WITH THATCHER
1980s when nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow hired them for gay nights.
The sisters bought a plot of land in North London so they could be neighbours, building three identical houses “detached, but almost touching”.
Performing into the new millennium they sang for the Queen at her Golden Jubilee Concert in 2002 and took part in the 60th anniversary celebrations of D-Day in 2004.
In 2002 they entered the Guinness Book Of Records as the longest surviving vocal group without a change in line-up. Four years later they were at Buckingham Palace in identical pink and white outfits to receive their MBEs from the Queen.
Born in Bethnal Green, East London, the sisters shared a bed in their two-up, two-down until they were teenagers.
Their parents George and Victoria Chinery performed in music halls as the duo Coram and Mills. During the war their three daughters were evacuated to Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, but they remained together.
The girls successfully auditioned for the Ovaltineys, the promotional vehicle for Ovaltine, and were signed up as Bonnie Babies for 15 guineas a week.
This led to broadcasts on the BBC’s Allied Expeditionary Forces Programme. US band leader Glenn Miller heard them and was so impressed he offered some of his musicians to accompany them and arrangements for them.
After Joy’s death in 2015, Babs and Teddie gave a rare interview to honour their older sister, revealing they were too distraught to go to the funeral.
Babs said: “It would have destroyed us. I don’t think we could have coped with kind people saying how sorry they were. Once I start to cry I’ll never stop.’” write
WITH BRUCIE
song Billy & Joy in 1958