MR F and I are always very amused when our daughter says she learnt most of her history from Carry on Films, but watching a couple of gems the other night I can see what she means.

From the days of the Raj to Henry VIII and the French Revolution, it's all covered. Who could forget the stories of Ancient Rome and the Egyptians after Kenneth Williams's lines, 'Infamy, Infamy, They've all got it in for me', in Carry on Cleo?

Daughter (Ms F), who is now married and teaching A-level psychology at a college in Wales, can reel off all kinds of historical facts she gleaned from Sid and co, and I have my own affinity with the gang too.

I was once introduced, when speaking at a formal dinner (it was all men) as 'the Gazette's deputy news editor (as I was then) ... Barbara Windsor'!

It certainly broke the ice when I stood up to spout about the newspaper, though I am sure there were many disappointed gents who were still looking round for the blonde bombshell long after I'd started on my ramblings.

Apparently the likes of Kenneth Williams and Sid James were unhappy souls, but my near namesake, the girl with the throaty giggle, struck me as the most grounded of the lot.

As a reporter, I once visited Pinewood Studios to interview Carry On guru, Peter Rogers, who produced the films. There, I spotted Barbara Windsor sitting with her rollers in her hair, waiting to be interviewed for ITV's the South Bank Show.

She was exactly as I imagined, very friendly and not a bit posey.

As we walked side by side she chatted away, taking those familiar tiny steps, pulling her skirt down over her wiggly hips and asking anxiously: 'You don't think it's a bit too short, do you darlin'?"

Once, the Carry Ons were the sauciest thing on offer, but now they are a national treasure and should be made totally respectable by formally introducing them to the school history curriculum.

That would've cheered Sid and Ken up!

FOOTNOTE: On the other side of the cinematic coin it was good to see Richard Attenborough sticking his neck out about gory films creating a climate of violence TWO days after I wrote the same in Bm@il!