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"With the launch of the Spice Girls musical Viva Forever earlier this week, people the world over donned their Union Flag dresses and shouts of &amp;quot;Girl Power&amp;quot; filled the land (sort of).  Before the show opens to the general public this November, there is plenty of time for revision about the national treasures that are the Spice Girls.  We did some digging and unearthed some - occasionally surprising - facts and choice quotes from the girls.  1. Way back in 1993, when &amp;#039;Girl Power&amp;#039; was just a glint in Geri&amp;#039;s eye, five wannabes auditioned for a girl band. Halliwell looked older than the other girls and when asked her age, she replied: &amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m as old as you want me to be. I&amp;#039;ll be 10 with big boobs if you want.&amp;quot; She won the audition panel over with her &amp;#039;charm&amp;#039;, apparently.  2. The unknown Michelle Stephenson was in the original lineup, but was replaced by Emma Bunton after claims that she didn&amp;#039;t fit in with the rest of the group. Bet she&amp;#039;s kicking herself now.  3. It was a feature in Top of the Pops magazine that gave the Spice Girls their nicknames: Posh, Baby, Scary, Sporty and Ginger (briefly &amp;#039;Sexy&amp;#039;), in 1996.       4. The Spice Girls were the first all-female group to top the charts with their debut single when &amp;#039;Wannabe&amp;#039; hit the summit. The single was at number one for seven weeks and has gone on to sell four million copies. It reached the top spot in 31 countries, making it the most successful debut single ever. Girl Power indeed. 5. In an interview with The Spectator magazine Geri put on her political hat saying: &amp;quot;We Spice Girls are true Thatcherites. Thatcher was the first Spice Girl, the pioneer of our ideology, Girl Power. Thatcher had ideals all right - we love Maggie.&amp;quot; She added: &amp;quot;We met Tony Blair and he seemed nice enough. His hair&amp;#039;s all right, but we don&amp;#039;t agree with his tax policies. He&amp;#039;s just not a safe pair of hands for the economy.&amp;quot; Victoria said that she would never vote Labour but added that John Major was a &amp;quot;boring pillock&amp;quot;. However, not all the girls are pleased to be labelled Thatcherites - particularly anarchist Mel B and Labour supporter Mel C. Oooh, political tension!  6. On March 30, 1997, Spice Girls launched Channel 5, singing a re-written version of the 1960s hit &amp;#039;5-4-3-2-1&amp;#039;. Watch the cringy video below:      7. The meeting between Nelson Mandela and the Spice Girls caused Mandela to gush about the girls: &amp;quot;These are my heroes. This is one of the greatest moments in my life.&amp;quot; Why he didn&amp;#039;t replace Geri when she left we&amp;#039;ll never know.  8. In 2007, they announced they would be reforming as the original lineup and embarking on a world tour. However, their geography must be really bad, because they only made it to two out of seven continents. (Disclaimer: The tour actually ended prematurely after they had to cancel gigs in South America, South Africa and Asia due to &amp;#039;personal and family commitments&amp;#039;.) 9. Jennifer Saunders has written the book for Viva Forever and it will be produced by Judy Craymer, who was behind the ABBA musical Mamma Mia!. 10. Weirdly not everyone is a massive fan. Emma Bunton&amp;#039;s son is clueless of his mother&amp;#039;s success, apparently referring to the band as &amp;quot;the Spicey Girls&amp;quot;. Watch the classic video below to see where it all began:      Spice Girls through the years - photo gallery  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/showbiz/10-things-about/news/a390022/ten-things-about-the-spice-girls/>