![]() ![]() It's always been, ''Why don't you be Lily Savage again?'' Well, because one, I'm too old, and two, I couldn't be bothered. 'There's not enough cash on Earth to get me dragged up. They probably wouldn't like the inference that she was a lady of the night - she'd have to say she was a sex worker or just, ''Worked in hospitality''. 'It's just the things that she comes out with. In 2004, Paul retired Lily, later telling The Mirror: 'People say to me, "Would you do Lily again?" And I say, ''Good God no, I wouldn't last five minutes''. Later that year, Lily had further success as the host of a revived version of the game show Blankety Blank, which ran until 2002. The show also featured one of the earliest appearances of his beloved dog Buster, who became a fixture on his teatime chat show in the 2000s. He took on chat programme The Lily Savage Show for the BBC for a short run in 1997, interviewing stars including Elton John and Anthea Turner. However he quit the show after a year, admitting at the time that the early mornings 'didn't agree' with him. While working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council in north London in the 1970s, O'Grady began performing as Lily in gay clubs across the capital, making a name for himself with his outrageous alter-ego. You'd never laugh because it was a manner of speaking.' ![]() 'She was very glamorous, a big blonde and she'd come in and say, ''I'm that hungry, I could eat a nun's a**e through the convent railings". My Auntie Chrissie was a clippy on the buses. 'A lot of the stuff I used to say as Lily stemmed from those days. He also said that Lily's iconic look, including her huge blonde beehive and glamorous appearance, was inspired by her aunt, who was a 'clippy', or bus conductor. I used to lift my cassock to go down the steps – you know, show an ankle – and swing the thurible more enthusiastically than I should have.' 'All of a sudden, my whole style on the altar changed – you had this 12-year-old stripper. The star credited the racy film Gypsy with kick-starting his interest in performing, telling The Big Issue: 'I was an altar boy until I saw a film called Gypsy about Gypsy Rose Lee. He first began performing as Lily in the 1970s while working as a peripatetic care officer for Camden Council in north London. Tragically, both his parents died young due to heart problems - his father when O'Grady was in his late teens and his mother, whose maiden name was Savage, when he was 33. O'Grady was born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, in 1955. His drag alter-ego Lily left viewers in hysterics with her acid-tongued remarks
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