Barry Humphries, who has died aged 89, brought from Australia a biting humour that tied in with Britain’s 1960s satire boom. His “housewife superstar” alter-ego Dame Edna Everage was later to become an institution in his adopted country.
Dame Edna, waving gladioli and replete with lilac wig, cat’s-eye winged glasses, knuckle-duster rings and red lipstick, was a vehicle for the comedy actor’s swipes at the Australian culture he had left behind – although the Melbourne housewife from Moonee Ponds became a celebrity in his homeland, too.
