Viva Forever May, the Spice Girls appeared on the National Lottery, performing "Viva Forever" and "Spice Up Your Life" without Geri Halliwell, the excuse being that she was ill. In early June, the single was confirmed to simply be "Viva Forever". The single was to be released on 13 July, over two months after the original release date of 11 May. Even though posters were printed showcasing the 13 July release date, it was not long before the release dates started changing again. On the day of release, stores around the United Kingdom received a notice saying that the single was not
British Hit Singles & Albums publication of this amalgamation ceased in 2006. A new version of the book published by Virgin and entitled "The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles", first published in November 2008. The first ten editions were compiled by Paul Gambaccini, Mike Read and brothers Tim Rice and Jonathan "Jo" Rice. Read left the team in the mid-1980s and the other editors resigned in 1996. Chart editor for many editions was David Roberts. "British Hit Singles & Albums" was generally considered to be the authoritative reference (and only) source for both the UK Singles Chart (since its inception in 1952) and the