Barry Humphries Flashbacks- The 1980s- Alan Bond

A segment from the Australian TV series 'Barry Humphries Flashbacks', which originally aired as a four part series on the ABC in 1999. A historical retrospective of Australia during the latter half of the 20th Century, each episode focused on a specific decade:
Part 1- The 1950s
Part 2- The 1960s
Part 3- The 1970s
Part 4- The 1980s
The series featured Humphries' reflections on Australia throughout those decades, with help from his alter egos Dame Edna Everage, Sir Les Patterson, and Sandy Stone. This particular recording comes from a rebroadcast on the History Channel on Foxtel in 2019.

This particular segment, from Part 4, 'The 1980s', features Humphries and Sir Les Patterson discussing the 1983 America's Cup win by the yacht 'Australia II', which was under the patronage of Perth businessman, British-born Alan Bond. Bond would later serve time in jail for corporate fraud.

Note: Apologies for the quality of parts of the video- there were some reception problems.


Vaxfacts: The 1983 America's Cup contest saw victory for Australian yacht 'Australia II', sailed by the Royal Perth Yacht Club, under the patronage of Perth millionaire Alan Bond. This was the first time a non-American yacht club had won the 'Auld Mug' (America's Cup) from the New York Yacht Club, which had held the America's Cup for an unbroken 132 years up until that point.

Sir Les Patterson is one of Australia's most iconic characters, with Humphries having debuted him in January 1974 at the St George Leagues Club. The complete opposite to Humphries' other famous creation, Dame Edna Everage, Patterson is rather uncouth, whose sense of humour can be perceived by many to be sexist or racist. He served in many roles in the private and public sector, serving as a cultural attache, and most notably, as the 'Minister for the "Yartz"'.