Humphries does sometimes like to outrage as himself and enjoys the occasional tale of provocation.

“I had a Nazi friend – repentant, he wrote a book about his time in the SS. When he died his widow said among his last words were: 'Zat Barry Humphries, ze Führer would have adored him.’” Why? “I have no idea,” he shrugs. “It’s hypothetical, since Hitler never actually met me, but I thought it would make a great strapline on a book.”

Humphries is not, he insists, particularly Right wing. “I don’t know anything about politics. But the far Left is so conservative, paradoxically, inflexible, doctrinaire and humourless. You can’t describe the world as it is any more. You get jumped on.” Does he? He chortles. “I’m happy to say I do. I give offence therefore I am. Not too much offence, though.”

Barry Humphries: 15 Witty Quotes

As an expat, Humphies is always grouped with fellow Australians Germaine Greer and Clive James. “I don’t mind; they’re friends,” he says. On the other hand, he disliked being linked to Rolf Harris. “He behaved evilly,” says Humphries.

Greer attracted fury after claiming that “trans” women such as Caitlyn Jenner (formerly the Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner) are men “who believe that they are women and have themselves castrated”, with students at Cardiff University describing Greer as “transphobic” and someone who should make all right-minded people feel “sick to [their] stomachs”.