Poor Dickie...CAUGHT IN HUMPHRIES FAMILY FEUD

Even in death, Barry is causing a spectacle

Friends of Barry Humphries have gone on an extraordinary spray against Nine entertainment editor Richard Wilkins after it was announced he would be emceeing the late comedian's state memorial later this year.

Friends were reportedly left so "aghast" when news broke that Dickie, 69, would be hosting the much-anticipated event at the Sydney Opera House on December 15 that many inside their friendship circle and some key family members, such as Barry's widow and fourth wife, Lizzie Spender, and Emily, his daughter to his second wife Rosalind, are planning to boycott the event.

"Like a number of Barry's friends, I was amazed and aghast that Nine personality Richard Wilkins was chosen to be the MC at this important event," Professor Ross Fitzgerald, a friend of Barry's for more than 60 years, told the media last week.

"I am also very puzzled how this happened. I had someone contact the NSW Premier's department, who said everything had been run past Lizzie Spender and the children and had their approval. But that is just not true.