Daily Mail

Zig-a-zig ah! Meet Walla B, aka Furry Spice

10 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE SPICE GIRLS

- Craig Brown

1 The Spice Girls are re-forming for a series of stadium concerts later this year. To publicise this reunion, they have gained worldwide publicity by revealing through a series of leaked videos that they have not got any better.

2 The Spice Girls were brought together in 1994 after a management team held auditions for an ‘all-female pop act’ to rival Take That and east 17.

Four hundred young women applied, of whom only five were eventually chosen. however, many of the unsuccessf­ul applicants that day went on to enjoy considerab­le success in other fields.

Mary Beard became Professor of Classics at Cambridge Univerisit­y and a popular TV historian, Carole Middleton mastermind­ed Party Pieces, a successful events company, and Theresa May became a Tory MP and rose to become Prime Minister in 2016. But some instincts never die: Mrs May was heard humming Viva Forever as she emerged from her first round of Brexit talks with the Leader of the Opposition last week.

3 OriGinaLLy, there were plans to have six Spice Girls, but the eldest, Old Spice, was dropped from the group after complaints from their choreograp­her that her Zimmer frame was slowing down the dance routines. Old Spice then embarked on a lucrative second career heading up the marketing campaign for a well-known brand of aftershave.

4 OVer the years, there has been considerab­le speculatio­n about the meaning of the lyrics of the band’s breakthrou­gh hit Wannabe. For almost a quarter of a century, musicologi­sts and historians have debated the exact meaning of the ‘zig-a-zig ah’ that the girls ‘really, really want’.

Some have argued it is some sort of sexual euphemism, others that it is Zulu vernacular for ‘ lots of money’. But at last a definitive answer has emerged. Professor Stephanie Bookish, of the University of yoxford, revealed to an internatio­nal Spice Girls Conference in Toronto last week that Zigazig ah is, in fact, an expensive make of Tuscan stone used for upmarket patios.

‘at that stage of their careers, the girls all yearned for costly patios for entertaini­ng their new showbiz friends. and the exotic lines and marble- effect finish of the Zigazig ah (available from harrods) was uppermost in their minds.’

5 Their resonant Girl Power slogan has ensured that the Spice Girls have long been regarded as our foremost feminist icons. ‘The way they sang and danced in skimpy tops and hot pants sent a powerful message to young girls that baring as much flesh as possible was the road to a future independen­t of men,’ argues Sue Person, feminist studies lecturer at the LSe.

6 The Spice Girls were all influenced by top american soprano Florence Foster Jenkins. ‘We owe everything to Florence,’ says Geri horner. ‘ Before we studied her, our voices were thin, reedy and hopelessly out-of-tune. But Florence taught us to mime.’

7 SOOn after they started, the Spice Girls adopted the names Sporty, Ginger, Posh, Baby and Scary. in time, they abandoned them for their real names — Mel C, Geri, Victoria, emma and Mel B. But their Official Fan Club has recently issued them with new nicknames in line with their current personalit­ies. These are: Dully, Pushy, Pricey, Bland and Dodgy.

8 aLL the Spice Girls’ nine number one hits, including Wannabe (released in australia as Walla B), were composed by the computer programme DirgeTune. ‘it was a fairly simple piece of programmin­g,’ explains computer guru Mervyn Dong. ‘We just typed in “da-di-da-di-da” plus a 4/4 beat and out came the songs.’

9 The Spice Girls are all accomplish­ed dancers. The most highly qualified is Geri, who took third prize in the tiny tots Latin/ american dance contest at her nursery school. Sadly, she was later disqualifi­ed. ‘it was not on the grounds of ability — only age,’ she explained. ‘it was so unfair. They announced out of nowhere that 23 was way too old for that category.’

10 aT The height of their success, the Spice Girls were feted by some of the most famous and powerful people in the world.

Vanessa redgrave appeared as the older Geri horner in the film of her life, Prince Philip duetted with her at the royal Variety Performanc­e and, on her official visit to South africa, nelson Mandela did a bit of light vacuuming for her.

The rest is history, or would be, if it were.

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