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Madge Allsop awarded Honorary Doctorate in 'Cardy-ology'

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Description: Massey Writer-in-residence Peter Hawes awards Madge Allsop an honorary degree in 'Cardy-ology'.

Madge Allsop - the fictional character created as the 'straight-woman' to Barry Humphries' outrageous female impersonation act Dame Edna Everage - was embodied by English Actress Patricia 'Emily' Perry.

In 1994 while on tour with Humphries, Perry accepted an offer to return to her fictional hometown. A staple of the television celebrity talk show in the 1980s and 1990s, Viewers of the Dame Edna Everage show (and its variants) all knew about her 'sad, po-faced bridesmaid, 'Madge from Palmerston North'.

Emily remained in character for her seven-hour visit, where a 'Madge' company bus acted as her chauffer between the children’s ward at the hospital and a public reception outside Downtown in Broadway. The Rescue Helicopter then took her out to Linton Military Camp where she christened and Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) bound for Bosnia with the name ‘Madge’. Finally, a visit to the residence of Brightwater Home was capped off with Emily pressing her hands into a square of concrete which was to go on display in Broadway.

Emily Perry retired as 'Madge' in 2003, and died in England in 2008 aged 100.