Paul O'Grady first came to fame in the guise of Lily Savage, and was nominated for a Perrier Award at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991. Lily later became a regular on This Morning, took over the bed on The Big Breakfast and presented Blankety Blank. Paul, of course, went on to further success presenting his chat shows on Channel 4 and ITV, For the Love of Dogs and Animal Orphans on ITV, and his weekly show on BBC Radio 2, inter alia. His four volumes of autobiography - At My Mother's Knee, The Devil Rides Out, Still Standing and Open the Cage, Murphy - are all Sunday Times bestsellers.
As a narrator, stroppy of tongue but melting of heart, O'Grady still charms and tickles. The comic scenes with his truly mythological mum ( the Madame Defarge of Tranmere ; Columbo in a flannelette nightie ; Eleanor of Aquitaine with a chip-pan ) can touch the hem of Alan Bennett's robe... Leaves most fiction and history of the era in the dust. -- Boyd Tonkin Independent