Voting Station

Viv Nicholson

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Gambler

The Resume

    (April 3, 1936-April 11, 2015)
    Born in Castleford, Yorkshire, England, United Kingdom
    Won £152,319 (equivalent to over £3 million today) in a football pools win (1961)
    Wrote the autobiography 'Spend, Spend, Spend' (1976)

Why she might be annoying:

    The Guardian called her 'an instant white trash icon.'
    After her win, she told the press she was going to 'spend, spend, spend,' which she did until she was broke.
    Her attempts at staying in the public eye and earning more money included singing 'Hey Big Spender' at a strip club.
    She was deported from Malta for assaulting a cop.
    She was married five times and said she has trouble remembering the names of some of the later husbands.
    Nearly five decades after her win, when she was making £87 a week as a pensioner, she was still buying the latest designer dresses, producing repeated bank overdrafts.
    She said, 'People still stop me in the street and ask, 'Are you Spend, spend, spend?' And I usually reply, 'Yes, what's left of her.''

Why she might not be annoying:

    Neither of her parents could work regularly due to chronic illnesses, so 'I was working to make ends meet by the time I was 12.'
    Keith Nicholson, who she said was the only one of her husbands she truly loved, died in a car crash (1965).
    A hefty tax assessment on Keith's estate was an additional blow to her precarious financial situation.
    She had to check herself into a mental home to escape her third husband, who brutally abused her during the four days they lived together.
    A musical based on her life (inevitably titled 'Spend, Spend, Spend') debuted successfully in London's West End (1998).
    Her picture was featured on the cover of the Smiths' single 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now.'

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 5 Votes: 40.0% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 2 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 6 Votes: 66.67% Annoying
    In 2020, Out of 7 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2019, Out of 5 Votes: 20.0% Annoying
    In 2018, Out of 6 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
    In 2017, Out of 19 Votes: 52.63% Annoying
    In 2016, Out of 36 Votes: 97.22% Annoying
    In 2015, Out of 70 Votes: 57.14% Annoying
    In 2014, Out of 42 Votes: 45.24% Annoying
    In 2013, Out of 22 Votes: 63.64% Annoying
    In 2012, Out of 119 Votes: 78.99% Annoying
    In 2011, Out of 29 Votes: 72.41% Annoying