FROM AFFAIRS TO AWARDS–AN EASTENDER’S TALE

1937 Born Barbara Ann Deeks in Shoreditch, east London on 6 August. Took the stage name Windsor in 1953, inspired by the Coronation, after making her West End debut in musical Love From Judy.

1959Theatre Joins Joan Littlewood’s Workshop and gives an acclaimed West End performance in Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be. Has a brief fling with the gangster Reggie Kray.

1963 Earns a Best British Film Actress BAFTA nomination for her performance as cockney Maggie who leaves her

husband for a bus driver in Sparrows Can’t Sing (below inset). 1964first Stars in Carry On Spying, the of her nine Carry Ons, and marries crook Ronnie Knight. The marriage lasts 20 years.

1970 Plays music hall star Marie Lloyd in the West End stage show Sing A Rude Song and has an affair with co-star, Maurice Gibb (right).

1973 Stars in the West End stage revue Carry On London and embarks on an affair with co-star Sid James (far right). She makes her final Carry On film, Carry On Dick, the next year.

1986 She marries chef/restaura-teur Stephen Hollings. The marriage lasts nine years.

1994 Takes the role of Peggy Mitchell (above, inset) in EastEnders. She plays the part for 22 years, winning Best Actress at the British Soap Awards in 1999.

2000 Awarded an MBE and marries present husband, Scott Year Honours list. Mitchell, who’s 26 years her junior.

2016 She’s made a Dame in the British New