"My Family Is My Greatest Achievement"

This month, we’re focusing on charm at Psychologies. Who is the most charming man in the world? We chose David Beckham. But why? Katy Regan gets to the heart of ‘Becks-appeal’

It’s 1990 and I am a student at the Laine Theatre Arts stage school, Surrey, where a certain Victoria Adams is my classmate. She’s a sweet, 16-year-old from Hertfordshire, who thinks I’m ‘mental’. My overriding memory of her, when I leave (to become a writer) and she leaves (to become a Spice Girl), is that she is a lovely – albeit very ambitious – person.

Fast-forward eight years and Vicky (as she was often called then) is now at the height of her fame as Posh Spice, and going out with Manchester United ace David Beckham. He proposes to her, they get married, and have their first child, Brooklyn. They appear on Da Ali G Show, where Beckham is asked, ‘How many of the Spice Girls turned you down before you got Posh?’ He replies, ‘None. It was only ever this one I wanted.’ For me, the fact that Beckham chose Victoria above all the exotic women who, no doubt, would have fallen at his feet, says everything you need to know about the man; behind the personal fortune and the ad campaigns, and not forgetting the sheer talent, Beckham is the same – an ordinary, grounded, family guy, but with an extraordinary drive to be the best he can be.