I believe it was actor Randolph Scott who is said to be Cary Grant's dearest.
I loved my best friend, Johnny, (who got me into the JW cult) as much as one human can love another. (David and Jonathan-ish).
It isn't amory in the sexual sense which made those men my ideals--it was their sly, witty charm and irresistible effect on women :)
I defended Rock Hudson against the rumors he was gay. Then, I discovered I was way off the track on that one and felt pretty dumb.
I don't care. These guys had a definite attractiveness I fashioned myself after.
TerryWalstrom
JoinedPosts by TerryWalstrom
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Mentors: Who were yours Whom did you idolize as a kid? Who'd you mold yourself to be?
by TerryWalstrom indid you have mentors as a kid?or did you have heroes?did you model yourself after an admired ideal?.
who were they?mine will probably make you giggle.. physically: i wanted to be steve reeves.personality: steve allen was the man.as a writer: ray bradbury was ideal.as a ladies man: rock hudson, cary grant and (don't giggle) sean connery ( james bond.
) intellectually: isaac asimov.
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TerryWalstrom
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Mentors: Who were yours Whom did you idolize as a kid? Who'd you mold yourself to be?
by TerryWalstrom indid you have mentors as a kid?or did you have heroes?did you model yourself after an admired ideal?.
who were they?mine will probably make you giggle.. physically: i wanted to be steve reeves.personality: steve allen was the man.as a writer: ray bradbury was ideal.as a ladies man: rock hudson, cary grant and (don't giggle) sean connery ( james bond.
) intellectually: isaac asimov.
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TerryWalstrom
Did you have mentors as a kid?
Or did you have heroes?
Did you model yourself after an admired ideal?Who were they?
Mine will probably make you giggle.Physically: I wanted to be Steve Reeves.
Personality: Steve Allen was the man.
As a writer: Ray Bradbury was ideal.
As a ladies man: Rock Hudson, Cary Grant and (don't giggle) Sean Connery ( James Bond.)
Intellectually: Isaac AsimovWHO WERE YOUR "mentors"?
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Are we losing our way a bit at JWN?
by nicolaou infirstly, i want to be crystal clear how grateful i am for jwn.
it's been my place of support for over seventeen years and it's the first online space i direct anyone to if they are taking steps out of the cult.
i am not bashing jwn - i love this place and appreciate the hard work and expense simon puts in to keep it going.
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TerryWalstrom
Politics is another form of True Believer laziness. No person or group will save us from ourselves. BELIEF is dangerous.
Having true belief shattered leads to insanity.
Many of us swap Watchtower for Hillary or Trump or Bernie.
A dead end.
This forum is a kind of hospital for self-help. Smart people and smarter people have a chat. A bad argument loses to a good one. But only with humility tossed in.
Our biggest failures as a species:
We believe, our belief is challenged, we discover what our true character really is.
An honest person admits they're wrong and tries to move on. A dishonest person defends to the bitter end and dies believing they are right.
A clash of ideas is pankration.
This is the arena.
It is also a group therapy and the only place a dysfunctional family can heal each other.
Enjoy the variety of minds and grab your plate and fork as you move down the line.
If you want to get the most out of this place I have one suggestion.
Find a person who makes sense and look up the history of their entire commentary threads. Go back to the beginning and start reading. You will discover a lot of growth along the way.
We each--ALL of us--have a story. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Let's all hope we can learn to make the middle a transitional stage where enlightenment, compassion, discovery and healing help the journey become worth all the suffering along the way. -
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Puritans, perfectionists, psychopaths, and those who lie to spread THE TRUTH
by TerryWalstrom inpurists aren't above-it-all, although they certainly think they are.. .
do you know why puritans were kicked out of england?.
you'll never get a puritan to respect the foe.. .
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TerryWalstrom
What is that old saying my grandma used to say all the time?
"A person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still."
Everybody seems to forget you'll NEVER change anybody's mind--but--you will piss them off :) -
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Puritans, perfectionists, psychopaths, and those who lie to spread THE TRUTH
by TerryWalstrom inpurists aren't above-it-all, although they certainly think they are.. .
do you know why puritans were kicked out of england?.
you'll never get a puritan to respect the foe.. .
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TerryWalstrom
Puritans are eager for "justice" rather than mercy and forgiveness.
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The Jehovah's Witness Sister (Lottery Winner) who turned to stripping after blowing the cash
by TerryWalstrom invivian nicholson.
everybody called her “viv.”she worked in a factory as a mother of 4 kids.
she lived in yorkshire.now viv was not yet a jehovah’s witness when what happened...happened.it was after what happened she turned to the cult for solace.what horrible event had ruined her life you ask?viv’s husband had bought a winning lottery ticket and won $5.5 million.in the u.k. they call it playing the “ football pools.”they were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.the first question winners are asked is: “what will you do with all that cash?”viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and a musical!
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TerryWalstrom
This brings to mind for some reason none other than Elvis.
His Graceland mansion is a tribute to zero cultural grounding.
An estimate by Daily Mail puts Elvis' earnings during his lifetime at around $100 million, which would be around $400 million today. When he died at the age of 42, he had about $5 million in the bank (about $20.5 million today), according to Forbes.
All that money and a mansion filled with (IMHO) junk.
I just read a news article today about 80-year-old painter David Hockney.
David Hockney paintings sold at auction
Swimming pool = $11,410,454.20
Coast Highway = $27,862,737.00
I ask myself WHO has the money to collect art at this level of investment?
Somehow these two things come together in my thoughts.
All the things Vivian purchased apparently held no intrinsic value.
Had she owned "the right" Art--she'd have made out just great.
My former wife's Aunt inherited a quarter of a million dollars and went through it in 6 month's time. Did she invest? Well--if you call buying up every Beanie Baby she could get her hands on an investment...um...yeah.
Not that long ago, I sat in a Starbucks not 4 feet away from the richest man in the Milky Way, Jeff Bezos. I watched him and listened to his casual conversation.
There was no obvious glint of divinity there :) But, he's a man with a plan--and it's working out all too well.
Money is an odd topic when it is a windfall.
It's really about what you are made of inside--it is like alcohol--an amplifier of what's deep within the heart of you.
I see Vivian as a person who was probably always doing the best she could do.
One foot in chaos and the other on a banana peel. -
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The Jehovah's Witness Sister (Lottery Winner) who turned to stripping after blowing the cash
by TerryWalstrom invivian nicholson.
everybody called her “viv.”she worked in a factory as a mother of 4 kids.
she lived in yorkshire.now viv was not yet a jehovah’s witness when what happened...happened.it was after what happened she turned to the cult for solace.what horrible event had ruined her life you ask?viv’s husband had bought a winning lottery ticket and won $5.5 million.in the u.k. they call it playing the “ football pools.”they were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.the first question winners are asked is: “what will you do with all that cash?”viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and a musical!
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TerryWalstrom
It would seem, start to finish, Viv could only make disastrous choices about everything.
Topping off with JW's pretty much clinches it. -
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The Jehovah's Witness Sister (Lottery Winner) who turned to stripping after blowing the cash
by TerryWalstrom invivian nicholson.
everybody called her “viv.”she worked in a factory as a mother of 4 kids.
she lived in yorkshire.now viv was not yet a jehovah’s witness when what happened...happened.it was after what happened she turned to the cult for solace.what horrible event had ruined her life you ask?viv’s husband had bought a winning lottery ticket and won $5.5 million.in the u.k. they call it playing the “ football pools.”they were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.the first question winners are asked is: “what will you do with all that cash?”viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and a musical!
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TerryWalstrom
Her name was Nicholson. Vivian Nicholson. Everybody called her “Viv.”
She worked in a factory as a mother of 4 kids. She lived in Yorkshire.
Now Viv was not yet a Jehovah’s Witness when what happened...happened.
It was after what happened she turned to the cult for solace.
What horrible event had ruined her life you ask?
Viv’s husband had bought a winning LOTTERY ticket and won $5.5 Million.
In the U.K. they call it playing the “ football pools.”
They were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.
The first question winners are asked is: “What will you do with all that cash?”
Viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and a musical!)
“SPEND SPEND SPEND!”
The first tragedy which struck?
Four years after hitting the jackpot, Keith Nicholson was killed at the wheel of his new Jaguar, leaving an estate of just £42,000
In 1968, Nicholson won a three-year legal battle to gain £34,000 from her husband's estate but rapidly lost it all through more uncontrolled spending, as well as taxes, legal fees, unpaid bills, and bad investments.She bought a large bungalow with her second husband, Keith Nicholson, they sent their children to boarding school, and turned to a life of constant drinking, partying and shopping.
But Viv was the sort of lady who could really bounce back. Resilient, I guess you could say. She remarried three times, dyed her hair to match her cars, and traveled the world spending all her money.
Did you notice the word “all” in that last sentence?
Nicholson and her husband lived up to her promise, taking just three years to spend the £152,000 – the equivalent of £3.5m today
Yes, Viv spent every last pound and farthing.
Now, the story gets more interesting :)
Eventually, she was reduced to stripping in a club and consoled herself with alcohol. Maybe writing a book about her life would bring revenue!
Whew! It’s time to get straight with the Lord Jehovah--right?She returned to Yorkshire, to live with her granddaughter, Brooke, and to become a (wait for it---wait for it…) a devout Jehovah's Witness.
At age 62, she lived on a state pension and had a job as a perfume sales assistant.
Besides going door to door...She still loved to shop.
A musical about her life, Spend, Spend, Spend, premiered at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, starring Barbara Dickson.
Here is an interview with Viv back in the day.Q: Do you buy lottery tickets now? And what's your favorite scratchcard?
A: No I don't buy lottery tickets or scratchcards. I am a Jehovah's Witness now and have been for 21 years. Gambling is not allowed.
Q: What do you think of those lottery winners who say the money won't change their lives?
A: You read about them every other week and they say that their lives will not change. Then you read about them later and their lives have changed. It makes some people lonely. One winner went to live in Spain and had to come back because he was drinking too much. Some people's wives leave them. I think it's silly to say that the money won't change your life.
Q: Did people treat you differently when you had lots of money?
A: This was strange. When we won the money, we were sent to Coventry by the people in Garforth, where we lived. They didn't want me on the same housing estate. No one spoke to us and it was hard for me to speak to anyone. Had someone moved next door I would have made myself known to them and been friendly. It was very lonely. After about four years, people started being OK, but it was too late by then. Even my old friends left me. They said they didn't want people thinking that they were going about with me because I had money. It's sad because they were lovely people.
Q: Were you worried about having a musical made of your life?
A: I was. When I gave my consent, I never really thought anything would happen with it. I just left it with Justin and Steve [Justin Greene and Steve Brown, who wrote the lyrics and music for Spend, Spend, Spend]. Then, two years later, they'd done it and announced that they were going to the Leeds Playhouse. I was saying to myself, "Oh no, what have I done?" I was living a quiet life as a Jehovah's Witness and was happy. I was worried that it would rake up my past again.
Q: Do people recognize you when you knock on people's doors as a Jehovah's Witness?
A: Yes they do. Some look at me and say: "I know who you are." Then they close the door on me. Others are happy to see me. They say: "Hey, you're Viv Nicholson, aren't you?" But I never think of who I am at all when I knock on people's doors. I go as myself, rather than as a famous person.
Q: What about the job as a stripper in the Manchester club?
A: There I was, wearing a pair of tights I had to borrow from my sister, and I said I was going to ‘spend, spend, spend'. I took to singing in nightclubs for a while. And then I was asked to strip at this revue bar in Manchester, and I went because it was £50 a night and I was hard up. I was supposed to go in front of the audience, and start singing 'Big Spender'. And I hate that record. It used to hurt me to sing it. The club managers said to me, 'Drop your dress when you get to the end of the song.' And I said, 'Only if I can leave my bra and knickers on.' They refused, but I wouldn't do it.
I kept my knickers and bra on. Afterward, I was frogmarched into the back and told, 'You'll do it properly tomorrow or you're sacked.' But the next night I dropped my dress to reveal my underwear. I got the sack. In total I earned £50, which didn't even cover the petrol there and back. I couldn't do it; I just wasn't a stripper.
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Viv and her husband were no different than many such winners.
They splashed out on cars, jewelry, furs, champagne parties and a sprawling ranch-style home, but after her husband was killed in a car crash, it was the huge tax bill left her bankrupt.
Viv’s turn to Jehovah’s Witnesses was accompanied by a descent into dementia. At that point, she lasted another 5 years before her death at age 79.
Viv spoke to a reporter:
“In my head, I'm 35 years old. When people ask, 'Why do you look so good?' It's because I won't let another year, another week, another month, another hour, take over my life. There are people younger than me who look dreadful. Pluck the eyebrows, I say, get the pounds off, rouge up those cheeks! I've been a Jehovah's Witness since 1979. I trust in the heavenly Father Jehovah and he's always there for me.”
Viv Nicholson, born April 3, 1936, died April 11, 2015
In the British newspaper, The Telegraph, this was printed:
“Two months after her win, she estimated that she was spending money at the rate of £1,400 a week. After the £4,000 luxury bungalow came the cars, a silver Chevrolet and a pink Cadillac, in which (once she had learnt to drive) she would roar up the gravel drive and over the manicured lawns of her children’s private school, having dyed her hair pink-champagne blonde, then green, then yellow, then blue. With the cars came the clothes, furs, frocks, shoes — she once bought 14 pairs at one go — jewelry, watches and exotic holidays.But her chief excess was drink. After the open house at their local pub, the Miners’ Arms, to celebrate their win, there were lavish parties at the new home they had named the Ponderosa, with its own corner cocktail bar literally awash with alcohol, and so much champagne that Viv claimed to bathe in it. They filled their days back at the pub, with daily sessions starting at lunchtime and often not ending before four the next morning.”
Her memoirs, Spend, Spend, Spend, published in the 1970s, earned her £60,000.
This money, too, seemed to trickle through her fingers; she lost £12,000 in a failed boutique venture because – out of guilt – she gave the clothes away.
Finding the money had run out, she drank to excess and took at least one drug overdose. Two suicide attempts took her to the edge of a nervous breakdown. But in 1979 she became a Jehovah’s Witness, renounced drink, and became an energetic proselytizer, distributing The Watchtower door to door around the streets of Castleford.”
___________I've searched for more information on Vivian and nothing in any detail about her induction into the JW Hall of Fame
was found :)
Anybody know anything to add? -
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Puritans, perfectionists, psychopaths, and those who lie to spread THE TRUTH
by TerryWalstrom inpurists aren't above-it-all, although they certainly think they are.. .
do you know why puritans were kicked out of england?.
you'll never get a puritan to respect the foe.. .
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TerryWalstrom
Purists aren't above-it-all, although they certainly think they are.Do you know why Puritans were kicked out of England?Persecution you say? Hahaha. That's what THEY called it.It was competition.Whose was the PURER religion--Catholics (who burned heretics at the stake) or Protestants (who'd hang a woman for not going to church on the Sabbath)?Perfectionism is at best a neurosis. At worst it is murderous and tyrannical.Now, this isn't a religious rant. No no no.This is about obsessive compulsions and urges to be a PURIST about damn near ANYthing at all.We have different names for different kinds of perfectionists.Suffice it to say, anybody in any group who INSISTS that you say or do things THE RIGHT WAY is Puritan. Oh, and they will threaten you if you do not comply! That's key.Ever have lunch with a Vegan? That's a clash of civilizations right there at the dinner table.Ever watch a Trump supporter and a Liberal HIllary voter try to discuss ANYthing? That's the Crusades.When it comes to WORDs, I confess to being a Puritan.I'm way too keen on proper pronunciation, definitions, spelling and all the rest. I'm imperfect in my perfectionism. I like tossing slang into a properly worded paragraph for flavor.I once was a religious fanatic. Reformed, of course.That is a scar that never heals.I've lived through a lot of history. 7 decades, in fact.I see the hatred between cousins and kindred groups around the world. Arabs and Jews and Palestinians, North Koreans and South Koreans, Muslims and cartoonists, Blacks and police, Chinese and Japanese, Japanese and Korean, Liberals and Republicans, Country and Western and Rock, Trump and the Media, and on and on....IT'S ALL PURITANS!A quest for purity: I'm right and you are wrong.Do things MY way or I'll force you to see things my way!Puritans will LIE to convince you they are right and the opposers are wrong. Yes: Lie! It is for a good cause, you see. The cause is called "THE TRUTH." Ironic?Puritans are dangerous no matter which side they are on.That's right.Puritans ridicule opponents and dehumanize them.Puritans marginalize and denounce disagreeable sorts.Adolf Hi*ler was obsessed with the purification of the German people. A population agreed with him and another population was expunged.Here is the bottom line, listen up and pay attention, please.When you ridicule your opponents and see them as beneath your contempt; when you are convinced YOU are on the right side of an argument, you are potentially the most destructive force on this earth right now.Why?The hunger to PURIFY is a malevolent--not a beautiful--psychosis.What is the cure? THERE IS NONE!You'll never get a Puritan to respect the foe.RESPECT for others is the medicine which heals butrespect is out of the question.Think about that today when you sneer at somebody or something you know is wrong.If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem.Signed,A Puritan______________Engraving: PURITANS: PUNISHMENT, 1651. The whipping of Baptist minister Obadiah Holmes at Boston in 1651 for holding an unauthorized religious meeting_______________
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People will believe ANYthing no matter how insane
by TerryWalstrom ini started watching this guy's videos and it was like trying to eat just one potato chip.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrdoao1_rf0______https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8447ks90dk_______https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jufm8rtq1d0.
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TerryWalstrom
In an interview, Carbonaro said it was much more difficult to convince people
THEY HAD BEEN FOOLED than to fool them in the first place.
Human nature and confirmation bias: a double whammy.
