The Sunday Times - UK (2021-11-28)

18 The Sunday Times November 28, 2021

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R

obin Windsor is a Latin and

ballroom dancer, best

known for appearing on

Strictly Come Dancing. He

was raised in Ipswich,

Suffolk, and has been

dancing since the age of

three. He spent ten years

touring the world in the

show Burn the Floor and was

on Strictly for four years from 2010,

dancing with the actresses Patsy Kensit,

Anita Dobson and Lisa Riley, and the

business mogul Deborah Meaden from

Dragons’ Den. Robin lives in London with

his fox terrier, Lukaz.

How much is in your wallet?

Nothing, I’ve been cashless since the

pandemic.

Do you prefer debit or credit cards?

Debit cards. I have a habit of forgetting

to pay off my credit card bills, so my

credit card is for emergency use only.

Are you a saver or a spender?

I used to spend a lot, but now I’m

focused on getting on the property

ladder. When I first started Strictly I was

earning and spending a lot more money

than ever before, so every week I’d go

shopping to wear something new on the

spin-off show Strictly Come Dancing: It

Takes Two. I’d spend £500 on a new

outfit some weeks. I must have spent

around £15,000 that year on clothes.

Now I’m a little older and wiser.

Do you own a property?

Dancing has taken me all over the world

over the last two decades, but now I

want to settle down. I’m just waiting for

the right place to call home. I’m renting

a three-bed, third-floor flat in Elephant

and Castle with a beautiful view of the

London Eye and Westminster.

Are you better off than your parents?

I’m one of two — I have an older sister —

and grew up in Ipswich. Money was

tight but my mum, Laraine, scrimped

and saved to make sure we didn’t go

without. She worked in a petrol station

and gave me half what she earned for

dance lessons. She gave up so much to

help me fulfil my ambitions. I owe her

everything.

How much did you earn last year?

Like everybody in the arts, my earnings

were devastated by the pandemic.

What was your first job?

I started work as a paperboy aged 12.

And I was up at 5am every day, in all

weather, for four years, all for a

whopping £11.50 a week. After leaving

school at 16 I moved to London, and

worked at a Barratts, and later a Russell

and Bromley shoe shop. But every

night my dance partner and I would

practise our routines. I’d then do a few

hours’ dishwashing in a hotel to help pay

the rent.

When did you first feel wealthy?

Being on Strictly itself doesn’t really

bring you wealth — I got paid £35,000 on

the first series — but it’s the profile it

gives you that counts. Afterwards I was

in demand and could command more

for tours, appearances and private

shows. During the fourth series I

sustained a bad back injury and had to

pull out of the next series, and they

didn’t invite me back, one of the most

devastating things to ever happen to me.

But I’ve always felt wealthy in terms of

the great support network, family and

friends, I’ve had around me.

Have you ever worried about making

ends meet?

In my late teens, money was often tight

for my dance partner and I, and we’d

have to choose between eating or paying

for a dance class. Sometimes I’d need to

live on baked beans for a few days, and

once or twice I even jumped the barrier

because I couldn’t afford a train fare.

Dancing was always the priority. Life was

work, dance, work, dance, nothing else.

What was your most lucrative work?

I travelled the world in Burn the Floor

pre-Strictly, visiting Asia, Australia and

Canada, and even playing Broadway. But

my most lucrative gig has to be Strictly

because it gave me the profile to help me

achieve my dreams.

How has the pandemic affected you?

I’ve struggled with anxiety and

depression for several years, initially as a

result of injuring my back, losing my job

and having a run-in with the taxman.

It kicked off again in the first lockdown

when work dried up. But I found

dancing helped so I started teaching

online classes, which helped other

people’s mental health too. I also gave

online lessons to primary schools. It was

wonderful to be back on stage in the

West End show, Here Come the Boys this

summer, after so long.

Do you invest in shares?

No.

What’s best for retirement – property

or pension?

I’m constantly being told to take out a

private pension but my priority right

now is getting a property.

What has been your best business

decision?

Signing up to Strictly, which opened so

many doors, and enabled me to make

some amazing friends and contacts. I’m

still close to Lisa [Riley] and Deborah

[Meaden].

And your best investment?

All the dance lessons my mother,

stepfather and I invested in. I started at

three and was still having them at 20.

We must have spent a six-figure sum.

What about your biggest money

mistake?

Failing to keep my financial affairs in

order, which resulted in a discrepancy in

my tax costing me more than £100,000

in 2015 — probably the most painful

experience of my life because it cleaned

me out. I’d been doing my own

accounts. The moral of the story? Get a

good accountant!

What’s your money weakness?

Buying trainers. I have about 120 pairs. If

I see some I like I have to have them. I’ve

got trainers covered in sequins, trainers

that light up and every colour

imaginable. The most expensive were a

pair of Dsquared2 trainers costing £450.

I’m trying to deal with my obsession.

What was your most extravagant

purchase?

A toss-up between a £1,200 Gucci holdall

that I’ve had ten years and is still going

strong, and a £2,000 bespoke suit,

which I’ve worn once in five years!

What would you do if you won the

lottery?

Take care of my friends and family who

have always been there for me, buy the

property of my dreams and give a

proportion to a mental health charity.

Oh, and buy the factory making my

favourite trainers.

What is the most important lesson

you’ve learnt about money?

Enjoy it, but make sure you have some

set aside for a rainy day.

Robin Windsor is starring in Beauty and

the Beast at Worthing Pavilion wtm.uk

and will tour with Burn the Floor: The

Reunion in July 2022; btf25.com

Doing my

own taxes left

me with a bill

for £100,000

After taking his first dance class aged three, the

Strictly star got himself a paper round then worked

two jobs so he could afford more lessons — and

120 pairs of trainers — he tells York Membery

FAME AND FORTUNE ROBIN WINDSOR

R

Strictly

never

invited

me back

after my

injury

NILS JORGENSEN/SHUTTERSTOCK

The number

of 10p coins

in circulation

Bitcoin

$70,000

65,000

60,000

55,000

50,000

Source: Coindesk

Nov 1 Nov 10 Nov 20

The prices of leading

cryptocurrencies

slumped on Friday as

concerns about the

new coronavirus

variant grew. Bitcoin

fell about 7 per cent to

$54,759 during the day

and was 18.9 per cent

below its highest point

ten days ago. It hit

an all-time high of

$67,500 earlier this

month. There was also

a sell-off of ethereum,

dogecoin, cardano

and solana. Dogecoin

fell 13 per cent.

CHART OF THE WEEK THE CRYPTOCURRENCY SELL-OFF

45.3m

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Now you can put your money into WFH

The success of a new fund

suggests that companies that

help us to work from home

are now doing better than

many lifestyle firms that

boomed in the pandemic.

The fund manager

Direxion launched the WFH

Exchange traded fund (ETF)

in June last year. An ETF aims

to replicate the performance

of a market, sector or

commodity by holding a

selection of stocks. The WFH

ETF holds companies

involved in cloud technology,

online projects and

communications. The fund

manager BlackRock launched

an iShares Virtual Work and

Life ETF a few months later.

About 87 per cent of

Direxion’s ETF is in IT, 7 per

cent in communications

companies and 5 per cent in

more consumer-focused

firms. BlackRock’s fund has

about 47 per cent in IT, 37 per

cent in communications,

10 per cent in consumer

companies and nearly

4 per cent in healthcare.

Direxion’s ETF is up 22 per

cent in a year but BlackRock’s

is down 11 per cent.

Remote-working heroes

include Microsoft, Vonage

Holdings (a business cloud

communications company

that is Direxion’s largest

holding), Docusign (which

lets you sign documents

remotely) and Adobe, all of

which have gained double

figures since the start of 2021.

The returns from lifestyle

companies tipped to do well

from the pandemic are more

mixed. Just Eat is down

40 per cent since January

while Peloton is down 68 per

cent. Teladoc Health, a

virtual healthcare company,

is down 42 per cent. Delivery

Hero, a food delivery service,

and Spotify retain a generally

upward trajectory, while

Netflix is up 27 per cent.

The share price of Zoom —

a staple of remote working

during the lockdowns — went

up 722 per cent from the start

of 2020 to its peak in October

that year, but has been on a

steady decline, dropping

60 per cent since then and

24 per cent in 2021.

Imogen Tew

Virgin still top of the league for complaints

Virgin Mobile was the most

complained about mobile

phone company this spring.

Four customers in every

100,000 made a complaint

about the telecoms firm

between April and June this

year, the regulator Ofcom

said — twice the industry

average. The next most

complained about

companies, Three and

Vodafone, had three

complaints per 100,000

customers. EE had one

complaint in 100,000

customers and O2 had two.

Virgin Mobile’s owner,

Virgin Media, which merged

with the rival company O2

in June, had the most

complaints about its TV

service for the fifth quarter in

a row, but Ofcom said the

number of complaints about

the company had fallen after

it warned it about customer

service. Complaints fell from

17 per 100,000 customers to

nine, Ofcom found. The next

most complained about firm

was BT, with six complaints

per 100,000 customers.

Virgin was also the second

most complained about

broadband company after

TalkTalk. Fergal Farragher

from Ofcom said: “Those

with a consistently high

number of complaints still

have a lot of work to do.”

Virgin Media said: “We are

investing in new customer

service roles and digital tools

to deliver the service that our

customers rightly expect.”

George Nixon

*