Description

In his own uniquely acid tongue, Paul OGrady traces the hilarious tales of life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that took him from a virtuous altar-boy (my first drag) to Britains best loved entertainer. Its a life that includes, varyingly, stints in an abbatoir, as a social worker, in a high-class Mayfair brothel, and traipsing down to London to chase his dreams. By 23, In his own uniquely acid tongue, Paul OGrady traces the hilarious tales of life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that took him from a virtuous altar-boy (my first drag) to Britains best loved entertainer. Its a life that includes, varyingly, stints in an abbatoir, as a social worker, in a high-class Mayfair brothel, and traipsing down to London to chase his dreams. By 23, Paul OGrady had been a father, husband, drag queen, gay lover, divorcee, and degenerate. He did it all with a smile on his face, making a mental note to register the whip-smart one-liners that would later inform his star-studded path from the fringes of comedy to the heart of the British establishment, first as his own brilliant comic creation Lily Savage, then, triumphantly, as himself. Pauls remarkable childhood and early life is littered with a dizzying cast-list of rogues, rascals, lovers, fighters, saints, and sinners. Oh, and one iconic bus conductress. Told with pathos, love, empathy, and naturally, biting humor, the story of Paul OGrady is that of everyman, everywoman, and inevitably, every drag act ever. He has been rich and poor, posh and common, straight and gay. He has mixed with stars and whores and all thats in between, slyly spotting the similarity between them all. His amazing and riveting life story reminds us that there is, when all is said and done, a bit of savage in all of us.

In his own uniquely acid tongue, Paul OGrady traces the hilarious tales of life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that took him from a virtuous altar-boy (my first drag) to Britains best loved entertainer. Its a life that includes, varyingly, stints in an abbatoir, as a social worker, in a high-class Mayfair brothel, and traipsing down to London to chase his dreams. By 23, In his own uniquely acid tongue, Paul OGrady traces the hilarious tales of life in Irish Catholic Birkenhead that took him from a virtuous altar-boy (my first drag) to Britains best loved entertainer. Its a life that...  Read More