THE image of Dame Edna Everage is impossible to ignore: purple hair, garish glasses and a glittering frock. Few who were entertained by the Barry Humphries creation could fail to evoke an image of Moonee Ponds' most famous resident, even years later.
That was the genius behind Humphries' characters, beyond his keen wit; they were facets of the Australian psyche writ large. Exaggerated as the oafish and lecherous Sir Les Patterson may have been, the kernel of truth at his core resonated enough to keep the character relevant to audiences even as the decades ticked past.
