Barbara Windsor

Windsor was born in Shoreditch, London, in 1937 (her birth was registered in Stepney),[5] the only child of John Deeks, a costermonger, and his wife, Rose (née Ellis), a dressmaker.[6] The family lived in Angela Street. One of her maternal great-grandmothers, Mary, was the daughter of Irish immigrants who fled Ireland to Great Britain between 1846 and 1851 to escape the Great Famine of Ireland.[7] In 1939 at the start of WWII, Windsor's father was called up for the war and she and her mother went to live with her mother's relatives in Yoakley Road, Stoke Newington where Windsor attended St Mary's Infants' School in nearby Lordship Road.[8] Windsor's mother initially refused to let her be evacuated, but conceded after one of Windsor's school friends was killed by a bomb.[9] She was evacuated to Blackpool to live with a married couple, although they sexually abused her. One of Windsor's friends, Mary, who lived a couple of houses away heard Windsor's screams and alerted her own parents who called the authorities. The couple were arrested and it was revealed that they were not married but brother and sister.[10] Windsor moved in with Mary and her parents although they struggled to cope with her loud behaviour. They sent Windsor and Mary to dancing school which sparked her interest in performing, although one night after a class, Mary's mother walked Windsor and Mary home, when Windsor found Mary's father kissing another woman in a bus shelter.[11] Humiliated by this, Mary's mother sent her back to London in 1944 along with a note from Windsor's dance teacher which read: “Barbara is a born show-off who loves to perform.”[6]

Impressed by this, Windsor's mother sent her to Madame Behenna's Juvenile Jollities, a drama school at which she appeared in several charity concerts and pantomimes. After the war, she passed her 11-plus exams, scoring the best marks in North London, and earned a scholarship for a place at Our Lady's Convent in Stamford Hill[6] although she was expelled because she argued with the Reverend Mother after she refused to let her have time off to appear in a pantomime.[12] Instead, her mother paid for her to have elocution lessons, and Windsor began training at the Aida Foster School in Golders Green. When Windsor's father came to watch a performance, she was ridiculed by the others as her father had begun working as a trolley bus conductor and had come in his uniform. Enraged, Windsor covered the girls in theatrical face powder, throwing more over the chaperone who tried to stop her.[13] Despite this, Windsor was chosen to appear in the chorus of the musical Love From Judy in the West End in 1952 which ran for a successful two years.[14] She took the stage name Windsor in 1953, inspired by the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.[15] By the time Windsor was sixteen, Windsor's parents' divorced and Windsor was unwillingly made to testify against her father in court.[16] Awarded to her mother, after the divorce Windsor ran up to her father but he just carried on walking, ignoring her. Every time he saw her, whether he walked past her house or his bus drove past, he blanked Windsor.[17]

Shortly after, Windsor made her film debut as an uncredited extra in 1954 playing a schoolgirl in The Belles of St. Trinians.[18] She followed this with several other uncredited roles until she appeared in Too Hot to Handle with Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield demanded Windsor to appear at the back of the scene they shared as she was worried Windsor's blonde hair and large chest would overshadow her own.[19] After this, Windsor made her television debut when Johnny Brandon, whom Windsor had starred with in Love from Judy, asked her to appear in his television series Dreamer's Highway. Windsor later appearing in musical shows Variety Parade, The Jack Jackson Show and Six-Five Special, regularly singing with bands. She then became a regular cabaret act at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in Soho, and went on to do the same at the Winston's club alongside Danny La Rue and Amanda Barrie.[6][20]

She joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East,[21] coming to prominence in their stage production Fings Ain't Wot They Used T'Be[21] and Littlewood's film Sparrows Can't Sing (1963), achieving a BAFTA nomination for Best British Film Actress.[22] She also appeared in the comedy film Crooks in Cloisters (1964),[23] the fantasy film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and Ken Russell's musical film The Boy Friend (1971), as well as the TV sitcoms The Rag Trade and Wild, Wild Women.[24]

EastEnders

Main article: Peggy Mitchell

Waxwork of Windsor as Peggy Mitchell displayed in Blackpool

When EastEnders was launched in 1985, the producers said they would not cast well-known actors (although Wendy Richard was a rare exception). Windsor has said that she would have liked to have been part of the original cast.[33] By 1994, this policy was relaxed, and Windsor accepted an offer to join EastEnders. She took over the role of Peggy Mitchell (who was previously a minor character played by Jo Warne in 1991), for which she received the Best Actress award at the 1999 British Soap Awards,[34] and a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 British Soap Awards.[6]

A debilitating case of the Epstein–Barr virus forced a two-year absence from the role between 2003 and 2005, although Windsor was able to make a two-episode guest appearance in 2004. She rejoined the cast full-time in the summer of 2005. In October 2009, Windsor announced she was to leave her role as Peggy Mitchell, saying she wanted to spend more time with her husband.[35] On 10 September 2010, her character left Albert Square after a fire destroyed the Queen Victoria pub, of which she was the owner.[36]

In July 2013, it was announced that Windsor was to return for one episode, which aired on 20 September 2013.[37] She again returned for a single episode on 25 September 2014,[38] and made a further appearance for EastEnders 30th anniversary on 17 February 2015.[39] In February 2015, Windsor, along with Pam St. Clement (Pat Evans), took part in EastEnders: Back to Ours to celebrate 30 years of EastEnders. Windsor and St. Clement looked back on some of their characters' most dramatic moments.[40]

In November 2015, Windsor secretly filmed a return to EastEnders, which was shown in January 2016. After this, it was confirmed that the character would be killed off later in the year. This was Windsor's decision, as she said that as long as Peggy was alive, she would always be drawn back to playing her.[41] Her last appearance aired on BBC One on 17 May 2016.[42]

Windsor hosted two series of the BBC documentary Disaster Masters in 2005.[43] Windsor provided the voice of the Dormouse in Walt Disney's live action adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (2010), directed by Tim Burton.[44] Windsor appeared in the pantomime Dick Whittington at the Bristol Hippodrome over the Christmas/New Year period of 2010/2011.[45] In September 2010, it was announced that Windsor would be fronting a TV campaign for online bingo site Jackpotjoy as the Queen of Bingo.[46] She appeared as herself in one episode of Come Fly with Me in January 2011.[47]

Windsor in 2009

From 2011 onwards, she regularly did presenting work for BBC Radio 2 music and showbusiness history programmes, and also was a regular stand in for Elaine Paige on Elaine Paige on Sunday. She reprised her voice role of the Dormouse in the film Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016).[48]

In May 2017, Windsor appeared in a cameo role as herself in BBC Television's biopic about her life, Babs, written by EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan. It showed Windsor in the 1990s as she prepared to go on stage and recalled events from her life, including her childhood, marriage to gangster Ronnie Knight, and her roles in the Carry On films.[49]

Windsor was married three times, and had no children.

1. Ronnie Knight (married 2 March 1964,[50] divorced January 1985)
2. Stephen Hollings, chef/restaurateur (married 12 April 1986 in Jamaica,[51] divorced 1995)
3. Scott Mitchell, former actor and recruitment consultant (married 8 April 2000)[52]

Before her marriage to Ronnie Knight, she had a one-night stand with East End criminal Reggie Kray, and an affair with his older brother Charlie Kray.[53] During the time of making her later Carry On films she had a well-publicised affair with fellow actor and co-star, Sid James which lasted 3 years until his death in 1976.[2] Windsor was initially uninterested in James, 24 years her senior, but later stated that she thought she would have sex with him once and then he would go away[54] but James reportedly became obsessed with Windsor and became suffocatingly possessive of her to the extent that during the Carry On London! tour he shouted at Bernard Bresslaw because he had helped Windsor off the stage, the reason being that Bresslaw had touched Windsor.[55] James, who was also already married, would send Windsor a dozen red roses with a note attached with the words "Love Romeo" and even arranged to see her in Australia during her Carry On Barbara one-woman show as he could not bear to be without her.[56] He would also embarrassingly state his love for her in public and to Windsor's friends, but the affair began damaging her mental health and so she ended it. Devastated by her decision, James became depressed and started to drink strong whisky and died soon after from a heart attack.[57] Another of Windsor's Carry On co-stars, Kenneth Williams, accompanied her and Knight on their honeymoon and also brought his mother and sister with him.[58]

Windsor also dated Gary Crosby in the 1960s,[59] and had brief sexual encounters with Victor Mature,[59] Anthony Newley,[60] Ronnie Scott,[61] James Booth,[62] George Best[63] and Maurice Gibb,[64] the latter two while she was still married to Ronnie Knight. In the late 1950s, Windsor became engaged to singer Cliff Lawrence but he physically beat her.[59] In her autobiography, All of Me, Windsor stated that she often turned up to Winston's, the club where she sang, with a black eye and detailed one occasion of when Lawrence dragged her down the street by her hair.[59] Windsor terminated the relationship and then started dating Ronnie Knight. Windsor said that Lawrence would spy on her and Knight from telephone boxes and only left them alone after Knight threatened Lawrence that he would fight him.[65]

In her autobiography, Windsor talked about her five abortions, the first three of which took place in her twenties and the last when she was 42. She said she never wanted children as a result of her father rejecting her after her parents' divorce.[66]

Windsor was best friends with fellow actor Anna Karen whom she met while filming Carry On Camping and who later went on to play Peggy Mitchell's sister Sal Martin in EastEnders for twenty years.[67]

Windsor had a friendship with the late Amy Winehouse, and in 2012, she became a patron of the Amy Winehouse Foundation.[68]

Windsor was played by Samantha Spiro in Terry Johnson's play Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick, which premiered at the National Theatre in 1998. Spiro reprised the role in the subsequent film adaptation, Cor, Blimey!. The latter also featured a cameo appearance from Windsor, playing herself.

In the 2006 BBC television film Kenneth Williams: Fantabulosa!, Windsor was played by Rachel Clarke.

Spiro reprised her role as Windsor in the biopic Babs in 2017, with Jaime Winstone and Honor Kneafsey playing younger versions of Windsor.

Windsor was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2000 New Year Honours. In August 2010, she was given the Freedom of the City of London,[81] and in November 2010, she was honoured by the City of Westminster at a tree planting and plaque ceremony.[82]

She was inducted into the Hackney Empire Walk of Fame on 25 May 2017.[83][84]

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to charity and entertainment.[85][86]

In November 2014, she was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of East London.[87]

Commonwealth honours

Country	Date	Appointment	Post-nominal letters
United Kingdom	2000 – 2016	Member of Order of the British Empire (Civil Division)	MBE
United Kingdom	2016 – 10 December 2020	Dame Commander of Order of the British Empire (Civil Division)	DBE

Scholastic

Chancellor, visitor, governor, rector and fellowships

Location	Date	School	Position
England	2015–10 December 2020	Royal Central School of Speech and Drama	Honorary Fellow[88]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Honorary degrees

Location	Date	School	Degree	Gave Commencement Address
England	20 November 2014	University of East London	Doctor of Arts (D.Arts)[89]	Yes

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

• Barbara Windsor at IMDb 
• Barbara Windsor at British Comedy Guide
• Barbara Windsor discography at Discogs
• Portraits of Barbara Windsor at the National Portrait Gallery, London