran out and she was back right where she started.
A very old book but if you chance on a copy it makes a very interesting read. Recommended.
This lady won a huge sum of money on the football pools and announced that she was going to spend,spend,spend and she did.
Felt really sorry for Viv Nicholson on reading this story for it wasn't long before the money ran out and she was back right where she started.
A very old book but if you chance on a copy it makes a very interesting read. Recommended.
March 29, 2014
A gem among tawdry memoirs.
Vivian Nicholson was a hard-scrabble sort who won big in the British lottery in the early 1960s. Asked by reporters what she planned to do with the money, she said, "I'm going to spend, spend, spend!" This book details her wild spending sprees, heartaches, and hairdos. Viv has deliciously excessive tastes.
Even the chapter titles are exciting: Everything So Stardusty, Werewolves and Spanish Liquorice, I'm Sick to Teeth of Money, Collapsation of the Mental Innards, Viv Defies the Pope!
This book was brought to me through the magic of interlibrary loan.
Highly recommended for fans of celebrity tell-alls.
Vivian Nicholson was a hard-scrabble sort who won big in the British lottery in the early 1960s. Asked by reporters what she planned to do with the money, she said, "I'm going to spend, spend, spend!" This book details her wild spending sprees, heartaches, and hairdos. Viv has deliciously excessive tastes.
Even the chapter titles are exciting: Everything So Stardusty, Werewolves and Spanish Liquorice, I'm Sick to Teeth of Money, Collapsation of the Mental Innards, Viv Defies the Pope!
This book was brought to me through the magic of interlibrary loan.
Highly recommended for fans of celebrity tell-alls.
November 25, 2017
Interesting social insight into poor,feckless working class life of the 1930s-1970s.Ultimately Sad as she and her football pools winner husband spend all their money in a rush of stupidity.A fool and his money are soon parted - never a more true portrayal of the old saying.And the evils of drink! The working class delight in excessive drinking whenever celebrating good fortune has never more been fully exposed.What a waste of a life.
February 26, 2023
Once you get past the language of thee and thou and cowing this and that and all the missing "the"s (eg. "I'm hot, open window" or "I'm going to pub"), it's a pretty interesting story. When Keith died they still had a lot of money left and I don't understand why it was simply taken off them "by the bank" rather than it being inherited by his widow, or at least his children. Surely that's not normal practice when a rich person dies? Very odd!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews