The Woman’s Own columnist has her say on coffee, vaping and cash
REMEMBERING PAUL
A true great who brought so much fun and laughter to our lives
There can’t be too many women who can claim to have spent a morning in bed with the late, great Paul O’Grady, so pretty thrilled that I was one of them. And let me tell you, he was pretty damn good too. The fact that he was wearing fishnet tights, killer heels and a corset at the time made it even more fun.
He was, of course, in his alter ego mode as the excellent Lily Savage, the year was 1995 and we were filming the C4 show The Big Breakfast. Paul had just taken over from the original star of the interviews in bed slot, Paula Yates. Huge shoes to fill and yet he was warm, charming, kind and, of course, outrageously funny.
It’s been two weeks now since we lost him, taken at just 67 years old. Way too young and way too soon, and the sadness of his passing still lingers. It always feels weird to be affected by the death of a famous person but there are some that really hit home. I think Paul’s was one of them. Whether you remember him from The Big Breakfast, Blankety Blank, Blind Date, any of his self-titled chat shows or the awards winning For The Love Of Dogs it’s impossible to find anyone who disliked the man.
Which is incredible considering he started out as a drag queen, the conversation around which has become astonishingly toxic recently with fierce debate around drag queen story-time sessions in schools.
Paul as Lily Savage on mainstream telly was saucy and sexy but never crude. No one would have objected to this hugely talented and animated character reading an age-appropriate story out to their little ones. It was more pantomime dame than bondage dungeon. He learnt his craft in the gay pubs and drag scene venues of his home city Liverpool. And while Lily was outrageous, had no filter and was brutally honest (he told me he did his make-up better than I did and he was right! He also had better legs and fewer roots) he was far from stupid. Or mean. Or so full of his own importance that no one else mattered.
In the weeks since we lost him no one has said a bad word about him. And that rarely applies in celebrity world. Even Paul’s best mate Cilla Black attracted some criticism when she died. Back on that long-ago Big Breakfast day I talked to all the crew too. They loved Paul/Lily. Even the young cameraman he regularly took the rise out of live on air.
Paul very sweetly sent me a follow-up thank-you note too. Another showbiz rare display of ordinariness. If Paul loved people though, he loved animals more. And they loved him back. He dedicat
