WEBVTT - Victoria Beckham: Becoming Posh Spice 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.600 In nineteen ninety four, Victoria Adams answered a call out 0:00:06.600 --> 0:00:10.160 in a magazine looking for a new girl band. While 0:00:10.160 --> 0:00:13.040 her voice needed work, she had the IP factor, with 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:15.640 management praising her grace and sophistication. 0:00:16.040 --> 0:00:18.959 And I wanted to sing and dance, but again I 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.120 wasn't the best. It was always just about working really, 0:00:22.440 --> 0:00:23.240 really hard. 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:26.680 From there, The Spice Girls was born and Victoria shot 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:34.360 to international fame as posh Spice. Renowned for her strict 0:00:34.520 --> 0:00:38.040 no smiling rule, Victoria became misunderstood by the public. 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:40.680 I think people probably see me as a miserable patty bitch. 0:00:40.680 --> 0:00:42.519 To be completely honest in a. 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:46.320 Romance made in nineties Heaven, Victoria's high profile marriage to 0:00:46.360 --> 0:00:49.400 football superstar David Beckham defined the era. 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:51.479 They were both famous in their own right, but when 0:00:51.520 --> 0:00:54.400 they came together, it went and they became twenty times 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.080 as famous, you know, as a couple. 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:00.360 With it, though, came intense media scrutiny and wards of 0:01:00.440 --> 0:01:02.520 paparazzi following their every move. 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:06.920 I went from being a regular teenager to all of 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:11.199 a sudden being on the cover of every magazine, every 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:15.959 tabloid newspaper, constantly being talked about. Herds of paparazzi and 0:01:16.120 --> 0:01:21.400 fans outside my family home, and it happened almost overnight. 0:01:21.680 --> 0:01:23.720 As well as a string of Chuning scandals. 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:26.759 The chemistry between David and I were so strong that 0:01:26.959 --> 0:01:30.800 everyone was aware, and people weren't happy, obviously. 0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.520 Because I was being very unprofessional and he's a married man. 0:01:33.840 --> 0:01:36.960 I was very very upset because as much as he's 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:40.000 telling me this is not true, I swear on our 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:44.680 unborn babies life this is not true. I am still reading. 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:47.960 He had a huge erection as he stood up and 0:01:48.000 --> 0:01:50.360 walked away from where we'd been rolling about for the 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.680 last three hours. And I'm reading this seven months pregnant, 0:01:54.240 --> 0:01:57.280 and David is saying yes, but I don't even know 0:01:57.320 --> 0:01:58.320 who this person is. 0:01:59.560 --> 0:02:02.600 We are journalists Kay Amy and Sophie Torbat and this 0:02:02.640 --> 0:02:05.760 is our new series Unspoken, where we bring you the 0:02:05.880 --> 0:02:09.320 unspoken stories behind the biggest pop culture headlines to rock 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:14.000 the nineties and early noughties. Ever since the Beckham doco 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:16.480 dropped back in October, we have been so. 0:02:16.639 --> 0:02:18.080 Keen to bring this story to you. 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.720 And while the doco was much loved, one criticism of 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.720 it was there wasn't enough posh spice, So that is 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:28.399 what we're bringing you today a deep dive on Victoria Beckham. Yeah, 0:02:28.400 --> 0:02:31.120 and she is someone who is quite misunderstood by the 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.799 general public because often we see her in paparazzi photos 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:38.600 where she's frowning or pouting. She often never smiles, and 0:02:38.680 --> 0:02:40.840 a lot of people were quite surprised that she seemed 0:02:40.840 --> 0:02:43.160 to have such a great sense of humour in the documentary. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:46.280 She was so iconic in that doco, and that's just 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:49.760 what's left people wanting more of her. I suppose Victoria 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.080 is known more for her image rather than her personality. Yeah, 0:02:53.120 --> 0:02:55.720 and I suppose we've found out that her personality is 0:02:55.760 --> 0:02:58.000 a lot more interesting than that image that she puts 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:01.040 out there. Yeah. Well, despite being admired and loved by 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:04.320 generation of young girls in the nineties, Victoria said that 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:08.240 her childhood was in complete contrast. So she grew up 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:11.720 as Victoria Adams in Hertfordshire with her parents Jackie and 0:03:11.760 --> 0:03:16.040 Anthony Adams, sister Luise and brother Christian. Now her mum 0:03:16.080 --> 0:03:19.240 was an insurance clerk and hairdresser, whilst her father founded 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:22.680 an electronics wholesale business and the company was a big 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:25.920 success and with it it brought a comfortable lifestyle for 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:28.960 the Adams family. It's only just struck me now that 0:03:29.040 --> 0:03:31.280 she was part of the Adams family, because of course 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.640 that was a television show about a scary family growing up, 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:38.000 and we've seen Wednesday Adams on Netflix. I do wonder 0:03:38.080 --> 0:03:40.080 if that was part of the reason why she was 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.080 bullied so much at school. She has said that jealousy 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:46.120 was a big part of why she wasn't popular at school. 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:49.200 In an interview during her two thousand and four documentary 0:03:49.280 --> 0:03:52.360 Being Victoria Beckham, she said that she was targeted for 0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:53.680 her privileged upbringing. 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:54.960 Here's what she said. 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.360 I never really fitted in at school, partly because I 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:02.920 came from quite privileged family. My dad, when he first 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:05.520 started up his company, his ambition was to have a 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.480 Rolls Royce and he said, I'm going to have a 0:04:07.560 --> 0:04:12.680 Rolls Royce and he did, and it haunted me. But 0:04:12.800 --> 0:04:14.520 he did have one. 0:04:15.080 --> 0:04:17.640 So Victoria's dad would drop her off at school in 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:21.200 the Rolls Royce, which antagonized the bullies even more. And 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.560 perhaps this is why she was so funny about it 0:04:23.600 --> 0:04:26.520 when David brought it up in the recent doco. Yeah, 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:28.600 it's clear that it is a sow point for her. 0:04:28.920 --> 0:04:32.240 It is quite confusing though, because at our school growing up, 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:33.600 I think if you were to rock up in a 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:36.080 Rolls Royce, everyone would be jealous of you, but in 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:36.560 a good way. 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:37.760 They'd want to have a ride in it. 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:40.280 I think it would depend on the student though, because 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.800 I can imagine if someone wasn't very popular and they 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:45.719 were being picked up in a Rolls Royce, that would 0:04:45.800 --> 0:04:48.880 stand out, and people don't tend to like people that 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.960 are different at school. I was surprised to hear that 0:04:52.160 --> 0:04:55.720 Victoria wasn't very confident about her appearance at school because 0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:58.680 she was arguably the most glamorous spic scale. 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:00.000 Let's have a listen to what she said. 0:05:01.279 --> 0:05:04.239 When I was at school, I was a complete minga. 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:07.680 I had permed hair the lot, not the best looking. 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.200 He always laughed when I hear the word minga, because 0:05:11.200 --> 0:05:13.600 it's not a term that we use here in Australia. Yeah, 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:15.160 it's a bit of a blast from the past as 0:05:15.200 --> 0:05:18.440 well now. As well as not being confident in her appearance, 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:20.800 she also struggled to make friends and said that she 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:24.040 never really fit in at school, and Victoria's mum, Jackie, 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:26.720 said she was always aware that in the school holidays 0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.359 no one ever phoned for Victoria or asked her to 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:31.239 go out and play dates or come around. 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:32.960 I bet they're regretting that now. 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.680 It was a similar story for David Beckham growing up, 0:05:35.720 --> 0:05:37.719 because he didn't have a large group of friends at 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:40.720 school and it was only until he joined Manchester United 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.360 that he forged some of those strong friendships that went 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:46.440 on into his adulthood. So I wonder if that's why 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.120 he and Victoria were so besotted with one another and 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:52.040 became each other's worlds when they did finally meet. Well, 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:56.200 they clearly connected on that. When Victoria turned sixteen, she 0:05:56.360 --> 0:06:00.560 did start attending Lane's Dance School, where she studied dancing modeling, 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:03.640 and she was inspired by the musical film Fame and 0:06:03.720 --> 0:06:07.080 had her heart set on a musical career. So it 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.599 was at this school that Victoria started developing insecurities that 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.840 would follow her for the rest of her life. In 0:06:12.839 --> 0:06:15.640 a two thousand and four documentary, Victoria said for the 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:18.599 first time she became self conscious about her weight. 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:19.919 Here's what she said. 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:25.479 I first remember starting to get very self conscious about 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:27.599 the way that I look at my figure when I 0:06:27.640 --> 0:06:31.080 was sixteen and I went to Lane's Dancing School, they 0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.720 do weigh you, they do make you very conscious of 0:06:33.760 --> 0:06:36.600 your weight. And as much as part of me would 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:39.360 actually sit here and say that's terrible because you are 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:43.800 making people have eating disorders, one side of me says that, 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:46.680 but the other side of me says, yes, but to 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:49.760 be a dancer, you do have to be small. It's 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.839 hard and it's horrible. And basically she was probably actually 0:06:53.880 --> 0:06:56.480 preparing us for what we were going to be told 0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:58.400 when we left. Some of the girls at these dancing 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:03.480 schools eat tissues. I mean not just anorexic or bollimik, 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.960 they eat tissues that I mean, the things that people 0:07:07.040 --> 0:07:09.120 try to lose weight is unbelievable. 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:14.920 During the documentary, producers also interviewed Betty Lane, who's the 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:18.160 principal of Lane's dance school, and she said, if you're 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:21.640 going into the specific field where your foresake is of importance, 0:07:21.880 --> 0:07:24.440 then we have to bring it to your attention. She 0:07:24.600 --> 0:07:27.440 continued saying, I would not say that Victoria was fat 0:07:27.480 --> 0:07:30.240 while she was training, but she did possibly need to 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:32.920 lose some pounds during her time here, as most of 0:07:32.960 --> 0:07:36.680 them do. Now. As part of the documentary, Victoria came 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:39.280 back to visit the school and hand out awards to 0:07:39.320 --> 0:07:42.679 the current students, and it was so awkward because despite 0:07:42.760 --> 0:07:45.480 Victoria giving back to the school while she was at 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:48.160 the peak of her fame, Betty was quick to point 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:50.600 out that there were a lot more girls with more 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.800 talent than Victoria that are doing less than her, So 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.840 she was referring that Victoria simply got lucky. 0:07:56.560 --> 0:07:57.320 With her career. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.679 Gee, she sounds like such a lovely world, not only 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.400 commenting on a sixteen year old's appearance, but then such 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:05.640 a backhanded comment. 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.120 She kind of sounds like, you know, the show dance Mums. Yes, 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:10.720 she does well. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.720 Victoria herself, she has always been self deprecating about her 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.720 singing ability, and she really plays into the joke, which 0:08:17.800 --> 0:08:20.640 is something I really like about her. She's even done 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:23.640 skits about her microphone always being turned off and making 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.640 sure it's turned on during interviews, so she has some 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.520 fun with it. And she knows that pop stardom is 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:33.080 more about branding and star quality than simply your voice, 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:36.480 and she's always been adamant that she's worked really hard 0:08:36.480 --> 0:08:39.240 to get there. In a twenty twenty interview, she said, 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:41.360 I wanted to go on the stage, and I wanted 0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.400 to sing and dance, but again I wasn't the best. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.679 It was always just about working really, really hard. I 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:50.959 was very ambitious, very determined, never afraid to put in 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.839 the hard work, and very focused. Now I didn't realize this, 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:58.920 but Victoria's first real boyfriend was not David Beckham. It 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:02.480 was actually Mark would So she was just fourteen when 0:09:02.480 --> 0:09:05.040 she met him for the first time at her parents' house, 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:08.120 of all places. So Mark was working for a parent's 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.959 company as an alarm engineer and he was on the 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:15.160 job fixing their electrics when the chance meeting occurred. So 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:18.600 they were together for six years, with Mark even living 0:09:18.640 --> 0:09:21.720 with Victoria in her parents' home in Hertfordshire Well. It 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:24.440 was at this time, in nineteen ninety four, when Victoria 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:28.440 spotted an advertisement in trade magazine The Stage, looking for 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.600 singers to audition for a girl band, and shortly after 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.960 Victoria auditioned for The Spice Girls. Mark really wanted to 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.120 lock down this relationship and he proposed to Victoria. I 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:40.840 love how quick he was on that, Like shit, he 0:09:40.960 --> 0:09:44.360 knew that he needed to lock that down. But even so, 0:09:45.240 --> 0:09:48.520 it's not like you're really getting any guarantee because joining 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:50.560 a band like the spice girls. That's going to change 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:52.920 your whole life. To be fair, they had been together 0:09:53.000 --> 0:09:55.240 for six years, so perhaps it was just the next 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:59.080 step for them now despite not being married yet, Victoria 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:03.720 began calling an Victoria Adams would and the name even 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:07.920 appeared on early Spy Scales merchandise. I wonder how much 0:10:08.040 --> 0:10:10.839 that merchandise would be worth now, surely a lot now 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:12.720 that you say it, I swear I have seen that 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:15.960 name on merch before. It definitely doesn't have the ring 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.440 of Beckham, does it, though Adam's will, No. 0:10:18.440 --> 0:10:19.080 It doesn't. 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:21.600 I wonder if the management team behind the Spy Scales 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:23.920 was pissed off about this, because normally, if you're in 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:26.440 a girl group or a boy band, they want you 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:29.320 to appear single so that people want to date you 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:32.560 when you're really enticing. So it's pretty interesting that she 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:34.800 even added the second name onto her own. 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:36.840 Well, the engagement didn't last long. 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:40.240 Mark was left heartbroken when Victoria ended their six year 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.680 relationship just as the band was taking off. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:43.200 As you do. 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:47.280 She did open up about the breakup on Channel four, 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.120 saying it wasn't the right person for me. I wasn't 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:53.440 enjoying myself so that had to end. She did admit 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:54.800 she didn't give the ring back. 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:58.960 Here's what she said. I didn't give him the ring back. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:00.400 Eye if I've still got it because it was a 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:02.440 wicked dream. It's not horrible. 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:06.320 I love that she calls it a wicked ring. This 0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:09.920 just adds to Victoria's quota of engagement rings because it's 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:14.280 been widely publicized that David has given Victoria fifteen engagement 0:11:14.360 --> 0:11:17.440 rings over their twenty four year marriage. So really, if 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.160 we're doing the math, she has sixteen if we add 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:22.640 Mark's ring. I really want to see what this first 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:26.280 engagement ring looks like, because I'm sure the other fifteen 0:11:26.320 --> 0:11:28.760 that Beckham has given her has shit all over it. 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:30.240 Poor Mark. Now. 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:33.199 At the time of their breakup, things were pretty cordial 0:11:33.240 --> 0:11:35.960 in the media. Mark had only nice things to say 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:39.280 about Victoria. In nineteen ninety seven, he told the people 0:11:39.360 --> 0:11:42.160 that it was a very special relationship, but that part 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:44.719 of my life is over. It's sad because we were 0:11:44.760 --> 0:11:47.120 together for a long time. But she got what she 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.240 always wanted and I'm proud of her now. Things did 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.240 turn nasty, though, when Mark gave a paid interview to 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.559 a newspaper saying that he had sex with Victoria on 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.920 a train. Victoria said that she'd lived a very shelter 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:03.240 life until that point and couldn't believe what she was 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.520 reading in the paper, and said it was particularly horrifying 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:10.080 for her to see her dad opening the paper that morning. God, 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.200 that would be absolutely mortifying. She said in her two 0:12:13.200 --> 0:12:16.120 thousand and four documentary, I wouldn't even mind, but it 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.240 didn't even happen. Most people have a price, which is 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:20.280 really sad. 0:12:20.559 --> 0:12:20.719 Now. 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:25.160 In the same interview, Victoria also seemingly dismissed their relationship, saying, 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:28.360 for some reason we got engaged. He was an alarm engineer. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:30.760 If only he stayed in that cupboard that I met 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.800 him in my mom and dad's house. Now, Mark was 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.760 really hurt by these comments, and he did seek revenge. 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.840 So he appeared on a two thousand and five documentary 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:43.240 called Victoria Beckham's Secrets, and this is where he spoke 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.920 candidly about their sex life. So he told the documentary 0:12:46.960 --> 0:12:50.120 that he took the singer's virginity at seventeen and claims 0:12:50.200 --> 0:12:53.240 she was addicted to sex and I quote went like 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:55.880 an express train during a romp in the toilets of 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:59.839 a train. How disrespectful. I hate the wording took the 0:12:59.880 --> 0:13:02.760 singer's virginity as if it's something that you can take 0:13:02.840 --> 0:13:06.080 from someone, and just trying to phrase her as this 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:09.800 sex maniac. We know back in the early two thousands 0:13:09.840 --> 0:13:12.880 that this was something that wasn't seen in a positive light. 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:14.880 It was very slut shaming. Yeah. 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.439 Ahead of the documentary airing, a Channel five spokesperson said, 0:13:18.720 --> 0:13:21.920 as they always say, revenge is a dish best served cold. 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:25.559 Mark has never spoken before in public about his relationship 0:13:25.600 --> 0:13:28.120 with Victoria, but feels it is time to set the 0:13:28.240 --> 0:13:31.320 record straight. She has made him look foolish in front 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:34.120 of the cameras. They actually dated for six years and 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:37.040 split up shortly before she started dating David Beckham in 0:13:37.120 --> 0:13:40.080 nineteen ninety seven. Mark was quite hurt by what she 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:44.440 said and doesn't intend sparing Victoria's blushes. What a way 0:13:44.520 --> 0:13:45.880 to promote your documentary. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:47.360 But what a poor guy. 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:50.359 He was hurt, so he decided to slut shame Victoria. 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:51.920 Like what a dick heare all. 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.040 Like, he was completely jealous when it came out that 0:13:54.120 --> 0:13:57.160 she was dating David Beckham. Yeah, Well, as we touched on, 0:13:57.320 --> 0:14:00.240 Victoria spotted the advertisement for a girl group in the 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:03.600 Stage magazine, and the band was the brainchild of father 0:14:03.679 --> 0:14:06.880 and son duo Chris and Bob Herbert, who arranged a 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:10.120 series of auditions in central London in nineteen ninety four 0:14:10.360 --> 0:14:12.320 when he noticed there was a huge gap in the 0:14:12.360 --> 0:14:15.240 market for a girl group. I was surprised to hear 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.360 the only four hundred women responded to the ad and 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:22.280 audition for the group, and the auditions were an open call, 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:25.080 with the girls scored on a range of categories during 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:29.960 the audition process, including dance, singing, looks and personality. It 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.080 sounds like some sort of Miss Universe competition now. Victoria 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.880 said she was the only one to use the piano 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:40.520 in her audition and belt it out a cabaret performance 0:14:40.800 --> 0:14:43.080 whilst the other girls were all singing Queen of the 0:14:43.160 --> 0:14:47.480 Night from Whitney Houston. Now. While Victoria's voice wasn't as 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:50.720 strong as the other girls, Chris liked that she was graceful, 0:14:50.840 --> 0:14:52.640 classic and sophisticated. 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:53.000 Now. 0:14:53.000 --> 0:14:55.920 As for Jerry halliwell, she almost didn't make the band, 0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:59.840 so Chris invited her along to the audition and just hours. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:00.680 Before she pulled out. 0:15:00.920 --> 0:15:04.200 This was because she had got really badly burnt on 0:15:04.240 --> 0:15:07.080 a holiday in Spain and it made it really hard 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:08.480 for her to dance and sing. 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:09.160 Poor Ginger. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:13.160 No, So, despite not attending the initial audition, Jerry went 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.080 out to a bar for a few drinks and she 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.200 proceeded to call Chris and Bob Herbert and demanded to 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.440 be included in the callback audition. Now she was granted 0:15:21.440 --> 0:15:23.440 that wish and made sure to stand out at the 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.200 next audition. Melbe said Jerry looked like a mad, eccentric 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.200 nutter from another planet, just what you want to look 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:31.280 like at an audition. 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:31.960 Now. 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:35.160 Melc was also a late call up, so she only 0:15:35.200 --> 0:15:38.240 became a Spy Scale after another performer by the name 0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:42.160 of Leanne Morgan was removed from the process. So Morgan 0:15:42.240 --> 0:15:45.160 was twenty three at the time and was deemed too 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:48.200 old to join the group because the Herberts wanted the 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:50.120 spy Scales to be younger than that. 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:51.120 That just blows my mind. 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:55.200 Twenty three too old now. Another singer called Michelle Stevenson 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.360 briefly became an official member, but that came to a 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.880 quick end. So according to Chris, Michelle was fired from 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:04.640 the Spy Skirls because she wasn't fitting in and didn't 0:16:04.680 --> 0:16:07.600 Gel with the rest of the band. Victoria backed this 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:09.520 statement up, saying Michelle didn't have. 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:11.800 The work ethic needed to be a Spice Girl. 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:14.120 She said she couldn't be asked to put in the 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:18.160 same amount of work that the other Spice Girls were. Now, Michelle, 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:20.920 of course says that she does regret the decision because 0:16:20.960 --> 0:16:23.840 she's not a multi millionaire, but at the same time, 0:16:23.920 --> 0:16:25.920 when she left the group, she knew she was doing 0:16:25.960 --> 0:16:28.400 the right thing, and she still thinks it was the 0:16:28.520 --> 0:16:33.160 right thing now. Once Melby, Emma Bunton and Jerry Halliwell 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.680 were officially selected, they became members of a band called Touch. 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.120 But in nineteen ninety five, the band left their original 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.920 management and teamed up with musical manager Simon Fuller and 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:48.400 signed to deal with Virgin Records, so they underwent a 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:51.680 complete rebrand and were named the Spy Skirls. 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:52.280 Wow. 0:16:52.400 --> 0:16:55.520 I did not realize they were originally called Touch. That 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.440 seems like such a shit name in comparison. I wonder 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:00.920 if it's only because we know the name as it 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:04.760 is now. I'm just surprised that the management didn't make 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:06.760 Melby and Melse change their name. 0:17:07.520 --> 0:17:09.080 Having two members called mel. 0:17:09.080 --> 0:17:12.679 Yeah, now Victoria said that they had lost confidence with 0:17:12.760 --> 0:17:16.520 their original managers, Bob and Chris, as everything seemed to 0:17:16.520 --> 0:17:20.080 be moving so slowly, and they really like Simon Fuller 0:17:20.080 --> 0:17:23.040 because he had a good reputation in the industry. In 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:26.960 nineteen ninety six, they released their debut album, Spice, which 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:30.920 became a worldwide commercial hit, with the album peaking at 0:17:30.960 --> 0:17:33.960 number one in more than seventeen countries and it was 0:17:34.000 --> 0:17:38.040 certified multi platinum in twenty seven countries, and the album 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:41.360 has since sold thirty million copies worldwide. 0:17:41.680 --> 0:17:42.760 Now, I would have thought that. 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.760 A highly paid marketing team would have devised the Spice 0:17:45.840 --> 0:17:48.399 Girl's nicknames. So over the years we've come to know 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.600 them as Baby, Scary, Sporty, Ginger, and Posh. But Melb 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.600 broke the illusion, telling the Huffington Post that there was 0:17:55.640 --> 0:17:59.240 actually a magazine editor who gave them their nicknames. So 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.280 she said, it was actually a lazy journalist that couldn't 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:04.760 be bothered to remember all of our names, so he 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:07.040 just gave us nicknames. And we were like, oh, well 0:18:07.119 --> 0:18:09.359 that kind of works. I don't mind my name. Do 0:18:09.440 --> 0:18:12.200 you like your name Baby Posh? We were like, let's 0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:16.160 just go with it. The journalist in question was Peter Lorraine, 0:18:16.160 --> 0:18:19.399 who ran UK magazine and TV show Top of the Pops, 0:18:19.680 --> 0:18:22.560 and he devised the nicknames for a feature story that 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:24.959 he wrote on the band that ran in July at 0:18:25.040 --> 0:18:28.320 nineteen ninety six, and as you said, Kate, he developed 0:18:28.320 --> 0:18:31.679 the names out of pure convenience. Peter said, Posh was 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:34.240 the first one to be thought up because Victoria looks 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:37.760 pretty sophisticated. The rest were pretty easy because the girl's 0:18:37.840 --> 0:18:41.320 characters were already really strong. The names just jumped out 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:43.639 at us. We laughed the most when we came up 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.520 with scary Now. One of Peter's colleagues, Jennifer, actually came 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.119 up with Melby's name because she said that she was 0:18:50.240 --> 0:18:52.640 so loud at the photo shoot and tried to take 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:55.639 over the whole thing. I always wondered when I was 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.359 growing up why there was only actually one spice like 0:18:59.520 --> 0:19:01.480 ging Just spis made sense to me, But I'm like, 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:05.120 it doesn't make sense. Shouldn't they be like saffron spice 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:08.399 or cinnamon spice? Is terrible that that only just tweaked 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:10.760 for me. Ginger being a spice, I never even thought 0:19:10.760 --> 0:19:13.840 of that. I thought it as being a description. Victoria 0:19:13.960 --> 0:19:17.120 really found herself in the Spice Skirls. So in an interview, 0:19:17.440 --> 0:19:19.879 she said that being around the other Spy Skirls helped 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:22.159 her come out of a shell and grow her confidence. 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:23.960 Let's write a more of what she said. 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:27.720 Do you know I think because I was so bullied 0:19:27.760 --> 0:19:30.560 when I was at school, I was very, very shy, 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.080 a little bit introvert. And when I met the Spice Girls, 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.480 I met four other girls like me. We were all 0:19:37.600 --> 0:19:42.000 underdogs in our own way. Individually not that great, but 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:46.639 collectively we really worked and we had something very special 0:19:46.800 --> 0:19:50.960 and most people out there could relate to one of us. 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:51.360 Together. 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:54.840 We then began a mission of girl power. And this 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:56.879 was a long time ago. I mean I remember the 0:19:56.920 --> 0:20:00.240 first time we went to a record company and we 0:20:00.280 --> 0:20:02.760