Barry Humphries, the man behind the Australian diva Dame Edna Everage, has sadly died at the age of 89.
Humphries was born in Melbourne, Australia, and moved to London in 1960 and for the last five decades his alter egos, Sir Les Patterson and the acid-tongued Dame Edna Everage, have graced British TV, stage and films.
Dame Edna travelled certainty made an impression when she travelled up to Newcastle during a tour in the nineties.
Read more: Dame Edna Everage star Barry Humphries dies at the age of 89 in hospital
Our former showbusiness editor Gordon Barr met and interviewed the outrageous Aussie housewife back in 1995 before a sold-out run at the Theatre Royal.
“She caused havoc on Grey Street,” remembers Gordon. “She tottered out of the theatre and across the street, where I had to literally stop the traffic for her as she crossed.
“Then she waltzed into a lingerie shop that used to be there, and caused utter mayhem.”
This is how Gordon reported on how Dame Edna enjoyed an afternoon of retail therapy in 1995.
“Aussie megastar Dame Edna Everage went undie-cover for a shopping trip in Newcastle with the Chronicle.
“The colourful superstar made a bee-line for her favourite women’s shop, Peaches & Cream in Grey Street, just across the road from the Theatre Royal, where she is performing this week. And, once inside, it was straight to the underwear section to try on her favourite garments.
“Forget Rigby and Peller – the Queen’s favourite undies – nothing beats La Perla for Dame Edna, and she was over the moon when the shop’s manager presented her with a G-string and bag of goodies by her favourite designer."
“She’s awe-inspiring,’’ said manager Carole Graham.
Meanwhile, Dame Edna even took time out to write a three-part column for the Chronicle.
And she just couldn’t resist passing comment on some of her rival superstars.
“Time has left so little impression that I have had to have myself cosmetically aged. I have crow’s feet here, they belonged to Joan Rivers. My double chin belonged to Elizabeth Taylor.
“It’s her right love handle and it’s extraordinary, isn’t it, to think, looking at my little double chin, that Richard Burton once dug his fingernails into it?”
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