Scott Mitchell and Dame Barbara Windsor have both been praised for their work raising awareness of dementia (PA)

I am aware that I look good for my age. It’s my genes. My dad looked incredibly young, so did my mother. And a younger husband helps. Scott is only 45. if he hadn’t come along, I don’t know what I’d have done.”

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He added: “I would again like to thank my family, friends, the media and the public for their incredible support and well wishes since Barbara’s passing. They got the fishing rod and put it there and he (the prop man) had to pull it. Of course, it didn’t come off. I went right down into the mud.” I found myself in the doldrums in the early Nineties. I was too old to play the dolly bird any longer and I looked too young to play a woman of my real age. No one ever saw me as the aunt, mother or grandmother.”

I have had the most wonderful time on EastEnders and I will miss you all. The show has changed my life and I want you all to continue the good work, because I’ll be at home watching you.” - As she left EastEnders in 2016. Dame Barbara’s recording of Sparrows Can’t Sing from her 1963 film of the same name was played as the recessional music.

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The coffin was brought into the ceremony to Frank Sinatra’s On The Sunny Side Of The Street and mourners sang hymns Jerusalem and The Lord Is My Shepherd. The actress, known for her work in the Carry On films and EastEnders, died in December at the age of 83. Windsor added: “So I did it three times and the third one was perfect. When they took it to the censor, John Trevellyan, he said, ‘Well, I don’t think Miss Windsor’s right boob is going to corrupt the nation, I’ll pass it.’ Can I have a kiss?” The soap star popped the question to Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, when they met up last year to discuss dementia care. The couple have been widely praised for their work raising awareness for Alzheimer’s disease after the actress went public with her diagnosis in 2018.

After more than six decades in the public eye as a beloved star of stage and screen (big and small) there is still one scene that everyone remembers.

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The actress, who died in December at the age of 83 had said “That picture will follow me to the end” After I’d discovered the joys of sex, I became a right little goer. There were men round me like bees round a honeypot, and I took advantage of that and went bananas. And because I was still so naïve, I never bothered with any contraception.” My heart goes out to every family who have experienced the same restrictions at their loved ones funerals.”