Editing Barbara Windsor (section)

==Early life==
Windsor was born in [[Shoreditch]], London, in 1937 (though her birth was registered in [[Stepney]]),<ref>GRO Register of Births: SEP 1937 1a 176 STEPNEY – Barbara A. Windsor, mmn = Ellis</ref> the only child of John Deeks, a bus driver, and his wife, Rose (''[[née]]'' Ellis), a dressmaker.<ref name="Guardian Obit"/> The family lived on Angela Street. Her maternal great-grandmother was the daughter of [[Irish migration to Great Britain|Irish immigrants]] who fled to [[Great Britain]] from [[Ireland]] between 1846 and 1851 in order to escape the [[Great Famine (Ireland)|Great Famine]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/whodoyouthinkyouare/past-stories/barbara-windsor.shtml Who Do You Think You Are? – Past Stories – Barbara Windsor] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191104070202/http://www.bbc.co.uk/whodoyouthinkyouare/past-stories/barbara-windsor.shtml |date=4 November 2019 }}, BBC. Retrieved 30 December 2015.</ref> 

In 1939, at the start of [[World War II]], Windsor's father was called up for the war, so Windsor and her mother went to live with her mother's family in Yoakley Road, [[Stoke Newington]], where Windsor attended St Mary's Infants' School in nearby Lordship Road.<ref name="Guardian Obit"/><ref name="St Mary's">{{Cite news |last=Brooke |first=Mike |date=11 December 2020 |title=Barbara Windsor, Queen of the real East End, dies aged 83 |work=[[East London Advertiser]] |url=https://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/news/obituaries/east-ender-dame-barbara-windsor-dies-6687064 |access-date=14 December 2020}}</ref> 

Windsor's mother initially refused to let her be evacuated, but conceded after one of Windsor's school friends was killed by a bomb during an [[Airstrike|air raid]].{{sfn|Windsor|2000|p=2}} Aged six, Windsor was evacuated to [[Blackpool]] to live with a couple, but they attempted to [[Child sexual abuse|sexually abuse]] her.<ref name="Guardian Obit" /> A neighbour heard Windsor's screams and alerted the authorities. The couple were arrested and were found to not be married, but to be brother and sister.{{sfn|Windsor|2000|p=3}} 

Windsor moved in with a schoolfriend and her parents, although they struggled to cope with her loud behaviour. They sent Windsor to dancing school, which sparked her interest in performing, although one night after a class, Windsor found her friend's father kissing another woman in a bus shelter.{{sfn|Windsor|2000|p=5}} Humiliated by this, Windsor was sent back to London in 1944 along with a note from her dance teacher which read: "Barbara is a born show-off who loves to perform."<ref name="Guardian Obit"/>

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 [[Eleven-plus|11-plus]] exams, gaining the top mark in North London, and earned a [[scholarship]] for a place at [[Our Lady's Catholic High School, Stamford Hill]],<ref name="Guardian Obit">{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/11/dame-barbara-windsor-obituary|title=Dame Barbara Windsor obituary|work=The Guardian|date=11 December 2020 |access-date=11 December 2020|archive-date=11 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201211134803/https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/dec/11/dame-barbara-windsor-obituary|url-status=live}}</ref> although she was expelled because she argued with the [[Abbess|reverend mother]] after the latter refused to let Windsor have time off to appear in a pantomime.{{sfn|Windsor|2000|p=22}} 

Windsor moved to the [[Aida Foster Theatre School|Aida Foster School]], [[Golders Green]], and took [[Elocution|elocution lessons]]. When Windsor's father came to watch a performance, she was ridiculed by the others as her father had begun working as a [[Trolleybus|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.{{sfn|Windsor|2000|p=30}} Despite this, Windsor was chosen to appear in the chorus of the successful musical ''[[Love From Judy]]'' in the [[West End theatre|West End]] in 1952, which ran for two years.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/tv/2016/05/10/career-highlights-barbara-windsor/|title= Career highlights: Barbara Windsor |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=10 May 2016|access-date=13 December 2020}}</ref> Her stage name of "Windsor" was inspired by the [[Coronation of Elizabeth II]] in 1953.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/mar/15/features11.g21|title=Barbara Windsor: Body of evidence|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=15 March 1999|access-date=17 July 2019|location=London, UK|archive-date=13 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180613184401/https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/1999/mar/15/features11.g21|url-status=live}}</ref> By the time she was 16, Windsor's parents divorced, and she was unwillingly made to testify against her father in court. Awarded to her mother, following the divorce, Windsor's father ceased all contact with Windsor, and would ignore her if he saw her in the street for many years afterwards.{{sfn|Windsor|2000|pp=47-48}}