In A Warm Hand Barry and his co-writer for half a century, Ian Davidson, rifle through a boxful of hilarious memories, anecdotes and the best of the scripts, unmasking Dame Edna Everage, Les Patterson, the appalling Lance Boyle and Barry's other creations, to reveal the comic genius within.

Originally ill at ease at being himself, this dandified Salvador Dali of the stage delved deep to discover his expansive repertoire of character and innuendo, which blurs the boundaries between surrealism, satire and plain bullying.

Pre-eminent is Dame Edna, the cunning-linguist who reels in her audiences with cutting-edge wordplay and so humiliates them that we fear there will indeed be 'tears before bed-time'. But then the crying pathos of her poor victim's life yields to its comic possibilities which she pursues as relentlessly, so to ensure that in the end our only tears are those of helpless laughter.

Illustrated with 22 photographs, many of them in colour, this is a book for all who have enjoyed more than half a century of Barry Humphries's penetrating art, including would-be writers, actors, directors, producers - anyone with an interest in an insider's view of how he came to take the worldwide stage by storm.

First published: Saturday 1st July 2017