Over Sixty Winter 2022 Digital

22 ENTERTAINMENT WINTER 2022 | OVERSIXTY.COM.AU www.houseofpets.com.au Everything for your furry friends, delivered direct to you! Scan Here to Browse Our Latest Collection Pet & Flea Protection Food & Treats Around the Home Pet Beds We were both presented to the Queen after a concert at Windsor Castle in 1975. It was the first time I’dmet her and I foundher verypretty although rather shy. I think she was rather intimidated by this giantess of a woman. I’ve beenpresentedtoheronanumberofoccasions since and I’ma big fan. She’smagnificent. I will hear not oneword against her. My silent bridesmaid, Madge Allsop, was played by a couple of actresses Then, in 1987, I found Emily Perry who became the definitiveMadge inmy TV series, The Dame Edna Experience . I’d auditioned a number of elderly actresses for what would be a recurring role. All of them tried too hard. Some were whimsical, some camp, but most were far too over-the-top to resemble an oppressed, inarticulate Kiwi spinster whom life had passed by. I used to visit Emily at the end of her life in Brinsworth House, a retirement home in south-west London for entertainment professionals. She’d say to me: “Oh Barry, we had such wonderful times, didn’t we? If only I could remember them.” She died aged 100 in 2008, an example to us all. Flatteringly, a number of high- profile performers were keen to be on my TV show (below right) Lauren Bacall, who became a good friend of mine, was one of them as was Tom Jones, a very popular guest. It took some courage for those guests to Barry Humphries remembers RICHARD BARBER PROFILE For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved dressing up… I was a very happy small child, the eldest of four – I have a younger sister and two brothers – content to play on my own. My parents often referred to me as “Sunny Sam”. I was always cheerful and always indulged by a large number of aunties. On Sunday afternoons, I had to perform a little cabaret. There was a camphor box – I still have it – inwhich I kept a diverse range of costumes. I’d appear and they’d all laugh and clap and then my mother would urge me to sing “Nymphs and Shepherds”. But I was too shy and had to go behind the curtain. Then she would say, “Pretend to be the wireless.” Edna was named after a childhood nanny I adored But Mrs Everage’s personality was more like my mother’s and her friends’ – intensely house-proud suburban wives. By 1958, I’d begun to appear on Australian television. Edna was very rudimentary in those days, dressed in a stretched twinset of my mother’s, a discarded skirt and a conical hat she bought to go to the races but never wore. The hair, though, was my own! Leo Sayer and I were presented to the Queen together (below left) And I’ve recently reconnected with him in Australia where he lives. He’s a lovely fellow. appear alongside Edna who, by this stage, had lost all her inhibitions and was inclined to say exactly what was on her mind. She had a hot seat and, if she took against someone, she’d press a button and they’d be tipped backwards, a device that has since been stolen by Graham Norton with no hint of an apology, still less a royalty. I love art I’vebeena lifelong enthusiast and I like topaint inoils. I alsodraw inpenand ink in restaurants. I’m having an exhibition in London later this year of those drawings. I’m rather a good caricaturist but then I suppose the characters I create on stage also fall into that category. Lizzie Spender, daughter of late poet Stephen Spender, is my fourth wife We’ve been married for over 30 years now. I have to thankWifeNo. Two for two daughters and Wife No. Three for two sons. Between them, they’ve produced ten grandchildren on whom I dote. But then I’ve become a lot smarter which is why this marriage has endured. For over ten years of my life, I had a serious alcoholic illness. I finally put the cork back in the bottle in my late thirties and haven’t touched a drop from that day to this. I turned 50 in 1984 and I could not accept that I had grown so old Everyone seemed so young in those days and I can’t believe I’m still at it. But I like to think I have a young spirit, something I’m pleased not to have to draw people’s attention to. A lot of things give me a lot of pleasure which is why I intend to live forever. “I like to think I have a young spirit, something I’m pleased not to have to draw people’s attention to” Photo (top): Getty Images ENTERTAINMENT Creator of housewife megastar, Dame Edna Everage, and cultural attaché, Sir Les Patterson, Barry Humphries, 88, recalls an eye-popping life BONUS SECTION