The ups and downs in Vivian Nicholson’s fortunes are worthy of a movie. What happened after she got rich and lost everything.
In 1961, a young English couple would radically change their lives by win the British National Lottery, with a figure of £152,000which today would be equivalent to more than 6 million euros. Unlike those who prefer anonymity, Vivian and Keith Nicholson quickly publicized their luck, and when asked what they would do with the prize, they responded without any hesitation: spend, spend, spend.
Before getting that money, each worked for just £7 a week. They had never experienced any kind of luxury, and for the next 3 years they took it out intensely. Between clothes, houses and cars, they squandered half of their fortune, their houses were constantly the scene of parties, both day and night.
Vivi Nicholson
The story of Vivian Nicholson, the woman who was a billionaire but ended up in ruin and with unusual jobs
In 1965 everything would change when Keith Nicholson died in a car accident. From then on, since the prize was in his name, the State kept part of his inheritance. Vivian had to declare bankruptcy to stop the barrage of taxes. He saved part of the assets but lost them in the following years due to bad investments.
She married 3 times after being widowed with worse luck. Her suitors seemed to have only financial interests. After his second marriage, he began a tough battle against depression and alcoholism. She moved to Malta, but soon had a confrontation with the police and was expelled.
According to her, she hit rock bottom the day she was paid to star in a striptease dance singing the song ‘Big spender’. In 1984, the group The Smiths asked him for permission to use his image on the cover of the album “Heaven Knows I’m miserable now.”
In 1976, he finally found peace by getting a job in a perfume shop and wrote his autobiography “Spend, spend, spend”, which in 1999 became a successful musical in London. After a stroke caused dementia, he forgot who he was and how he spent his fortune and died on April 11, 2015 at the age of 79.
Source: Ambito
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