Never deny Dame Edna her gladioli!

AFrIeNd of Barry humphries took me to the TV recording of one of dame edna’s shows in auckland, New Zealand. at the end, as ever, the gladdies came out for edna to hand out to lucky fans — but it was soon realised there weren’t nearly enough flowers. Still in character, edna called over to the stage manager and, even though the audience couldn’t hear any of the conversation, it was quite obvious that more gladioli would have to be found. ‘You’ll get some,’ trilled dame edna ominously. This was a Sunday night in the 1970s in a city in which all of the shops were closed. While the stage manager went in search of more flowers, dame edna regaled us spontaneously for more than an hour with hilarious stories, never once slipping out of character. It was a comic masterclass. Some time later, the flustered stage manager arrived with armfuls of flowers. edna witheringly said: ‘right, let’s start that bit again, shall we?’ I wonder how many florists had to be roused before edna was able to finish the performance to her satisfaction?

Brent Walsh, London SW16.