50 Things You Didn't Know About The Spice Girls!

1. During a trip to a v. swanky hotel in Taiwan, Geri and Mel C suddenly found themselves caught short. In true Spice style the giggling girlies were too bursting to make it to the lav so they opted for the weeing-on-a-pile-of-towels-in-the-corner-of-the-bathroom instead!

2. Luvverly Liverpool lass Mel C is so dedicated to her beloved home footy team she only ever buys red toothbrushes!

3. "We've got to keep each other happy. And I think the way we are rubs off on people," Geri says. "Everyone wants to run down the corridor naked. It's healthy. If you spend a while with us you'll soon be thinking, yeah, I'll get my kit off and run about with all my bits bobbing around."

4. When the Spicesters ran into rap hero Warren G they got very excited .. for a while! "I thought he was totally sexy until I met him," Mel B explained. "He was all flabby. He gave me his number and I thought, I don't want that! But I thought, I'd better take it. He might shoot me! Eek!"

5. "I remember a friend looking at me once and saying shit, I'm standing with a Spice Girl," Emma says. "Sometimes it'd upset me. I'd think, yeah, but we've known each other for years."

6. In the 12 months it took the girls to release their first four singles no less than 13 of their ex-boyfriends "kissed and told" to the newspapers. Poor old Em fared the worst - all three of her former fellas spilled the beans. What creeps!

7. Before rocketing to the heady heights of Planet Pop a young Mel C could do nothing but dream. "I thought if I was famous I would change completely as a person," she said. "You'd never get any spots, silly things like that."

8. Mel B boasts an impressive collection of tongue studs which she can undo by clamping them in her teeth. Problem is, when she's de-studded Mel's tongue feels so light she speaks with a lisp. How thexy!

9. The sad bullies who made Victoria's life such a misery at school try to be her buddy nowadays when they bump into her at the supermarket. Does she wannabe their mate? Does she 'eck!

10. When the girls signed their record deal with Virgin, Victoria quaffed so much champers she had to cling onto the toilet wall for support while the others reapplied her smudged lippy. Rock 'n' roll!

11. Boys might think they're safe from Spice scariness if they get one of the gals alone. Doh! "One of the other girls will call me mid-date and ask, 'Is the weather bad?'" Geri reveals. "I'll reply, 'Yes it's raining,' if I want to get away. It's a code. So then she'll call back in five minutes and say I've got to leave."

12. St-range but true ... Emma is scared of big things! It all started with a terrifying trip to Oxford Street in London when a diddy Em saw a huge King Kong model attached to the side of a building. It made her tremble so much that now she can't even look at an aeroplane close up!

13. Tough nut Mel B is scared of spiders. Not as scared as they must be of her though!

14. No wonder Geri kept getting snapped without any togs on! The poor lass has recently admitted to being at the centre of a severe knicker shortage. "I'm always short of underwear," she sniggers. "In fact, today I'm wearnig a pair of Mel B's knickers." (Warning: Don't try this on with your mates! - Health Conscious Ed.)

15. The first people to ecognise the enormous talent of the Spice Girls were, of course, you the Smash Hits readers. The girls not only won a plethora of awards at the UK Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, they were also voted as Best New Talent in our very own Reader's Poll at the beginning of the year!

16. After a busy day at work Mel B can't wait to scrape her giant mane off her face. But does she use a hair band like the rest of us? Nah, course not, she just whips off her G-string and uses that instead. "My knickers don't smell," she blabs by way of an explanation.

17. Super-slim and sophisticated Victoria might look like she lives on lettuce leaves, but the Hits has discovered shocking info about her favourite grub. "Chinese food - fried rice and prawn crackers," she reveals. Flippin' 'eck!

18. The girls are v. good at hitching lifts from fellow stars. Virgin bodd Richard Branson offered them a ride home in his private jet after meeting the girls in Portugal, and Prince Charles offered the lovely lasses a lift home from Manchester after Geri pinched his botty at the Prince's Trust Concert.

19. In real life (i.e. when there's no camera's about) Victoria is (apparently) as loud and lairy as her spicey sidekicks. So why does she pout so much? "That's how I get my own way," she says!

20. Did you know ... Mel B plays the drums, Mel C and Victoria play the keyboard and Geri plays the guitar. So there.

21. When she was little, Mel C used to think she was the only person in the world living a normal life and that everyone else was just there to watch her! "I've got over that now," she reassures us.

22. During an early Smash Hits interview Mel B popped to the loo unaware our roving reporter's tape was still running and that the walls of the toilet cubicle were very thin indeed, resulting in the loudest wee in pop history!

23. Other career options for loud-mouthed Mel B included becoming a preacher!

24. Geri used to be totally in love with George Michael and was even convinced she'd marry him one day!

25. When UK Hits editor Gav got his job in January he was fairy bursting with excitement. Why? Because his fave Spice Mel C phoned him up to say congrats!

26. During a trip to Los Angeles earlier this year a spooky tarot card lady told Geri she had the power to talk to ghosts. Yikes!

27. Even before she could talk Vicky used to jump around her living room in a pair of headphones pretending to be a pop star! Bless 'er!

28. Trainer addict Mel C has now got so many pairs of pumps she's got a whole wardrobe full of 'em Blimey!

29. Geri's favourite word is "existentialism". But don't worry if you can't pronounce it cos nor can she. "I'm not quite sure what it means either," she says.

30. Big-hearted Emma has always got time for her fans. The cute popster can often be found signing autographs outside the infants school in London where she goes to pick up her cousin Hayley.

31. When Mel B was younger she used to keep a boogie collection behind her bunk bed. What a nice girl!

32. Mel C is the only member of the band who doesn't smoke. She's the only one not to have caved into peer group pressure!

33. When asked to describe herself in an interview Emma piped up: "I'm definately a bit of a brat. But I worry about what other people are feeling, that sort of thing."

34. Emma always dreamed of a life in showbiz and as a nipper she spent many an hour pretending to host her own radio shows in her bedroom. (Snap! so did our Ed.)

35. Back in the days before footy hunk David Beckham, Victoria had a boyfriend whose nickname was 'Blubber'!

36. Homegirl Emma always leaves her watch on British time no matter where she is in the world. It helps "to keep me sane," she says.

37. Victoria has a secret talent - animal impressions!

38. "If I was going to dress like anyone else," Victoria says, "it would be Geri. She's so annoying. I'll spend $2,000 on a jacket then she'll show me an even nicer one she got in a secondhand shop for five bucks."

39. If I was a biscuit, I'd be a fruit and nut cluster," Mel B says.

40. "If one of us was to go out with a dweeb of a man, he would feel threatened by the five of us," says Mel B.

41. "My surname's Brown and I thought when I was younger that I was called Brown because I am brown. I wasn't black and I wasn't white. And I couldn't see why so-and-so wasn't called White," Mel B says.

42. When I was little I did a poo in the bath with my brother and sister," Geri admits.

43. "I hope Mark Owen does well because everyone thinks he's a brainless bimbo with a nice smile," Geri says. "I'd eat him for breakfast."

44. "I used to be quite worried about my body because I have a real womanly figure," Emma admits. "But now I think, that's me - I'm going to flaunt my curves."

45. "I ran out onto the stage in Japan thinking the other girls were behind me. I was shouting 'Hi, Tokyo!' Then I looked around and saw I was totally alone!" Geri says.

46. "Sometimes I feel like a bit of a spare part," Mel C admits. "I'm the one in the corner. I'm the one the paparazzi don't follow. But in Spain they think I'm the bee's knees!"

47. "I love exercise and go to the gym about five times a week," says fitness fanatic Mel C. "But I still find one of the best ways to exercise is to put on my favourite tunes and jump around like a nutter!"

48. "I want a big family," Emma says. "I like taking care of people and I love kids."

49. "I like my bum. It's very comfortable to sit on, because it's nice and round. My feet are a bit manky and all the girls make fun of them," Geri says.

50. During a trip to Indonesia earlier this year, the Spice Girls performed the haka, the traditional Maori dance usually performed before All Black footy matches by the team. When the Maoris expressed insult at the blasphemous recital, he Spiceys went ahead and did it again! They've even written the dance into their new song Spice Up Your Life. Meanwhile, the Maoris are trying to get an international injunction banning anything indigenous from ending up in the wrong hands, so to speak.

And a quote from each of the girls about the Impulse Spice fragrance:

Victoria: (sophisticated jasmine and muget) "I love it when a fragrance has mystery and the ability to keep a man guessing."

Emma: (sweet vanilla and lavendar) "I love sweet smelling, pretty fragrances."

Geri: (warm amber, muget and red pepper) "Sexy and spicy. That's what I definately go for in a fragrance."

Mel B: (exotic paduk wood) "I only go for fragrances that are so good they are guaranteed to jump out and knock a man off his feet."

Mel C: (zesty tangerine) "I usually go for fragrances that are a bit racy and can keep me feeling fresh through at least a couple of football matches."