Photo Eva Rinaldi - here

Name

Site of the Establishment Club (1961-1963)

Connection

It was here that Dame Edna Everage made her UK debut

Location

18 Greek Street, Soho, W1D 4DS

How to get there

Nearest underground station: Tottenham Court Road (Northern and Central Lines)

Story

According to her autobiography, My Gorgeous Life, Edna Everage was born Edna May Beazley in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. She married Norm Everage and settled in Monee Ponds in suburban Melbourne, before embarking on a career as a housewife and ‘superstar’, then ‘megastar’ and finally ‘gigastar’. The Establishment Club was founded by Peter Cook and operated from 1961 until 1964. A blue plaque to Peter Cook can be seen on the façade and a reference to the original club appears above the right-hand window.

Detail of the Establishment window - from here

In the early sixties the Establishment Club was famous for offering satirical reviews and stand-up comedy. Peter Cook himself was a regular entertainer and the club saw performances by Lenny Bruce and Frankie Howerd. Regular celebrity customers at the club were John Betjeman, Jean Shrimpton and Jonathan Miller.

Edna Everage was invited by Peter Cook to perform at the Establishment Club in 1962 and Edna herself vividly describes how her opening night went in her autobiography, My Glorious Life:

"Excuse I! My name is Mrs Everage, Mrs Norm Everage of Moonee Ponds, Melbourne…’ My voice faltered. Why was everyone so quiet? I ducked my head and squinted through the light so that I could see what reaction I was getting but the three tables next to the stage on which I managed to focus appeared to be empty."

The rest of the act didn’t go very well and the critics gave a very poor review. Edna blamed the fact that the critics mistakenly thought that she was Barry Humphries dressed as a woman and that the audience had left due to his unfunny act.

Edna spent the rest of the 60’s out of the limelight but her career took off following her damehood, conferred by Gough Whitlam in the 1974 Barry McKenzie film “Barry Holds His Own”. Through the 1970’s and beyond she became the superstar that we all know.

Listen to Peter Cook describing what the Establishment Club was like in an interview with another Australian expat, Clive James – here

Further information

Wikipedia (The Establishment Club) – here

Wikipedia (Dame Edna Everage) – here

18 Greek Street – here