The Mask Behind the Mask: Review of 'Handling Edna: The Unauthorised Biography', ISBN 9780733624001

"Soft", the locals call it with lyrical charm, referring to the grey skies and light rain that so often blight an early autumn day in Ireland. In fact there were squalls and swirling winds as I dashed across the courtyard towards the oblong arts building at University College Dublin, Belfield, just four weeks ago. Shortly afterwards a tall, fair-haired, cherub-faced 19-year-old called Conor McAndrew shepherded Barry Humphries into a lecture theatre full of cheering students, eager to witness the actor and writer in the flesh. Humphries, dressed in a navy suit, pale blue shirt and red polka-dot tie, carried his black fedora as he made his dramatic entrance; he had flown in that morning from London to receive the James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society of UCD. McAndrew, auditor of the venerable society (founded in 1854), handled the raucous press corps with aplomb; and while Humphries posed for photographs the undergraduate explained earnestly to a reporter that Humphries deserved recognition for his contribution to the arts. Then he said without a hint of irony: "Dame Edna is one of the world's most recognisable comedians."