Star Facts
- Paul was dismissed from his post as an altar boy after laughing at a funeral service
- He can eat fire
- Paul was once an amateur boxer
- He married a Portuguese lesbian in 1977 so she could stay in the UK and divorced in 2005
Paul James Michael O'Grady Quotes
I went from being a big harridan in a wig to a talkshow host with my dog, Buster. I like this job
Biography:
One-time Lily Savage, Paul led a very colourful life before he hit our TV screens and became a national treasure. A tearaway suedehead teen, by the time he moved to London, he’d been arrested for burglary, fathered a child at 18 after a brief fling, and worked as a barman in a brothel in Manila.
All of which gave him plenty of material for his drag act Lily Savage. Although Lily’s retired to a convent now, it was she who brought Paul fame. She premiered in 1978, frequently opening for Vic Reeves Big Night Out, and after a Perrier-nominated run at the Edinburgh Festival, hit our screens as a Big Breakfast On the Bed Presenter, going on to host Blankety Blank and even appearing in front of the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance. She retired in 2004.
Paul began to emerge more on TV appearing on shows like The Bill and the bingo-based sitcom Eyes Down in 2003. He landed his own hugely successful teatime chat show, The Paul O’ Grady Show in 2004, along with his dog Buster. After 11 series it came to an end in 2010.
Paul’s since starred in panto and hosts his own Radio 2 show. In 2008, he published the first volume of his acclaimed autobiography, At My Mother's Knee... And Other Low Joints, with the second appearing in 2010, and he’s currently working on the third chapter.