Paul O’Grady, the comedian and TV personality, became a household name in the early 2000s due to his wit and love of animals. He first gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s as his drag queen persona, Lily Savage, before hosting a variety of television shows, including his self-titled daytime chat show,
The Paul O’Grady Show, which began airing in 2004. He also fronted Blankety Blank and ITV’s multi-award-winning For The Love Of Dogs. O’Grady became an ambassador for Battersea Dogs and Cats Home after the success of the show.
He won the award for Outstanding Contribution to Animal Welfare at the RSPCA’s Animal Hero Awards in 2016. O’Grady’s other on-air appearances included hosting ITV’s Paul O’Grady’s Saturday Night Line Up, and he signed off from his final BBC Radio 2 show last year, having hosted the Sunday afternoon program for nearly 14 years.
O’Grady was made an MBE in 2008 and appointed as a deputy lieutenant of Kent in 2022. He was born in Birkenhead, on Merseyside, in 1955.