Dame Edna versus the trans mob: 8 funny, illuminating Barry Humphries stories

• Although Barry Humphries, who has died at 89, liked to play the consummate Australian, both on-stage and off, he was also a much-loved honorary Englishman. He first came to London in 1959, at the age of 25, and found himself swiftly taken up by the then-booming satire industry, led by Peter Cook and headquartered at Cook’s Soho nightclub, The Establishment, where Humphries performed to great acclaim. He already had considerable success in comedy in Melbourne and Sydney – where he had also played