People like Jenny Eclair

Jenny Eclair (born Jenny Clare Hargreaves; 16 March 1960) is an English comedian, novelist, and actress, best known for her roles in Grumpy Old Women between 2004 and 2007 and in Loose Women in 2011 and 2012.

Eclair was born to English parents in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where her father, Derek Hargreaves, MBE, a major in the British Army, who was serving in the Royal Marines, Parachute Regiment, Green Howards, Trucial Oman Scouts and BRIXMIS, had been posted in 1952. Eclair returned to England when she was two years old, and she started her education at Queen Mary school (now AKS Lytham, after two separate mergers) in Lytham St Annes.

She is said to have adopted the alternative surname Eclair (later her stage name) in her teens, when she was at a disco in Blackpool and pretended to be French. She studied at the Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama (now Manchester Metropolitan University) and joined a cabaret group variously referred to as Kathy Lacreme and the Rum Babas, and Cathy La Crème and the Rum Babas.