Barbara Windsor

Dame Barbara Windsor, DBE , is an English actress, known for her appearances in the Carry On films and for playing Peggy Mitchell in the BBC One soap opera EastEnders. She joined the cast of EastEnders in 1994 and won the 1999 British Soap Award for Best Actress. She left the show in 2010, before returning for three episodes between 2013 and 2015. Peggy was killed off in episodes broadcast in May 2016.

Windsor was born in Shoreditch, London, in 1937 , the only child of John Deeks, a costermonger, and his wife, Rose , a dressmaker. Windsor is of English and Irish ancestry. She passed her 11plus exams gaining a place at Our Ladys Convent in Stamford Hill. Her mother paid for her to have elocution lessons, and she trained at the Aida Foster School in Golders Green, making her stage debut atand her West End debut in 1952 in the chorus of the musical Love From Judy. She took the stage name Windsor in 1953, inspired by the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Source: Wikipedia