There’s nothing like a Dame (Edna) for Barry Humphries

“Agony!” That’s the blunt, one-word summation Barry Humphries enthused to PS this week on his level of discomfort, the painful result of a fall a month ago which resulted in a hip replacement for the 89-year-old.

“It was the most ridiculous thing, like all domestic incidents are. I was reaching for a book, my foot got caught on a rug or something, and down I went,” Humphries explained from his eastern suburbs rehabilitation facility where he is now convalescing and undergoing “very painful” sessions with a physiotherapist. He remains upbeat though, and adamant he will be back on his feet in no time.

Barry Humphries is recovering from a hip replacement operation. Credit: James Brickwood

Indeed, Humphries has been down this path before, though in a much more dramatic fashion. In 1961, while playing the part of Sowerby, the undertaker, in the West End production of Oliver!, Humphries slipped and fell down a cliff during a trip to Cornwall. Rolling down a 50-metre slope onto rocks, he broke his arm.

He was later airlifted to hospital after being strapped to a stretcher dangling from a Naval helicopter.

Barry Humphries out and about in Potts Point shortly before his recent fall.Credit: MEGA

“I have to get back on my feet ... I’m going back on tour later this year. The result of my broken hip means I now have a titanium hip ... you can call me ‘Bionic Bazza’,” he drolly suggested to PS this week.

“I sit a lot in the show, and there’s a bit of pacing ... I don’t think it’s going to be a problem, but I do have to get on with my physio.”

His planned recovery is welcome news for Humphries’ legion of fans around the world, with the actor thanking PS for “not calling me an icon”.

Despite his humility, Humphries’ track record speaks for itself. Best known for his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson, he’s a writer and performer, has been a film producer, scriptwriter, star of London’s West End musical theatre, and a landscape painter, over a career which has spanned a staggering 70 years.

Biographer Anne Pender described Humphries in 2010 as not only “the most significant theatrical figure of our time … [but] the most significant comedian to emerge since Charlie Chaplin”.

Humphries’ beloved alter ego Dame Edna Everage.Credit: Bob Pearce

Last year he was back on stage in London with his one-man show Man Behind The Mask, which some thought would be his swansong. It followed his earlier “farewell” tour when his mauve-haired Dame Edna “retired” from public life in a glorious, gladioli-waving extravaganza.

That was a decade ago, and as Humphries confirmed to PS this week, he’s not ready to shuffle off the stage just yet.

‘(My medical bill) is bloody enormous, I strongly advise not breaking your hip!’

Entertainer Barry Humphries

Humphries, a father of four who lives in London with his wife Lizzie Spender, has been in Sydney since December, soaking up the sunshine and catching up with old friends including the artist John Olsen.

Thanking PS for “your concern”, and happy to provide “assurance that I am on the mend ... the trajectory is up”, he was keen to put to rest any whispers to the contrary.

Humphries also added that his medical bill “is bloody enormous, I strongly advise not breaking your hip!”

Lachlan and Sarah Murdoch.Credit: Kevin Mazur/VF20/WireImage

Numbers are up for Murdochs

As his 92-year-old media mogul father Rupert Murdoch prepares to marry his fifth wife, heir apparent Lachlan Murdoch is preparing to take delivery of his fourth superyacht.

The 59.7-metre sailing yacht has been in development for around five years and is being built by Dutch outfit Royal Huisman. Dubbed Project 404, it has been shrouded in secrecy but in photos published online by The Superyacht Times in recent weeks, the provenance of the vessel has become much clearer.

Plastered over its stern is Sarissa, the same name as Murdoch’s other sailing yacht which is a smidge smaller at just 42 metres.

Sarissa is a 59.7-metre Royal Huisman being built for a reported $150 million.Credit: Ruben Griffioen / Superyacht Times.

The larger new boat, estimated to be costing the Sydney-based media executive at least $150 million, was photographed in preparation for her launch at the Vollenhove shipyard in the Netherlands.

The high-performance sloop’s construction began in 2019, with her design kept a tightly guarded secret until the first preview of her Alustar aluminium hull in 2020.

Also known as MM597, the yacht has been designed by Malcolm McKeon Yacht Design and features ultra-luxe interiors by French designers Studio Liaigre.

According to SuperYacht Times, it features a “reversed bow” and “sleek profile with powerful hull lines”.

Making a splash. Sarissa emerges from the shipyards in the Netherlands.Credit: uben Griffioen / Superyacht Times

Her “huge transom opening” gives access to an “expansive beach club area”, while her extra-large portholes flood her interiors with plenty of natural light.

It remains to be seen if the new yacht ever makes it to Sydney, though the Murdochs have sailed about the harbour on their other boats over the years including the handsome mid-century “tinnie” Istros that PS first revealed over a year ago.

Built in 1954, the fully refurbished and thoroughly elegant 43-metre motor yacht, Istros cost Murdoch around $30 million, and has made a fetching addition to Sydney Harbour.

Lachlan Murdoch’s 1954 classic superyacht, Istros.Credit: Boat International/Guillaume Plisson

Murdoch has invested big in his nautical passions having bought a Point Piper “boat shed” for an eye-watering $37 million.

The Murdochs relocated from Los Angeles to Sydney two years ago, with Lachlan embarking on life as a global commuter aboard the family’s $90 million private jet, while their three children have settled into school life here.

Holding out for a hero

Rejected Strathfield Liberal political aspirant Andy Yin is best known among his social media followers for handing out flowers and hugs to strangers, the videos he proudly showed to PS recently.

There’s also heartfelt YouTube videos in Mandarin about his childhood dream to become Australia’s prime minister, replete with tear-jerker soundtrack. He’s even got a flute recital online.

Then there are the selfies with his Liberal heroes, including two ex-PMs in John Howard and his “good mate” Tony Abbott, as well as Julie Bishop and even polarising former Warringah candidate Katherine Deves.

Both Abbott and Deves feature in his Oprah-style online chat show series Andy One on One, dissecting the impact of Jesuits on Abbott, and “left-wing radicals” on Deves.

Rebuffed: Andy Lin claims he is the victim of racial discrimination.

But none of it was enough to convince the NSW Liberal Party to endorse Yin, who was campaigning to run against Labor’s Jason Yat–Sen Li. Yin maintains he understood he was the only candidate for nomination, but says he was “treated like a Chinese spy” by the party he has “devoted” much of his life, and finances, to.

A week on from reports Yin had filed a complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission accusing the NSW Liberal party of racial discrimination, party officials declined to comment on the matter as they are yet to receive a notice from the AHRC.

Party insiders also said it was unlikely Yin could have known if there were other contenders for nomination, which ultimately went to John-Paul Baladi.

Yin, who works in his family-owned Phoenix Chinese restaurants business, says he is not going away, embarking on an all-out media blitz including the Australian Chinese media. Sounds like he could do with a hug himself.

Remo the storyteller

Thirty years ago, he ran arguably the coolest shop in Sydney, his Remo store on Oxford Street. It was so cool, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman shopped there while they were together.

Now entrepreneur Remo Giuffre is launching a Kickstarter campaign to launch his next project, which he hopes will “inspire, entertain and delight”.

Remo Giuffre is back.Credit: Tamara Dean

Giuffre is confident his loyal customers, who have continued to shop online long since his store doors closed, will fork out at least $25,000 so he can publish a book series. The tomes will offer bite-sized backstories on the inventions, products and moments in human history that don’t get a lot of attention, from the creation of plastic bread tags to the day in 1967 Sweden changed from driving on the left-hand side of the road to the right.

Neurosurgeon Dr Charlie Teo’s daughter is getting married.Credit: Quentin Jones

“It’s about creating a bit of levity in an increasingly dark and serious world, something to inspire, entertain and delight,” he told PS. And as an added incentive, those who donate enough, will receive a Remo key ring, a lapel pin, as well as a copy of the book, to be titled REMORANDOM.

Party central

Sydney’s social whirl is looking hectic at the pointy end. Last Friday 200 nearest and dearest of David Rothwell, son of Rich Lister property developers Susan and Garry Rothwell, attended one of the biggest 50th birthdays of the year, taking over Bennelong at the Opera House, before moving on to superyacht Southern Cloud.

Those with extraordinary stamina kicked on at a five-star hotel in Double Bay where Rothwell rented out dozens of rooms for his guests.

Invitations have also gone out for some interesting upcoming weddings.

Controversial surgeon Charlie Teo’s daughter Alexandra is tying the knot with her long-term partner Jacob Taucher in late April. The pair both work in the neurosurgeon’s Cingulum Health business, which bills itself as “reinventing treatment for neurological disorders and mental illness.

Westfield heiress Rina Lowy is seen to marry her beau Nathan Ryba in Sydney.Credit: Instagram

Meanwhile, a little sooner, PS hears the billionaire Lowy clan is gathering in Sydney for the wedding of Steven and Judy Lowy’s daughter Rina to Nathan Ryba.

And given the multi-million-dollar shindig the couple threw a few years back in Centennial Park for their son Joshua, this promises to be a grand affair.

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