Yesterday marked the 70th birthday of a truly great Briton. With a career spanning stage, television and film for the past 58 years, our heroine is a much loved national institution. She joins the ranks of Diana Rigg, Judy Dench, Eileen Atkins and Maggie Smith in proving that age is no barrier to a continued successful acting career. Our heroine is probably the most recognisable amongst our group of talented ladies and doesn’t suffer from that troublesome “I know who you mean, but I can’t remember the last time I saw her in anything” conundrum. She also happens to be the only one in our list who hasn’t been made a Dame, being given a measly MBE – the ones they give out to the proles now that they have done away with the BEM.
Why can this be? Is it because she isn’t a member of one of those posh outfits like the RSC? You know the ones, lots of state subsidy but hardly seen by anyone. Is it because the films she was famous for, were a little “low brow”. Perhaps it is because, horror of horrors, she appears in a “popular serial drama”. Or perhaps it’s just of plain old snobbery – the accent has to be “just so” to be a Dame – only posh birds need apply.
As the Pontrieux Report launches its campaign to make her a Dame, let’s all raise a toast to the “our Babs”. Mine’s a large one!