Wendy was born in London in 1925, the first of four children of Alec and Anne Baldwin.  At right, she’s enjoying the beach with her brother Peter.

She lived through the Blitz and was there when her grandparents appeared at the door one day saying that they had been bombed out.

At age five she started appearing with her parents’ entertainment troupe, the Starlight Concert Party. By age 11 she had mastered singing, comedy and feeding straight lines to others.

The family moved to Chelmsford, Essex in 19xx, and the Concert Party continued.

In the 40s Wendy worked as a telephonist and in clerical work with Coca-Cola (left)

In 1946-47 Wendy served in the Women’s Naval Reserve Service (the Wrens). There she met a young airman, John Hicks, and they were married in 1947.

Son Timothy (Tim) arrived in 1949.

Times were tight in those days; medical students weren’t paid any better then than they are now. The family lived in the London suburb of Acton for a while.