My name is Liz West,
and I’m the Guinness World Record holder
for having the biggest Spice Girls collection in the world.
The Sixth Spice Girl
I see this as the story of my life
I very vividly remember
sneaking up to my bedroom
and the Spice Girls had just been announced as being number 1.
I’d never heard so much energy before,
and I was just instantly gripped.
I started collecting memorabilia as soon as they launched
onto the pop scene, so that was 1996.
For me, the way to become closer to my idols
was to begin this collection. The more I had,
it meant the bigger fan I was.
Any Spice Girl fan will know that
if you collected the pink ring pulls,
you could send off for a limited edition Spice Girls CD.
We all remember Geri wearing those in Cannes!
Oh my god. I have to show you this.
Mel B is going to sing '2 Become 1'
...No she’s not.
I’ll always be buying those one or two things
that just keeps me up there.
Because once you’ve got a Guinness World Record,
you don’t want to let go of it.
To have costumes that they wore, as a fan, is the ultimate.
It’s because they’ve been photographed in it,
and because they’ve sung your favourite song wearing it
and because their energy has been present
in their bodies when they have worn it.
It’s just about having the very fabric that touched their bodies.
I have the Guinness World Record, that is a fact.
I am the biggest collector.
Seeing it all out, you just think, ‘wow, I have all this stuff'!
This belongs to me, no-one else.
There are other fans out there.
They’ve seen that I’ve got fame from my collection.
I’ve appeared on the television, I’ve met the girls,
the girls know who I am, and they think:
‘Oh, I want that.’
It’s caused rifts, and it’s caused bullying,
but it’s caused so much joy as well.
I think I’ll always be a fan.
When you fall in love with something so passionately,
it’s very hard to fall out.
They’ve taught me a lot about confidence, and determination,
and to be the person who I want to be.
The Spice Girls mean everything to me.
One day it would be amazing to see it on permanent display in a museum.
Now, whether that’s me that has to set up that museum somewhere,
or whether I would donate it to a museum in my will.
That is yet to be a decision that I have to make.
‘3 months later’
I’ve come to London for the launch of my
Ripley’s Spice Girl exhibition, which opens tonight.
it’s really magical for me to see it, as a collector,
out on mannequins how it should be.
(Screams) Let me at it!
Wow! It’s kind of unbelievable that it’s all mine
I want it in my house like this! That would be amazing!
I’ve always had a vision of having a room where I have it,
that I can just secretly go in and just potter. Well this is it,
this is like being in that dream!
There’s certain things that I kind of want to tweak,
just to protect the items.
There’s a few things, like I’ve seen photos that are the wrong way round.
Maybe just...like the bubble wrap needs pushing down?
The postcard’s the wrong way!
No, those are the glitter boots that go with that costume.
but it’s quite nice... it doesn’t matter.
I wish I was a Spice Girl.
That would have been really fun, wouldn’t it?
Press photographs, signatures,
t-shirts, keyrings, costumes, stationary...
Spice Girls crisps, drinks, body spray, sweets, chocolate...
Award discs, promotional items...
Spice Girls drinks, Spice Girls lollies,
Spice Girls Impulse, Spice Girls cameras...