Posh Spice's revolutionary roots

While a member of one of the most successful girl groups of all time, Victoria Beckham was known as Posh Spice.

But the British singer, born Victoria Adams and now married to soccer player David Beckham, actually has humble origins in the southwestern German city of Heilbronn, according to this historian.

Hans Mueller says he was researching the life of local revolutionary and artist Carl Heinrich Pfaender when he discovered the link between the pioneer of the workers' movement and the pop star.

Pfaender - Beckham's great-great-great-grandfather - was a close associate of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

He took part in the failed revolution of 1848 and was forced to flee to London.

Mueller wrote a letter to Victoria Beckham's mum Jaqueline, who confirmed his discovery:

SOUNDBITE: Hans Mueller, Historian, saying (German):

"Suddenly at the start of July I got a phonecall. Jackie Adams had called and confirmed everything I knew. She said they already knew they had German ancestors, as it was researched once before, and she would send me the documents."

Jackie Adams promised to tell Victoria about her revolutionary relative.

But if the Spice Girl ever wants to retrace her ancestor's footsteps to the Pfaender family home in Heilbronn she might be disappointed - as the building's been replaced with a car park.