Lily Savage

Paul James O'Grady MBE DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag queen persona Lily Savage, very popular in the 1990s. O'Grady subsequently dropped the character and in the 2000s became the presenter of various television and radio shows, most notably ''The Paul O'Grady Show''.

Born to a working-class Irish migrant family in Tranmere, Cheshire, O'Grady moved to London in the late 1970s, initially working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council. He developed his drag act in 1978, basing the character of Lily Savage upon traits found amongst female relatives. Touring England as part of drag mime duo, the Playgirls, O'Grady later went solo as a stand-up comedian. Performing as Savage for eight years at a South London gay pub, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT) and The Fox and Firkin in Lewisham, he gained a popular following among London gay people and used his character to speak out for gay rights. After being nominated for a 1992 Perrier Award, O'Grady attracted mainstream attention and made various television, radio, and theatrical appearances. As Savage, he presented the shows ''The Big Breakfast'' (1995–1996), ''Blankety Blank'' (1997–2002), and '' Lily Live!'' (2000–2001), earning various awards and becoming a well known public figure.

Wishing to diversify from Savage, O'Grady starred in the BBC One sitcom '' Eyes Down'' (2003–2004) and presented two travel documentaries for ITV. In 2004, he began presenting ITV's daytime chat show ''The Paul O'Grady Show''. After the network refused to transfer creative control of the series to O'Grady's production company Olga TV, he moved to Channel 4 in 2006, where the show was rebranded as ''The New Paul O'Grady Show,'' airing until 2009. O'Grady presented the late night ITV show '' Paul O'Grady Live'' (2010–2011) and BBC Radio 2's '' Paul O'Grady on the Wireless'' (2009–2022). Additional television shows included '' Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs'' (2012–present), '' Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans'' (2014–2016), ''Blind Date'' (2017–2019), and ''Paul O'Grady's Great British Escape'' (2020). Since 2008 he has published several books, including a four-volume memoir.

O'Grady was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to entertainment. In 2020 he became president of the British Music Hall Society, taking over the role from Roy Hudd. He is a DL for the County of Kent.

Early life

Childhood: 1955–1971

O'Grady was born on 14 June 1955 at St. Catherine's Hospital in the Tranmere area of Birkenhead, Cheshire (now Merseyside). His father, Patrick "Paddy" Grady (1912–1973), was Irish and had grown up in Ballincurry, County Roscommon, before moving to England in 1936 and settling in the working-class area of Birkenhead. His name was changed from "Grady" to "O'Grady" in a paperwork mistake when he joined the Royal Air Force, and he kept the new name. Patrick married Mary "Molly" Savage (1916–1988), who was born in England to Irish immigrants from County Louth. Paul was their third child; his birth came over a decade after those of brother Brendan (born 1941) and sister Sheila (born 1944).

O'Grady spent his early life at the family's rented home at 23 Holly Grove in Higher Tranmere. He later said, "When I look back on my childhood I have no bad memories. Our family was loving and full of affection. I never knew what divorce was until I moved to London. I was an indulged child and completely protected from anything bad." Attending St. Joseph's Catholic Primary School, O'Grady excelled in all subjects except mathematics. Hoping that he had a good future ahead of him, his parents budgeted to send him to a private school, the Catholic-run Redcourt, but his grades dropped. Failing the eleven plus exam, he was unable to enter a grammar school so attended the Blessed Edmund Campion R.C. Secondary Modern and the Corpus Christi High School. It was at the school that O'Grady experienced his first homosexual encounter, enjoying a brief romance with another boy, although he still assumed he was heterosexual.

A fan of the popular television series '' The Avengers'' and '' Batman'', O'Grady was enrolled in the Cub Scouts by his mother, but he hated it, leaving after a month. An altar boy at a local Catholic church, he was dismissed after laughing during a funeral service. He then joined the Marine Cadet Section of the Sea Cadet Corps, later commenting that he was following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, the cartoon Popeye that he kept for a week, and through this and other jobs, he saved up to afford Mod clothes, for a time becoming a suedehead.

Early adulthood: 1972–1977

Leaving school aged 16, O'Grady obtained a job in the civil service, working as a clerical assistant for the DHSS at their Liverpool office; he commuted in from his parents' Tranmere home. Supplementing this income, he worked part-time at the bar of the Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) club in Oxton. Called for a disciplinary hearing at the DHSS and accused of incompetent behaviour and tardiness, he resigned. Obtaining a job at the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Virginia Water, Surrey, aged 17, O'Grady moved there; the management accused him of stealing, which he denied.

Promptly returning to Birkenhead, he increasingly socialised within the Liverpudlian gay scene, attending meetings of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and working at gay bar the Bear's Paw; this was kept a secret from his parents, to whom he was not "out of the closet". He also had casual sex with a female friend, Diane Jansen, who became pregnant, news which O'Grady discovered in the same week that both his parents suffered heart attacks; his mother made a recovery, but his father died. Following the birth of his daughter, Sharon Lee Jansen, in May 1974, O'Grady agreed to pay towards her upkeep, but refused to marry Jansen, recognising his homosexuality.

Briefly working as an assistant clerk at Liverpool Magistrates' Court, O'Grady subsequently worked as a barman at Yates's Wine Lodge, supplementing the income with the occasional night at the Bear's Paw. Realising this wage was insufficient to support both himself and his daughter, he travelled to London, lodging in Westbourne Green, but found only poorly paid work as a barman. In London, he began associating with drag queens, particularly a couple who used the stage name of the Harlequeens. Although making friends in the city, O'Grady was homesick and returned to Birkenhead. Employed as an accountant in a FMC Meats Merseyside abattoir, he then worked for three years at the Children's Convalescent Home and School in West Kirby, a home for disabled and abused children.

Returning to London, he rented a flat in Crouch End and began busking with a friend in Camden Town before obtaining a job as a physiotherapist's assistant at the Royal Northern Hospital. Made redundant by public sector cuts, O'Grady took up a job at a gay club called the Showplace, befriending a Portuguese lesbian named Teresa Fernandes. In May 1977, they married to prevent her deportation; they lost contact and only legally divorced in 2005.Paul O'Grady, ''The One Show'', 16 August 2011 Taking up jobs as a cleaner and a waiter at private functions, he began working for Camden Council as a peripatetic care officer; living in with elderly people and dysfunctional families had a lasting effect on him.

Career in drag

Lily Savage and the drag circuit: 1978–1984

While working for Camden Social Services, O'Grady made his first attempt at putting together a drag act, creating the character of Lily Savage; he later said, "I wanted to get up there but be larger than life, a creature that was more cartoon than human." His debut was on the afternoon of 7 October 1978 at The Black Cap gay pub in Camden, where his act involved miming the words to Barbra Streisand's "Nobody Makes a Pass at Me" from the show '' Pins and Needles''. Following a holiday to Poland, he visited an ex-boyfriend in Manila in the Philippines, there working briefly as a barman and waiter at a brothel.

Returning to London, O'Grady moved to Purley and then Streatham with a drag act, the Glamazons. With one of them, nicknamed "Hush", he founded a two-man drag mime act, the Playgirls, although found little work in London. Agreeing to a tour of northern England, they moved to Slaithwaite, Yorkshire, also accepting a month's work at a club in Copenhagen, Denmark. Diversifying their act, O'Grady learned fire eating and developed a striptease while wearing a fat suit he named "Biddy". After Hush returned to London, O'Grady continued his drag performance as a solo act under the name of "Paul Monroe", a reference to Marilyn Monroe. Under financial strain, O'Grady moved back in with his mother in Birkenhead. Amid mass unemployment, O'Grady briefly lived off the dole before resurrecting the Playgirls with his friend Vera; initially performing in Liverpool, where they were caught up in the 1981 Toxteth riots, they began touring other parts of northern England until returning to London.

Again working as a support worker for Camden Council Social Services, O'Grady lived in Vauxhall and then Brixton before reviving the Playgirls with Hush, devising an act based upon the film '' What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?''. At the end of the year, he appeared as an Ugly Sister in a drag pantomime of ''Cinderella''. In March 1983 he joined the Equity union, allowing him to take a role in the theatrical adaptation of ''If They'd Asked for a Lion Tamer'' at the Donmar Warehouse. The Playgirls gained bookings to appear across London, and also in Amsterdam and Copenhagen; O'Grady and Hush joined with drag artist David Dale to form an act known as "LSD", which stood for "Lily, Sandra, and Doris". Devising an act that parodied children's television show '' Andy Pandy'', they gained bookings across London and in Edinburgh.

Residency in Vauxhall: 1984–1992

In 1984, O'Grady began work as a barman at a Vauxhall gay pub, the Elephant and Castle. As Lily, he compered " Ladies Night" each Tuesday, where amateur drag acts would perform. As compere, he tried out comedy routines, becoming known for insulting both the acts and the audience; he attracted growing crowds and he was interviewed by artist Patrick Procktor. After six months, he transferred his act to the nearby Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT) gay pub, re-opening his show on Thursday nights as "Stars of the Future". In 1985 he obtained his own council flat in Vauxhall's Victoria Mansions. During the mid-1980s, he entered a relationship with Brendan "Murph" Murphy, the manager of a gay sauna near the Oval, Kennington. Murphy subsequently became O'Grady's manager.

Eventually appearing at the RVT three times a week, on Sundays O'Grady began performing at the Union Tavern in Camberwell and the Goldsmith's Tavern in New Cross, where he often preceded Vic Reeves' three-hour show '' Vic Reeves Big Night Out''. Quitting his council work, he focused full-time on his career as Lily, taking his act across the country and abroad. Other venues he performed at included the Madame JoJo's club in Soho, the Bloomsbury Theatre, and the Heaven nightclub. Befriending American drag queen Divine and his manager Bernard Jay, Jay booked O'Grady to appear in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. As Divine had done, O'Grady also recorded his own Hi-NRG song, "Tough at the Top", which was produced by DJ Ian Levine. In 1988, he performed as Madame in ''The Scythe of Reason'', and appeared at the Glasgow Mayfest, where he developed a lifelong friendship with actor Ian McKellen.

O'Grady used his act to speak out on issues affecting the gay community, especially during the HIV/AIDS crisis. In April 1988 he took part in a march against Section 28, a policy introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government that many denounced as homophobic. Regularly doing charity fundraisers for HIV/AIDS research, many of his friends died from AIDS-related complications; he later related that "People my age will never get over the horrors." He performed in a play about the disease at the King's Head Theatre in Islington, befriending co-star Amanda Mealing.

From 1989 to 1992 O'Grady performed annually as Lily at the Edinburgh Fringe, gaining increasing recognition. He was nominated for the 1991 Perrier Award alongside Jack Dee, Eddie Izzard, and (the ultimate winner) Frank Skinner. He later related that "The Edinburgh Festival changed my life. The experience opened doors for me that would otherwise have been firmly closed, exposing me to a much wider audience than I'd previously been used to." O'Grady followed this with a show titled ''Lily Savage Live from the Hackney Empire''; a sell-out, it was the first time that his performance was recorded. In 1992 he embarked on an Australian tour, performing alongside the Australian comedian Mark Trevorrow, and proceeded to Los Angeles, where he was present for the 1992 riots in that city.

O'Grady obtained his breakthrough into television when he played the character of a transvestite prostitute informant, Roxanne, in three episodes of ITV's police drama ''The Bill'' between 1988 and 1990. Just before filming on the first episode, O'Grady's mother died. In 1990 he appeared in the ITV miniseries ''Chimera'' as a social worker; during filming he befriended co-star Liza Tarbuck. He followed this with a performance as a Marlene Dietrich-style cabaret singer in an episode of Rik Mayall's ITV comedy ''The New Statesman''. He had continued to perform regularly at the RVT, and after the proprietors Pat and Breda McConnor decided to move on, he and Murphy unsuccessfully sought to replace them. O'Grady never compered at the RVT again after the McConnors left.

Mainstream success: 1992–1998

After leaving the RVT, O'Grady continued to tour as Lily and released VHS videos of his performances. Gaining further public exposure through an appearance on the late-night Channel 4 comedy show '' Viva Cabaret!'', he appeared on an episode of BBC
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