DAME BARBARA WINDSOR 1937-2020 - ‘I'VE BEEN FORTUNATE TO DO WHAT I LOVE AND GET PAID FOR IT'

FROM AN ALL-SINGING ALL-DANCING PRECOCIOUS KID TO A CARRY ON ICON AND SOAP STAR LEGEND OK! LOOKS BACK AT THE INCREDIBLE LIFE OF ONE OF BRITAIN’S MOST BELOVED ACTRESSES

- SUSANNA GALTON

That saucy giggle and cheeky wink will be lighting up heaven this week after the sad loss of one of the country’s all-time most popular stars. The pearly queen of our hearts entertained the royal family, prime ministers and the nation with her infectious personality and beaming smile.

A natural-born entertainer, with showbiz coursing through her veins, Babs was born Barbara Ann Deeks in Shoreditch, east London, on 6 August, 1937. An only child, her mum Rose was a dressmaker and dad John a bus conductor. As a little girl during the Second World War, Barbara was evacuated to Blackpool. She was an able student and on her return in 1944, she flew through her 11-plus exam to earn a place at Our Lady’s Convent in north London’s Stamford Hill, but her heart was always in the entertainment world.

Despite her natural East End accent ultimately becoming her trademark, her mum paid for elocution lessons and the young Babs also begged for acting classes. They paid off and, at the tender age of 13, she made her stage debut in the chorus of the 1952 West End musical Love From Judy. Even then she realised Deeks was no name for showbiz, so the keen royalist adopted the stage name Windsor in the year of the Queen’s coronation in 1953.

It wasn’t just the stage the young actress lit up – with her blonde ringlets and petite frame (even as an adult she was just 4ft 10in) – she was perfect for TV, too. The small-screen work poured in, with Dreamer’s Highway and The Jack Jackson Show. She made her silver-screen debut in the 1954 movie The Belles Of St Trinian’s.