Barry Humphries – creator of Dame Edna and Sir Les – finally gets the honour he deserves

More than 40 years ago, Barry Humphries wrote his own ‘obituary’ in which he imagined himself having been knighted by King Charles III. It wasn’t to be | FULL LIST

Barry Humphries received a phonecall in hospital from King Charles shortly before he died in April. Picture: Bob Barker

More than 40 years ago, Barry Humphries wrote his own ­“obituary” in which he imagined himself having been knighted by King Charles III.

A knighthood wasn’t to be, and Humphries never became Sir Barry. But in the King’s Birthday Honours list Humphries has been posthumously appointed a ­Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).

He is recognised in the official citation for his “eminent service to the arts as a comedian, actor, author, satirist and entertainer, to the promotion of Australian culture, and as a patron of organisations”.

The description cannot ­adequately capture the full measure of the man, or the outsize personas he created.

Humphries, who died on April 22, at 89, was the sharpest of social satirists while also being a popular entertainerwho delighted millions.

He was a polymath collector of rare books, recordings and art works. And he was a supporter of cultural causes, including patron of the rebuilding fund for Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide. It was where Humphries first performed as a 19-year-old actor in The Wind of Heaven, in 1953.

This year was his platinum ­jubilee, marking 70 years in the theatre. He was giving public performances as recently as last year and before he died was making plans to return to the stage.

Humphries died in hospital after complications arising from hip replacement surgery. He also had been receiving treatment for cancer in recent years.

Dame Edna Everage.

It was revealed after his death that the King had called Humphries and spoke to him in hospital.

While a knighthood eluded Humphries, his characters were not reticent in accepting such honours. Mrs Edna Everage ­became Dame Edna after she was “knighted” in 1974 by then prime minister Gough Whitlam, making a cameo appearance in the film Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. Her coat of arms was an image of the Sydney Opera House, a blowfly and funnel-web spider, flanked by a shark and a possum.

In 1976 Leslie Colin Patterson was knighted on his appointment as Australian cultural attache to the Court of St James’s.

Humphries himself was awarded a CBE by the Queen in 2007, and was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) in 1982.

As well as his comedy acts, Humphries contributed to the performing and visual arts in Australia. His collaborations with the Australian Chamber Orchestra included a concert of music from the Weimar Republic era in Germany, and he served as an artistic director of the Adelaide Cabaret Festival. He was a patron of the Tait Memorial Trust and of the Melba Foundation that produces recordings of Australian classical artists.

He collected a large number of works associated with Oscar Wilde and his circle, including paintings by Australian impressionist Charles Conder.

Humphries ended his self-penned obituary for The Age in 1981 by saying he was “knighted by King Charles III for his services to the British Gladiolus Society and is survived by innumerable wives, great-grandchildren and creditors”.

Longtime friends and comedians Judith Lucy and Denise Scott both received a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

The entertainers with successful solo careers started performing together in the 90s with Comedy Is Not Pretty and reunited with a show last year about the “hopelessness” of the longest lockdown in the world.

British Australian comedian and Blackadder writer Ben Elton has also been honoured with an AM. He didn’t have a lot of time to chat with The Australian, performing and directing eight shows a week of We Will Rock You in London, but had time for a joke.

“I am very honoured and pleased to be acknowledged in this way in my adopted homeland,” he said. “My brother-in-law Luc Longley has the same honour so now I can look him in the eye (but I’ll need a step ladder).”

For the first time since the introduction of the Australian honours system in 1975, more women than men have been recognised in the main category, receiving 50.6 per cent of the honours. This includes those who won the highest order such as a paediatric epidemiologist, Caroline Bower, neurodegenerative disorders researcher Glenda Halliday and Labor politician Jenny Macklin.

Former West Australian premier Colin Barnett and cancer ­researcher David Hunter also ­received ACs. The youngest recipient is the founder of youth mental health organisation Borderline, Cody Schaeffer, 30, and the oldest living recipient is Laurence Wallace, a longtime volunteer, aged 97.