1. Mel B, Victoria, Geri, and Mel C became members of the Spice Girls after they responded to a casting call for a girl group in a magazine in March 1993.
2. It read, "R.U. 18-23 with the ability to sing/dance. R.U. streetwise, outgoing, ambitious and dedicated?"
3. Mel B's audition song was Whitney Houston's "The Greatest Love of All".
4. Victoria's was "Mein Herr" from Cabaret, because she had a musical theatre background.
5. Mel C sang "I'm So Excited" by The Pointer Sisters.
6. And Geri missed the audition because she was visiting her grandmother in Spain. She rung the casting agent a couple of months later to see if they were still looking for someone and arranged a late audition.
7. Initially, the fifth member of the band was Michelle Stevenson.
8. Back then, the band was called Touch.
9. But Michelle left because of a family illness and the fact that she wanted to go to college.
10. She was replaced by Emma Bunton, who Victoria already knew.
11. Emma had attended stage school since the age of 11.
12. The group's managers at the time provided them with songs and similar outfits, and tried to tie the group down to a contract they felt was unacceptable.
13. They ended up paying off those managers because they didn't feel they were the right fit. They had to take out a loan to do so.
14. Their next step was putting together a showcase and inviting a bunch of record labels. That's how they met Simon Fuller.
15. When he said he was interested, they went to him with six songs. He signed them immediately.
16. At the time, all five women were living together in a house in Maidenhead.
17. To celebrate being signed by Virgin, Victoria pulled her knickers off and threw them out of her taxi window.
18. Before they had a manager, the Spice Girls rehearsed in Emma's mum's house.
19. Their names (Posh, Baby, Sporty, Ginger, and Scary) were thought up by a features writer at Top of the Pops magazine. Once the names were printed, they stuck.
20. "Wannabe", the group's debut single, was written in 20 minutes.
21. It entered the UK charts at No. 3. The group celebrated with a bottle of champagne in Geri's sister's garden.
22. And then it climbed up to No. 1 when the group were in Japan on a world tour.
23. As a result, Top of the Pops flew a crew over to Japan for the group to film a performance for the show.
24. The band asked Tony Blair to be in the music video for "Wannabe". Sadly, he refused.
25. After the album Spice went to No. 1, Virgin gave each of the women a $500 Tiffany's voucher.
26. Emma's favourite Spice Girls video is "Say You'll Be There".
27. The video was filmed in the Mojave desert in Southern California, where the group filmed from 5am–9pm every day.
28. Because Emma was already trained in karate, she taught the other women how to do punches and high kicks for the video.
29. During filming, Victoria spent 40 minutes standing on the hood of the car in the midday heat.
30. She later said you could wring the sweat out of the catsuit she was wearing afterwards.
31. In fact, it was so hot that Emma passed out from sunstroke.
32. The video for "Stop" was filmed in Ireland. Because they didn't have enough notice to ask the local school to close for a day, the band had to film against a backdrop of screaming children.
33. The video for "Two Become One" was not actually filmed in New York; it was filmed against a blue screen.
34. And the video for "Viva Forever" was animated because by that point, the group were so busy they didn't have time to film it.
35. One time Geri got a false fingernail stuck in her ear on a video shoot.
36. In one week in March in 1997, 141 stories about The Spice Girls were printed in the British press.
37. The first thing Emma bought with the money she made from the band was a house with a garden for her mum, because she'd grown up in a flat.
38. The first things Mel C bought were a house for her mum and a car for her brother.
39. Similarly, Victoria bought a house for her sister and her boyfriend.
40. Meanwhile, Geri got a second-hand red convertible car.
41. Both Geri and Mel C have spoken about suffering from eating disorders at the height of their fame.
42. And Mel C has spoken about suffering from depression during her time in the band.
43. At one point, Victoria's mum called Simon Fuller and told him the group needed a break.
44. The group ended up sacking Simon Fuller after the 1997 MTV Music Awards, opting to regain artistic control of their own group.
45. The day they left Simon Fuller's label, the group shoved all of their stuff in bin bags, stuffed them into Geri's car boot, and did a runner.
46. The group's first live arena show was in Istanbul.
47. Before they went onstage, Geri turned to Victoria and said, "I'm scared." Victoria replied, "Don't worry. They're only here to see your big hair and your big boobs."
48. One time, when their tour reached Taiwan, Geri and Mel C needed to pee. So they entered what was either a temple or a ballroom, found a bunch of towels in the corner, and peed on them.
49. Before joining the band, Geri did some glamour modelling.
50. Back then, her dad was a car salesman and her mum was a cleaning lady.
51. Mel B's dad was a hot-metal shift worker and her mum was a department store salesgirl.
52. Emma's dad was a milkman and her mum was a martial arts instructor.
53. Victoria's dad was an electrical retailer and her mum didn't work.
54. And Mel C's dad worked in the travel business, while her mum was singer.
55. The day Geri famously pinched Prince Charles' bum was the same day Victoria met David Beckham for the first time.
56. They met at a charity football match, after which he requested a meeting with her.
57. When the band visited Nelson Mandela's house, Mel B stole toilet roll and stones from a plant pot to give to the hair and makeup people.
58. The famous Union Jack dress Geri wore to the 1997 Brit Awards was supposed to be a little black dress. However, Geri felt it was boring and sewed a Union Jack on it. She then added a peace sign to the back because her stylist was worried that the Union Jack flag could come across as racist.
59. The decision for the band to dress in clothes that anyone could afford to buy was conscious. They wanted their look to be attainable to their fans.
60. The Japanese symbol tattoos on Mel C's arm mean "woman" and "strength"; basically, "girl power".
61. Geri told the other women that she was leaving the band as they got off a private jet from Oslo. Her departing words were, "I'm gonna say bye now, girls."
62. Because the other women didn't believe she'd actually left, they pretended she was sick for their first TV appearance without her.
63. Geri later said she had wanted to do an appearance for a breast cancer charity she felt close to, and the other girls wouldn't let her, contributing to her decision to quit the band. She said it was the final straw.
64. The rest of the band took a week off after Geri left.
65. Although the band stayed together, Mel C recorded the third album separately to the rest of the group because she was recording her solo material.
66. Mel B and Victoria both found out they were pregnant on their final tour of America.
67. Years after the band split, Victoria, Emma, Mel C, and Geri got talking about embarking on a reunion tour at Geri's daughter Bluebell's christening.
68. Once they got Mel B on board, the only had a month to rehearse.
69. And the group are currently rumoured to be reforming again to celebrate their 20th anniversary. Omg, can't wait.