Paul O'Grady

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 character Popeye.

He enjoyed the cadets, and at the advice of his captain joined the Boys' Amateur Boxing Club, developing a lifelong love of the sport.

Playing truant from school, he got into trouble with his parents, and subsequently with the police after burgling a house with three friends.

O'Grady's first job was a paper round 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.

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 a gay bar called the Bear's Paw; this was kept a secret from his parents, to whom he was not "out of the closet".

Paul James O'Grady (14 June 1955 – 28 March 2023) was an English comedian and broadcaster, drag queen, actor, and writer.

O'Grady was born on 14 June 1955 at St. Catherine's Hospital in the Tranmere area of Birkenhead, Cheshire (now Merseyside).

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.

He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his drag persona Lily Savage, through which he gained wider popularity in the 1990s.

Touring England as part of drag mime duo the Playgirls, O'Grady then went solo as a stand-up comedian in the early 1980s.

Performing as Savage for eight years at a South London gay pub, the Royal Vauxhall Tavern (RVT), he gained a popular following among London's gay community 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 television 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.

O'Grady subsequently dropped the character and in the 2000s became the presenter of various television and radio shows, including The Paul O'Grady Show.

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 was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2008 Birthday Honours for services to entertainment.

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 (2012–2023), Paul O'Grady's Animal Orphans (2014–2016), Blind Date (2017–2019), and Paul O'Grady's Great British Escape (2020).

He also published several books, including a four-volume memoir.

In 2020 he became president of the British Music Hall Society, taking over the role from Roy Hudd.

On 31 October 2022 he was appointed as a Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Kent, where he lived for many years.