Article from 'The Sun' newspaper from 14 March 2000.
I WOULD SPEND, SPEND, SPEND THE LOTTO... BUT ONLY ON MY KIDS
Down-to-Earth singing star Barbara Dickson insists she'd never tell a soul if she won the Lottery jackpot.
Barbara reckons she'd be more like Amanda Redman's character in TV show 'At Home With The Brarthwaites', who netted £38 million on the Euro lottery and hid it from the world.
Singer and actress Barbara, 53, is currently starring as Viv NIcholson in the West End musical 'Spend Spend Spend'.
It tells the real-life story of vivacious Viv, the Yorkshire housewife who famously won a fortune on the pools and blew the lot.
The BBC tonight screens a special documentary about the making of the musical, which has already earned Barbara a Best Actress award.
But mum-of-three Barbara says her lowly upbringing in the tough mining town of Dunfermline has helped keep her feet on the ground with money. She admits to living very modestly with her fame and fortune - and has no time for over-the-top celebs like Posh Spice and David Beckham.
She said: "Although Viv's story was 40 years ago, it is very relevant today with all the Lottery winners.
It's that footballer mentality with their silly cars, silly houses, silly clothes and their silly partners. They have more money than sense. After all, how much can you really spend? Why don't they use their money to open a foundation to build a new hospital or something?"
She added: "I think I just wouldn't tell a soul. I wouldn't spend, spend, spend, but I would use it to improve things such as putting the kids through a good education. I come from a very humble background in Dunfermline and I am very proud of my Scottish roots. The ordinariness of the way I was brought up is important to me. I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth. My partner was an ordinary working man. But there was a great security in my life.
"I have never taken stardom seriously. But I do take my work seriously and I'd rather be working hard and claiming the odd good award for my work. We live very modestly but I work to continue to pay for the lifestyle and we have our three sons to put through a good education and that costs a lot of money."
In the 1960s Viv and hubby Keith won the equivalent of £3 million on the pools and she told the world she was going to, "Spend Spend Spend". In ten years she blew the lot on designer dothes, fast cars and big houses. Then her champagne lifestyle spiralled out of control as she hit the drink and drugs.
But her lavish spending hid a tragic story of life with a violent dad and lost love. Just three years after the win, Keith crashed his Jaguar and died.
Barbara, who won acclaim for her role in the award-winning TV drama 'Band of Gold', said: "It wasn't really Viv who drew me to take the part. I didnt remember much about her. I could vaguely remember something about a blonde Yorkshire woman who had won the pools and it had all gone wrong.
"But the script and the songs were fabulous. It was almost like the show had some sort of moral message that money can't buy you happiness."
The show actually stars TWO Vivs, the older, and somewhat wiser Viv, played by Barbara, who looks back at the young woman, and her downfall, played by Rachel Leskovac. The musical was created by Steve Brown and Justin Greene, who bought the rights to Viv's autobiography - the second fortune she blew.
Barbara said: "I had read her book avidly and the script is taken directly from that. But I learned the most when she visited the cast during rehearsals. She sat with us all in a circle and we just asked her things that weren't in the book but we needed to know.
"Viv was a miner's wife from Castfeford in the 1950s. I knew something of the life she must have come from, coming from Dunfermline. It's a mining town and I knew miners and went to school with their
children.' She added: "Viv is extremely philosophical about what happened to her and she is very tough.
"Viv has survived this horrendous catalogue of stuff then went into a ten-year downward spiral until the late 70s, when she started to turn her life around. Now she's earning money from the musical which is fantastic. I know her son Howard looks after her finances now. I'm sure he will take care of her.
"I don't think she will do it again. But I understand there must be this terror deep in her soul about having an awful set of circumstances fall on her again, where everything is out of control."
Barbara believes Viv may have been able to exorcise some of her demons in the show. Although Viv is now 63, she has spoken about her fears that her insatiable appetite for money may take hold and ruin her for a third time. She blew the £60,000 she made from her autobiography 'Spend Spend Spend'
and suddenly had to survive on £60-a-week benefits.
Barbara said: "Viv Is an Interesting and worthwhile person to have a show made about her life. It must be very harrowing to watch two actresses go through that life. The public really enjoys the show, because you see her in the present day, looking back. You don't see her as a victim. She's not humiliated or done down. There is respect and dignity in the story."
Barbara believes the only way people could remain unaffected by Lottery and pools wins is to deal with it Alison Brarthwaite-style. Alison, played by Amanda Redman, wins £38 million on the Euro lottery but
doesn't want it to change her family so keeps it secret and sets up a company to help others in need.
Barbara said: "I think this is the only way you could keep an even keel - don't tell anyone but buy things that could really improve your life. It's when people try to step out of the world they know into a worid they don't that it becomes a nightmare. Go out and buy a few bits and pieces but leave that diamond tiara you've always longed for in Tiffany's."
Barbara has already played the role of Viv every day for four months - except Sundays, which she spends with sons Colm, Gabriel and Archie, and TV producer hubby Oliver Cookson.
Yesterday as she travelled back to London from her home in Lincolnshire, she said: "I always spend Sundays with the boys. It's been hard juggling everything and it's not exactly a relaxing day. But
even not doing the show is a rest. But I can't complain. The show is going great and it has won major awards. I am glad Viv is making some money out of it and I hope this time she can make a few bob to put away for her retirement."
'Trouble at the Top - Spend Spend Spend' is screened tonight BBC 2, 9.50pm.
Georgina Reid
