Over the years, I have currently been writing my autobiography 50 years on from the win with some fantastic new revelations discussing my addiction to drink, coping with losing the one I love, poverty riches. Faith, Family troubles, and lots more
And what was the driving force that made me carry on?
I have revealed all to my Son
Howard my thoughts and feelings and to my surprise, he and my children have many things they want to tell. this book will also include her children's accounts of what life was like with Viv. One of the questions I get asked the most often is, `What was it like growing up with Viv as a mum?' I always say, `I don't know any other. She's the only mum I've ever had.' But it has been an interesting one, never dull. I hope this autobiography will tell Viv's life in all its Technicolor glory.
SO If you're reading this website, I'm wondering what you know about me. There's plenty out th
So If you're reading this website, I'm wondering what you know about me. There's plenty out there, what with my book from way back, a stage play and a musical. There's been plenty in the papers over the years as well. Never mind that me and Keith won the jackpot, I think the press thought they did too, what with all the goings on they printed about us. They made us their bread and butter.
Anyway, I remember people had plenty to say about me, long before the score draws came up. I was always a hothead and never let anyone get one over on me. I think I just wanted my own way and I'm glad I did, because it was tough having nothing back then and there was no one to mollycoddle you if you didn't look out for yourself.
It's been 50 years since those numbers came up and I can hardly believe it. Mind you, we couldn't believe it when Keith matched his coupon to the scores they read out on the radio. We didn't know for sure, for days. There was no way to check. No going online back then and not even a number to ring. Well, if there was a number, we didn't have a phone. That's when the crazy times started. Before we even knew it, we were giddy and outspending. We were celebrating and not sleeping and scared stupid that we'd got it wrong because we'd gone and blown the rent money, mine and my Mam's.
We had to wait. For that knock, on the door. Then things really went crazy and for a long time. I was a kid then. Of course, I had kids of my own, but i was still a kid and I was way out of my depth. You know, after the win, I took the press round the sweet factory where I'd worked. I'd worked there since I was thirteen, and hard work too. I had this stupid idea to pick up my wages that I was owed and give it out to the girls for a drink, but they didn't want to know me. Maybe they thought i was rubbing their faces in it, but I wasn't. They were jealous. And not just because of the win but because it was me, because I'd always got my own way they thought, leaving the first guy I married and getting with Keith.
Anyway, I got jeered and shouted at, and with the press there. The snooty neighbours on the estate we moved to were no better so we partied harder and turned the music up even louder.
I knew my dad was an alcoholic. I knew he would drink our last penny even if we starved. My Mam would have to stitch sugar and soap into the blankets to hide them from him, he was that bad. He'd sell anything we had for another drop or for a last smoke. I knew my dad had a drink problem but it seemed different for us because we could feed the kids. We had the clothes, the cars and the lifestyle and the drink just went along with it.
After Keith died I didn't even worry about the drink. It was just a fact of life and nothing much mattered. Losing a love like that just shocks you to the core. We didn't always get along, me and Keith, but we could never have been apart. He wanted me everywhere with him.
After all this time, and all these years without Keith, I wonder how I coped. I wonder why my family never turned their back on me. I think having that love that I had with Keith, made me strong. Even though I suffered the pain of losing him I'd known love. That's a gift. It comes from somewhere and once you've known it you're filled with it. Even though i sank so low over the years I still had that love
