Barry Humphries - A Celebration

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BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

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Radio 2 Remembers...

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A celebration of the stars that have lit up the airwaves and defined popular entertainment

A celebration of the stars that have lit up the airwaves and defined popular entertainment.

Radio 2 Remembers...: Barry Humphries

Barry Humphries

BBC Radio 2 - Radio 2 Remembers..., Barry Humphries

Radio 2 dives into the world of Barry Humphries with assistance from Dame Edna & Sir Les.

Dame Edna, Sir Les & internationally renowned artist Meow Meow pay tribute to Barry Humphries, in this celebration of the comedy legend's extraordinary life & career.

Radio 2 celebrates the extraordinary life and career of Barry Humphries with some assistance from his most famous characters Dame Edna, Sir Les Patterson & Sandy Stone. Born on 17th February 1934, he had no plans to retire. Even at the age of 89, he was wowing audiences on tour with what turned out to be his final one-man show. Barry was a consummate performer to the end, not least, because he's left us wanting so much more! 

Barry's autobiographical reflections and some of his rarely-heard recordings are among the treats for listeners. Plus, Barry's most recent collaborators evaluate his place in entertainment history and, Dr Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, mother of a family of renowned classical musicians, including Sheku Kanneh-Mason (winner of BBC Young Musician 2016), reveals the huge breadth of his creative influence, as Dame Edan's version of 'Peter and the Wolf' is the family's absolute favourite. Not wanting to be out done by Prokofiev, Sir Les Patterson also introduces extracts from the musical pastiche 'Peter and the Shark'.

Barry was just a month away from recording his seventh series of his acclaimed Radio 2 series, 'Barry’s Forgotten Musical Masterpieces', when he died unexpectedly on 22nd April 2023 in Sydney (less than a year away from his 90th birthday). Writing about his beloved radio show in an article for The Radio Times in 2022, he maintained, "of all the things I do, this is my favourite!" and he hoped to be remembered as, "a radio personality" like those entertainers, who’d inspired him, when he was a little boy listening to the wireless. In 1959, Barry sailed away from sunny, spotless Melbourne, after dropping out of university. In London, his first job in London was doing nightshifts in an ice cream factory in Acton.

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

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