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SAVAGE TIL THE END
I ditched Lily 20 years ago, but she was always itching to get out, said Paul O’Grady in his final interview
PAUL O’Grady’s drag queen alter-ego Lily Savage was constantly itching to get out, he said in what turned out to be his last interview with The Sun.
He ditched the act almost 20 years ago but said she was the fire in his belly that once saw him partying with stars — and even fighting with police.
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It meant Paul always flipped between his two personas — depending on what time a show was going to be broadcast.
He said: “I’d say to producers ‘Is this going out at 7pm or 9pm?’ And they’d say ‘Well, we don’t know yet, does it make a difference?’”
“And I’d say ‘Yeah, because at 7pm you get Snow White. After 9pm, you get her mother.’ You know what I mean?
“Before the watershed you have to behave yourself — then after it you can really let go.”
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Paul’s extreme “split personality” came from rebelling against prejudice in the 1970s and 1980s by ratcheting up the very thing homophobes hated most.
Like his long-time pal Julian Clary — whose act was known as The Joan Collins Fan Club — that meant slapping on make-up, going on stage and saying the most outrageous things they could think of.
It was this act of defiance that gave birth to the outrageous scouse superstar that was Lily Savage, who would later go on to mainstream success as the host of Blankety Blank.
It also saw them indulge in some wild nights out with the swarm of celebrities who were drawn by their risque acts — although Paul insisted the days of all-nighters were long over for him.
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He said: “Who has been the worst behaved at a showbiz party? Of course, Julian Clary would always say me.
“Although it’s not true these days. I am very quiet, I leave about 10pm and I’ve had enough and the booze at these parties is always dreadful.”
But Paul remained passionate about gay and trans rights up to his , which is why so many LGBTQ+ organisations and institutions were among the chorus of tributes yesterday.
He always continued to press for change using his profile in the same way he would fight abuse with his fists and wit 36 years ago.
That was in full effect when he was on the stage of the Royal Vauxhall Tavern as Lily Savage when the gay pub was raided by police on January 24, 1987.
The officers had some dubious reasoning for carrying out the operation and the misplaced fear of them catching HIV saw them all wearing rubber gloves.
Paul took the mic and immediately asked “Have you come to do the washing up?”, before belting a bobby and getting pushed to one side as battle commenced.
He laughed and recalled: “I got two lovely lesbians I got pally with and they threw me over the bar. They were like ‘Come on Lily, out of the way love’.”
The reason for the raid was that the pub was said to be “too busy” but the punters who were bundled into waiting police vans outside by the 25 officers believe it was an act of intimidation.
Paul found one silver lining, though. He recalls: “It said in the papers that it was busy because ‘there was a popular but lascivious act on.’ Lascivious?
“I was never so pleased in all me life — to be called lascivious. I thought ‘Oh wow, wonderful!
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“Oh my God I was in more police raids than Gypsy Rose Lee, at one time. It was a f***ing joke.”
Paul was one of those carted off to the local police station. Once there he was asked for his name and said “Lily Savage” to which the desk sergeant insisted: “What’s your real name?” The reply? “Lily Veronica Mae Savage.”
Even though she was the persona Paul used when he was fighting for freedom, he reckoned her outrageous statements would lead to her being swiftly cancelled in the woke culture of today.
And he believes her profession would be reclassified by millennials as a “sex worker”. He said: “It’s all gone a bit too far, hasn’t it?”
“I always thought she was a little older than me, so Lily would be in her 70s and she’d probably be living abroad now on her immoral earnings.
“If you said to her ‘what do you think about the woke brigade‘ she would say ‘Oh I can’t be arsed.’
“They probably wouldn’t like the inference that she was a lady of the night. But she’s too old to be called a sex worker now. I always say she’s living in Amsterdam as a madame.”
However, when Paul appeared as Lily on ’s chat show, she offered a different version of events.
She said: “I’ve seen the light, I’m taking the veil. I’m going to become Sister Lily.
"Shaved head, wimple, the lot. It’s a closed order, no speaking, nothing. And I won’t miss the sex to be honest, no, I’m sick of it anyway. Please.”
As well as being a strong woman while being Lily, Paul was friends with them. His best pals included TV presenter Cilla Black.
Another was Joan Collins, who Paul adored because she worked in the bygone era of TV and movies that he was obsessed with.
Paul said: “She drops names, does Joan. She doesn’t mean to, it’s just she’s worked with everybody and she knows everybody.
“So she’ll turn to you and say something like ‘Actually, Ava Gardner said…” and, of course, I am all ears because I love all that business.
She’s just great fun, Joan. She really is, especially if she’s relaxed.”
Paul always wanted to continue in showbusiness for as long as possible, although when Covid hit he briefly toyed with quitting.
But the buzz of being in the spotlight was something he knew he would miss too much.
He said: “I thought ‘I could just sit here and knock out kids’ books.’ And then of course I go back to work and I was like ‘What was I thinking of, I love being back in the studio again’. You know? With all the crew and the makeup artists.”
Despite his advancing years he insisted he would never consider any cosmetic enhancements.
He said: “With high definition TV I’d probably look like Zelda from Terrahawks, terrifying people.
“They will be like “why doesn’t he have a bit of work done.” Well, because I don’t want a bit of work done. Though I think they take one look and think ‘Oh Christ no. No hope there’
“I did see some sights at the Venice Film Festival. I kept saying to my husband Andre ‘Look at this one! Jesus, she looks like she has been in a wind tunnel with her face pulled back with a great big gob and no eyes. Oh my god Almighty, no.”
But he always thought that if he made it to 70 he would have to be taken off our screens anyway.
He said: “You know, I have this terrible vision of me at 70 just being like the nan from Catherine Tate — only worse. 50 times worse.
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“And I wouldn’t be allowed on telly by then or radio or anything because I would speak my mind.
"I speak it now, but I would speak it even more then. Though I don’t actually like thinking that far ahead.”
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LILY’S BEST GAGS
“I HAD my Rolex snatched outside my house, it was only £2.99, I won’t tell the insurance that. Had my handbag nicked as well, had the Elgin marbles in it, a rare oil painting, £250,000 in cash and a sapphire.”
“SHOWBUSINESS got the better of me. When you find yourself in a skip at five o’clock in the morning with one of the Bay City Rollers you think: ‘Lily it’s time to call it a day love.’”
“THIS business with Wayne Rooney — it was me. I woke up, looked at this spotty forehead and thought: ‘Lily, you’re too old’. Now he’s playing for Manchester. £50 and it wasn’t worth it.”
“I THOUGHT I’ll carry another woman’s eggs for couples who couldn’t have children. I had 18 babies in three years. I had to have my pelvic floor laminated.”
“BARBARA Windsor’s workout video saved my life. I did the buttock clenching exercises. I can pick a pencil up now with my bum. I can pick a table up with my bum and won’t spill a drink on it.”
“I’M doing Snow White with real dwarfs. I tell you why I did it — to see that look on children’s faces, sheer terror! And most importantly cold hard cash on a Friday night.”
“I GOT this turkey and put it in the bath to defrost. I came in Christmas Eve and didn’t even look at it, grabbed it and got a big dollop of Paxo. I was just about to shove it up and I had a look and it was our Vera.”
“THEY looked at me very oddly when I went to Harrogate — like they would a skid mark on a hotel towel. What’s wrong have you never seen leopard skin capri pants before?”
“REMEMBER Donovan the singer? He called his daughter Skye because she was conceived on the Isle of Skye. Good job that never happened to me or I’d be called Butlins.”
“THIS woman got an HRT patch on her back and when she woke the next day it had gone and her husband went to work on the oil rigs. Three months later he came back with a 58-inch chest and a boyfriend.”
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