Barbara
Windsor Trivia
- She was awarded the Dame Commander of the
Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours List for
her services to Drama and Entertainment.
- She was critical of the amount of sex,
violence and swearing in modern television programmes.
- She played the Queen of Spain in Columbus
after both Barbara Windsor and Joan Sims turned down the role.
- Although much play was made of the package
holiday plot for Carry On Abroad, the budget was as tight as ever. No
far-flung location filming was called for as June Whitfield ruefully
remembers: “I wondered where in sunny Europe we would be filming. Alas, the
location turned out to be a car park at Pinewood!” In addition, the newly
built ‘K’ and ‘J’ Stages were extensively used during filming, while the
village set was on the studio back lot. The exterior shots of the Wundatours
office were completed in just one day, on local location, in Slough high
street.
- In 1971, Whitfield and Frankie Howerd
recorded a novelty comic version of the song "Je t'aime", previously
recorded by Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg, in which she featured as
"Mavis".
- In 1982 she was made a Freeman of the City
of London.
- In 1994 she was given a Lifetime Achievement
Award by the British Comedy Awards.
- In December 2017, she said that she was
living in a care home. She died in London on 29 December 2018, aged 93. Her
funeral was held at All Hallows Church in Tillington, near Petworth in West
Sussex, on 18 January 2019, attended by many of her co-stars and personal
friends. A memorial service was held for her at St. Paul's Church, Covent
Garden on 27th November 2019.
