Editing Jennifer Saunders (section)

==Early life==
Jennifer Jane Saunders was born on 6 July 1958 in [[Sleaford]], [[Lincolnshire]], England.<ref name="screenonline">Hannah Hamad. ''[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/499531/index.html Jennifer Saunders]'' — screenonline.org. Retrieved 4 October 2007.</ref><ref>Editors at The Times. ''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/court_and_social/article2032228.ece Birthdays]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}'' The Times. Retrieved 5 October 2007.</ref> Her mother, Barbara Jane (née Duminy), was a biology teacher, and her father, Robert Thomas Saunders, served as a pilot in the [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF). He reached the rank of [[group captain]], and later worked for [[British Aerospace]]. Six months after her birth, Saunders' parents moved to [[Cyprus]]. Her family moved to Camberley, and then to Melksham at the age of ten. She has three brothers: Tim, Peter, and Simon.<ref name="looking">Decca Aitkenhead. ''[https://www.theguardian.com/film/2004/jun/19/comedy.television What are you looking at?]'' The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2021.</ref><ref name="farewell">Chrissy Iley. [https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/farewell-french-and-saunders-cz570qfcbxx "Farewell French and Saunders"], ''The Times'', 12 August 2007; retrieved 15 November 2021.</ref> As her father was in the armed forces during her childhood years, Saunders changed schools several times.<ref name="farewell"/> She was educated from the age of five to 18 in [[boarding school]]s and then at [[St Paul's Girls' School]], an independent school in west London.<ref>{{cite news |first=Sian |last=Griffiths |title=Forget university. It's jobs for the top girls|url=https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/england/london-travel/forget-university-its-jobs-for-the-top-girls-rp895x5j93n|newspaper=[[The Times]]|date=12 July 2015|access-date=15 November 2021}}</ref> Her first year of secondary school was at a [[The George Ward Technology College|comprehensive school]] in Wiltshire. Her parents had wanted her to board at [[Stonar School]]. Her family moved to Cheshire in 1971 when her father left the RAF for Hawker Siddeley. Her headmistress at [[The County High School, Leftwich|Northwich Grammar School For Girls]] was Janet Dines, where she played in goal for the school hockey team. After school, she worked for a year in Italy as an [[au pair]].<ref>Editors at Teletronic. ''[http://www.teletronic.co.uk/dawnfrench.htm Dawn French]'' — teletronic.co.uk. Retrieved 4 October 2007. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120120203848/http://www.teletronic.co.uk/dawnfrench.htm |date=20 January 2012 }}</ref>

In 1977, Saunders received a place at the [[Central School of Speech and Drama]] in London on a drama teachers' course,<ref name="farewell"/> where she met her future comedy partner, [[Dawn French]].<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/12/31/do3109.xml]{{dead link|date=July 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> French and Saunders came from RAF backgrounds, and had grown up on the same base, even having had the same best friend, without ever meeting.<ref name="looking"/> The comic duo originally did not get on well, and as far as Saunders was concerned, French was a "cocky little upstart". The distrust was mutual: French considered Saunders snooty and uptight.<ref name="looking"/> French wanted to become a drama teacher,<ref name="screenonline"/> whereas Saunders loathed the idea and had not fully understood what the course was about; thus, she disliked French for being enthusiastic and confident about the course.<ref name="farewell"/> Saunders was shocked to find that she was taking a course to become a teacher, as her mother had filled in the application form. Her mother was saddened when Saunders chose not to apply for an [[Oxbridge]] university education.<ref name="farewell"/>

After the initial friction experienced during drama school, French and Saunders shared a flat together. French has remarked on Saunders' messy habits when sharing the house saying: "When we lived together in [[Chalk Farm]], she had a room at the top of the house. We got broken into and the police said, 'Well, it is quite bad, but the worst is that room at the top.' And, of course, nobody had been in there."<ref name="farewell"/> The two performed together after graduation, working the festival, cabaret,<ref name="farewell"/> and stand-up circuits. They formed a double-act called The Menopause Sisters. Saunders described the act, which involved wearing [[tampons]] in their ears, as "cringeworthy".<ref name="looking"/> The manager of the club where they performed recalled, "They didn't seem to give a damn. There was no star quality about them at all."<ref name="looking"/>