estate. Beacham attended the Queen Elizabeth's Girls' Grammar School in Barnet. Aged 13, she hitch-hiked "all over Europe" with a group of friends.

Initially aspiring to become a ballerina, Beacham's dreams were cut short when her instructors told her that she would be unable to continue due to her partial deafness. Leaving school aged 17 in 1964, Beacham travelled to Boulogne-Billancourt in