Pools winner Viv Nicholson: I’d spend, spend, spend all over again

Viv was 25 when she captured the public imagination in 1961 winning £152,319, worth around £5million in today’s money.

It was the first time she and her husband Keith had ever done the pools and the win should have made them financially secure for life. But she was true to her promise and the whole fortune was gone in less than four years.

Now 75, widow Viv lives alone in a care home but says the only thing she would change is coining the phrase “spend, spend spend”.

She said: “I regret those words. They sound awful, like labelling myself.”

Viv was a young mother working in a liquorice factory when she and Keith, a miner, correctly predicted eight draws. Littlewoods minders whisked the couple to London where they collected their giant cheque from Bruce Forsyth.

The spending spree started immediately with a trip to Harrods where Viv bought an 80-guinea gold watch.

But trouble started almost as soon as they returned to their home in Castleford, West Yorkshire. The couple were inundated with begging letters, with some turning nasty if they refused to hand over cash. To deal with their problems both turned to drink.

Viv said: “When we first won the money all we did was drink. I had never tasted whisky or champagne. We had lived poorly.

“I bought two houses, four cars and more clothes than I ever thought possible. I even dyed my hair to match whatever outfit I was going to wear. The only thing I didn’t do was end up in prison.”

With local jealousy mounting, Viv and Keith moved from their rented terrace home to an upmarket property 12 miles away in Leeds. But their new neighbours recoiled at their brash lifestyle and Viv’s ostentatious pink Cadillac parked on the drive.

With heavy spending and bad investments, their cash had all but disappeared by 1965 when alcoholic Keith died in a car crash.

That left Viv to bring up three children alone. “After Keith died I wanted to die,” she said. “I only ever loved him. Money couldn’t fix that. Money doesn’t fix everything.” Keith’s death led to Viv being declared bankrupt.

Over the years she made desperate attempts to recoup her wealth – singing Big Spender in strip clubs and opening a fashion boutique which later burned down. She married a further three times but each ended in divorce.

In 1998 a musical of her life, titled Spend, Spend Spend, made her money but true to form Viv once again blew the lot.

She now seeks solace in religion having become a Jehovah’s Witness and insists having nothing in her old age doesn’t worry her.

“I did what I did and it was a marvellous life. I might not have any money now but I don’t want any. If I won again today I would spend it. Money’s not for saving. When you die, what are you going to do with it? I have no regrets.”