Paul James O Grady Biography

He attended a Christian Brothers school and discovered a love for dressing up at an early age. While working as a clerk in a magistrate's court, he met Diane Jansen, and by the time he was 17, Diane had given birth to their daughter.

However, Paul was not destined to stay in Liverpool with Diane, and in 1977 he found himself working as a waiter in a bar-cum-brothel in Manila. The experiences of his time working in Manila would later help shape his infamous alter-ego, ‘Lily Savage’.

Having returned to London in the early 1980s, Paul worked as a social worker and as a bartender at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. It was here that he got his chance to work on stage as a compere for amateur drag nights.

Having decided that he could do better than many of the acts he was introducing, he debuted as 'Lily Savage' in 1985. Doing the rounds of London’s gay bars and clubs, Paul fine-tuned his act, going on to become a regular at the Edinburgh Festival and developing a loyal cult following.

All the years of stage work paid off and in 1995, Paul got his TV break in 'Live From The Lilydrome' and Channel 4’s 'The Big Breakfast'. Lily had won the hearts of a mainstream audience and 'The Lily Savage Show' and 'Blankety Blank' sent his career sky-rocketing. Paul continued to work in the theatre as Lily in such hits as 'Prisoner Cell Block', ‘Annie', ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ and a string of pantos.

However, by 2000 Paul had grown increasing tired of dressing up as Lily, and began to appear on television simply as ‘Paul O’Grady’. The shows 'Paul O'Grady's Orient' and 'Paul O'Grady's America' proved that the public didn’t need to see Paul in drag to find him entertaining.

In 2002, Paul suffered a heart attack at his London flat. An emergency operation and weeks of rest enabled him to make a full recovery. Paul gave up smoking and spent more time at his home in Kent with his showbiz dog, Buster, as well as his goats, chickens, donkeys, pigs and Dot the cow.

Paul’s latest reincarnation is as talk show host in the ‘Paul O’Grady Show’. The show has won many awards and recently switched from ITV to Channel 4 after a huge bidding war.

On the 30th June 2006, Paul was again admitted to a hospital in Kent with a suspected heart attack, after suffering chest pains. He remained in hospital for a few days, but late made a full recovery.