Paul O'Grady after receiving an honorary fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University for services to entertainment. Credit: PA Paul O'Grady's life has already filled two excellent volumes... Still Standing is another enjoyable and colourful read." (Roland White The Sunday Times)

9780857501028: Still Standing: The Savage Years - AbeBooks

Paul makes you feel like he's chatting to you as a friend. The stories are bold, honest, sometimes hilarious, sometimes very sad.' ***** Lilian Maeve Veronica Savage, international sex kitten, was born on the steps of The Legs of Man public house, Lime Street, Liverpool on a policeman’s overcoat. Her mother, the lady wrestler Hell Cat Savage, had no such luxuries as gas and air. She just bit down on the policeman’s torch and recovered afterwards at the bar with a large pale ale...O’Grady began his career by performing as Savage in the 1970s whilst working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council in north London. Last year he was joined by the Queen Consort in a special one-off episode of For The Love Of Dogs to mark 160 years of the home. Still Standing will make you laugh and make you cry. Some of the stories might even make your hair curl. But it stands as a glorious tribute to absent friends and to a world which has now all but vanished. The comedian and TV personality first rose to prominence as his drag queen persona Lily Savage in the 1980s and 1990s before going on to host a string of television programmes. O’Grady became popular with a whole new audience as the host of The Paul O’Grady Show which aired in a teatime slot on ITV from 2004 to 2005, later moving it to Channel 4 as The New Paul O’Grady Show.

Savage Paul O’Grady: The comedian who rose to fame as Lily Savage

Known for his wit and love of animals, Paul O’Grady became a household name in the early noughties. Last year he signed off from his final BBC Radio 2 show, having hosted the Sunday afternoon programme for nearly 14 years. Paul O’Grady with rescue dogs Razor a German Shepherd, Moose a Rottweiler and Dodger a Terrier at London’s Battersea Park. Credit: PA O’Grady has also authored several books, including an autobiographical series detailing his childhood, the creation of Savage, and his years in the spotlight. The name is believed to have inspired his famous drag alter ego Lily Savage, who helped propel him to mainstream success.O'Grady has a playwright's ear for dialogue, and his salty descriptions of raucous gigs in rundown pubs are a rude delight." ( Independent) He took on chat show The Lily Savage Show for the BBC for a short run in 1997 and later that year had success as the host of a revived version of gameshow Blankety Blank, which ran until 2002. The series is divided into four titles; At My Mother’s Knee…And Other Low Joints, The Devil Rides Out, Still Standing: The Savage Years, and Open The Cage, Murphy.