‘I find it much easier to write as Les or Edna. If I'm writing as myself, I have to invent a character who is me,’ Barry Humphries said once, discussing a piece in The Old Fella, as Sir Les Patterson called The Oldie.
How lucky The Oldie was to get four comic genius columnists for the price of one: Edna, Les, Barry McKenzie and Barry himself.
Barry worried his marvellous columns weren't good enough. After he recited Sir Les's heavenly Ode to the Queen at The Oldie of the Year awards, he was convinced he was rusty: ‘I haven't performed for a year [thanks to Covid].’
He couldn't help but be funny. On the phone, he'd suddenly ask, ‘Have you noticed
