’I’ve always been a provocateur’: a look back at the life of Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries, whose seven-decade career spanned theatre, television, books and film, has died aged 89. Humphries was known for his absurdist, discomfiting and transgressive humour, often poking fun at Australian culture, and famed for his personas including the purple-haired talkshow host Dame Edna Everage and the vulgar, boozy cultural attaché Sir Les Patterson. Born in Melbourne and spending the majority of his working life living in the UK, he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1982, and a CBE for ’services to entertainment’ in 2007