Tributes have continued to flood in after the unexpected but “peaceful” passing of TV star and performer Paul O’Grady who died yesterday at the age of 67.
The Birkenhead-born legend charmed audiences for more than four decades and was a key figure in furthering LGBTQ visibility in the media. In his career he presented The Paul O'Grady Show, Blind Date and Blankety Blank, as welI as TV's multi-award-winning For The Love Of Dogs, with many viewers fondly remembering his acerbic and witty Lily Savage drag queen alter-ego.
Fellow TV stars and prominent figures have shared memories of the performer who was scheduled to return to the city for a production of Annie at the Liverpool Empire in June. Many tributes have touched on his kindness and generosity, but Paul was also a figure who wasn’t afraid to make social issues and politics a central part of his mainstream act.
READ MORE: Paul O'Grady has died at the age of 67
Having grown up in Merseyside, the actor and performer will have witnessed the challenges the region went through as he was breaking through in his career in the 1980s and 1990s. Even as an established star in 2010, a clip has resurfaced on social media today which shows Paul pulling no punches as he assessed the then Conservative/Liberal Democrat Government’s raft of spending cuts following the financial crisis in 2008.
Speaking to his live audience on the Paul O’Grady Live show on ITV, he referenced then Conservative chancellor George Osborne, he joked he’d prefer to have the sweary Black Sabbath and reality TV star Ozzy Osbourne in charge of the country’s finances, adding: “With Ozzy the only cuts would be effing and blinding from his speech.”
In the Autumn budget of 2010, the coalition Government led by then PM David Cameron and George Osborne, introduced tough austerity measures which hit public spending - the impacts of which can still be felt in communities across Merseyside today. The cuts were viewed as a way to bring the economy back under control following the crash, but saw key services across the country stripped back.
In his live TV programme, delivered following the budget, he went on to add: "Do you know what got my back up? Those Tories whooping and hollering when they heard about the cuts."
Joking about cheers in the House of Commons as the news “pensions” and “wheelchairs” would be cut, he then used an expletive to refer to the Government of the day, adding: "I do apologise for the language, that just fell out."
He went on to say that people of the UK “should take a leaf out” of the French public’s book in a rallying cry to stand up to the punishing reforms. He said: “We should take to the streets, we should be vocal in our fight against oppression, we should let them know that we are not taking these draconian cuts lightly. We should fight for the rights of the elderly, of the poor, of the sick.”
The Paul O’Grady Live show ran on ITV for two series stretching from 2010 to 2011. The programme was a Friday night chat show that featured a range of celebrities and guests.
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