John Patrick O'Grady (9 October 1907 - 14 January 1981) was an Australian writer. His works include the comic novel They're a Weird Mob (1957) and the poem The Integrated Adjective, sometimes known as Tumba-bloody-rumba.

Pseudonym[link]

O'Grady chose to write under a variety of pseudonyms, most famously as Nino Culotta for his books They're a Weird Mob, Cop This Lot, Gone Fishin ', and Gone Gougin' . Other examples include No Kava For Johnny, which is published under O'Grady's name, but contains a preface from the author claiming that the book had in fact been written by the eponymous character, Johnny.

Works[link]

O'Grady's numerous works were originally published in hardback by Ure Smith with comic illustrations; many have frequently been re-issued by other publishing houses, generally facsimile editions in paperback.

• They're a Weird Mob (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1957) and its sequels,
  • Cop This Lot (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1960)
  • Gone Fishin' (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1962)
  • Gone Gougin' (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1975)
• No Kava for Johnny (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1961) illustrated by 'wep'
• The Things They Do To You (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1963) illustrated by 'wep'
• Aussie English: An Explanation of the Australian Idiom (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1965)
• Ladies and Gentlemen (with Douglass Baglin) (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1966)
• Gone Troppo (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1968)
• O'Grady Sez (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1969)
• So Sue Me! (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1970)
• Are You Irish or Normal? (as by Sean O'Grada) (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1970)
• Aussie Etiket; or, Doing Things the Aussie Way (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1971)
• It's Your Shout, Mate!: Aussie pubs and Aussie beers (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1972)
• Smokey Joe the Fish-eater (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1972)
• Survival in the Doghouse (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1973)
• Now Listen, Mate! [re-issue of So sue me!] (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1974)
• There Was A Kid: An Autobiography, Part One (Sydney: Ure Smith, 1977)
• Down Under To Up Over (with Molly O'Grady) (Sydney: Lansdowne Press, 1980)

Aussie Etiket was translated into Japanese as Ōsutoraria-ryū Echiketto: Oretachi Dattara Kōsuru Ne (Tōkyō : Kindai Bungeisha, 1993)

A collection of the papers of O'Grady, ranging from 1942–1986, are available in manuscript form at the National Library of Australia, Canberra.^[1]

Family[link]

O'Grady's son, John O'Grady, Jnr, was at one point the head of situation comedy at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation^[2] and winner of the 1987 Television Drama Award for ABC TV series Mother and Son presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission.^[3] O'Grady's brother, Frank, was also an author and published The Golden Valley (1955), Goonoo Goonoo (1956) and Hanging Rock (1957); all published by Cassell. Where O'Grady's novels were light satirical works, Frank O'Grady wrote pioneering sagas set in western New South Wales.^[4]

See also[link]

Poetry portal

• Australian Dream

References[link]

This article about an Australian writer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

O'Grady is an animated television show created by Tom Snyder and Carl Adams and developed for TV by co-star Holly Schlesinger. It used to air on The N in the US, on MTV in Latin America, Nickelodeon in the United Kingdom (first season only), Family Channel in Canada and on 2x2 in Russia. It stars Melissa Bardin Galsky and H. Jon Benjamin, among other Soup2nuts Productions alumni, as high school students Abby and Kevin, and chronicles their lives along with those of other residents of O'Grady, a fictional town which is periodically plagued by "The Weirdness." The Weirdness affects its residents in strange ways such as projecting their private thoughts in bubbles over their heads, or producing clones of themselves every time they get angry. The random changes in the show's logo explains the plot.

Although The N no longer airs reruns of the series, episodes can still be viewed on the network's website. Episodes are also available for purchase through iTunes, as well as Amazon Instant Video.

Characters[link]

Major characters[link]

• Abby Wilde (Melissa Bardin Galsky)

Abby is a vain average teenager. Kevin and she have feelings between them, which have been shown in many episodes. Her main love interest is Pete Klesko, but she never manages to make him feel the same way.

• Kevin Harnisch (H. Jon Benjamin)

Kevin's a slacker teenager, who never wants to do hard work, has a tendency to find a way to use the weirdness for his own gain in various ways. He is in a band with Harold and Iris, but the band never progressed past a few shows. He also has a crush on Abby, although he would never admit it.

• Beth Briggs (Holly Schlesinger)

Beth is a blue haired environmentalist vegetarian, the classic concerned hippie with big ideas. She has good intentions as she is the opposite of Kevin, but she is also very naive. She's Abby's best friend.

• Harold Oscar Jenkins (Patrice O'Neal)

Harold works at Eets-A-Pizza, and is Kevin's best friend. He can be a little nerdy and often is uncomfortable with Kevin's various schemes.

Supporting characters[link]

• Iris (H. Jon Benjamin)

Iris is a neurotic German exchange student and a devoted fan of techno music. She speaks with an accent, and is one of the show's breakout characters, her humorous (though not intended to be funny) statements make her very popular with fans. She is often quoted. She is also very obsessive with chocolate and enjoys licking spoons.

• Pete Klesko (Larry Murphy)

Pete Klesko is the most popular guy in school. He plays on the lacrosse team, and Abby has had a crush on him for a long time, despite him not being able to remember her name. He has a very dull personality but is still nice.

• Phillip Demorio (H. Jon Benjamin)

He is one of their classmates, and is very smart, nerdy, and a total mama's boy. He is also wealthy, speaks very aristocratically, and is always wearing a tie.

• Donald Alan Lipschitz (Larry Murphy)

The monotone-speaking vice-principal. He says "Oh Lord" frequently whenever something bad happens. He also seems to suffer a reverse effect to every weirdness. He has to teach classes whenever the staff become victims to The Wierdness and is often teaching every class the main characters attend.

• Dr. Myers (Bill Braudis)

The school principal. He's shown as not very intelligent and has braces. He and Mr. Lipschitz have a somewhat friendship, with both being a little annoyed of the other.

Episode guide[link]

Season 1: 2004-2005[link]

Season 2: 2006[link]

Trivia[link]

• Many episodes have a penguin in them somewhere. One is on a sign during the opening, one was at the top of the food pyramid in Sugar Hill, one was on Kevin's suit in Sugar Hill, one was on the hood of the car in Old Cold, one was in the opening of "A Stronger O'Grady" and with the O'Grady opening title in "The Fly", one was on the newspaper in "Sign Language" and was expressed verbally in the episode "Frenched" when Chip said "Like a penguin's nuts."

External links[link]

• The N's O'Grady website
• O'Grady Video Page - Watch All the Episodes Online
• IM Interview with 'Beth' and 'Abby'
• Soup2Nuts O'Grady website (Under Construction)
• O'Grady at the Internet Movie Database
• O'Grady at TV.com

John Lydon
John Lydon in 2011
Background information
Birth name	John Joseph Lydon
Also known as	Johnny Rotten
Born	(1956-01-31) 31 January 1956 (age 56) London, England, UK
Genres	Punk rock, post-punk, experimental rock, noise rock, alternative rock
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, saxophone, guitar, bass guitar, violin, stroh violin, synthesizer, keyboards
Years active	1975–present
Associated acts	Sex Pistols, Public Image Ltd., Leftfield

John Joseph Lydon (born 31 January 1956), also known by the former stage name Johnny Rotten, is a singer-songwriter and television presenter, best known as the lead singer of punk rock band the Sex Pistols from 1975 until 1978, and again for various revivals during the 1990s and 2000s. He is the lead singer of the post-punk band Public Image Ltd, which he founded and fronted from 1978 until 1993, and again from 2009. Throughout his career, Lydon has made controversial or dismissive comments about the royal family and other subjects. There has been a recent revival of a 1980s movement to have Lydon knighted for his achievements with the Sex Pistols. Q Magazine remarked that "somehow he's assumed the status of national treasure."^[1]

Lydon's personally crafted image and fashion style led to him being asked to become the singer of the Sex Pistols by their manager, Malcolm McLaren. With the Pistols, he penned singles including "Anarchy in the U.K.", "God Save the Queen" and "Holidays in the Sun", the content of which precipitated the "last and greatest outbreak of pop-based moral pandemonium" in Britain.^[2] The band caused nationwide uproar in much of the media, who objected to the content of Lydon’s lyrics, and their antics, which included swearing on live television, in which Steve Jones called Bill Grundy a "fucking rotter". Due to the band's appearance in the media, Lydon was largely seen as the figurehead of the punk movement in the public image^[3] although this idea was not widely supported amongst the punk movement itself. Despite the negative reaction that they provoked, they are now regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of popular music.^[4][5]

Lydon left the Pistols in 1978 to found his own band, Public Image Ltd, that was far more experimental in nature, and which has been described as "arguably the first post-rock group".^[6] Although never as commercially successful as the Pistols, the band produced eight albums and a string of singles, including "Public Image", "Death Disco", and "Rise", before they went on hiatus in 1993, reforming in 2009. In subsequent years, Lydon hosted a number of television shows in the UK, US and Belgium, as well as writing an autobiography, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs (1993), and producing some solo musical work, such as the album Psycho's Path (1997).

Biography[link]

Early life: 1956–1974[link]

Lydon was born in London on 31 January 1956.^[7] His parents, John Christopher and Eileen (née Barry) Lydon, were working class immigrants from Ireland, and moved into a two-room Victorian flat with an outdoor toilet in Benwell Road, in the Holloway area of North London. At the time, the area was largely impoverished, with a high crime rate and a population comprised predominantly of working class Irish and Jamaican migrants. Lydon spent Summer holidays in his mother's native County Cork, where he also allegedly suffered abuse and name-calling for having an English accent, a prejudice he claims he still receives today even though he travels under an Irish passport.^[8] John was the eldest of four brothers, and as the eldest, he had to look after his siblings due to his mother's regular illnesses.^[9] As a child, he lived on the edge of an industrial estate, and would often play with friends in the factories when they were closed. He belonged to a local gang of neighbourhood kids, and would often end up in fights with other groups, something he would later look back on with fond memories: "Hilarious fiascoes, not at all like the knives and guns of today. The meanness wasn't there. It was more like yelling, shouting, throwing stones, and running away giggling. Maybe the reality was coloured by my youth."^[10] Describing himself as a "very shy" and "very retiring" kid who was "nervous as hell", he hated going to school, where he would get caned as punishment and where he "had several embarrassing incidents… I would shit my pants and be too scared to ask the teacher to leave the class. I'd sit there in a pants load of poo all day long."^[11]

When he was seven years old he contracted spinal meningitis and was hospitalised for a whole year in St. Anne's Hospital in Highgate. Throughout the entire experience he suffered from hallucinations, nausea and headaches, whilst the treatments administered by the nurses involved drawing fluid out of his spine with a surgical needle, something that left him with a permanent spinal curvature. The meningitis was also responsible for giving him what he would later describe as the "Lydon stare", and for him, this experience was "the first step that put me on the road to Rotten".^[12]

With his father often away on work, employed variously on building sites or oil rigs, Lydon got his first job aged 10 as a minicab dispatcher, something he kept up for a year whilst the family was in financial difficulty.^[13] He disliked his secondary school, the Sir William of York Catholic School in Islington, where initially he was bullied, but aged around 14 or 15 he "broke out of the mold" and began to fight back at what he saw as the oppressive nature of the school teachers, whom he felt instigated and encouraged the kids to all be the same and be "anti-anyone-who-doesn't-quite-fit-the-mold."^[14] Following the completion of his O-levels at school, he got into a row with his father, who disliked Lydon's long hair, and so, agreeing to get it cut, the teenager not only had it cut, but in an act of rebellion dyed it bright green.^[15] Growing up as a teenager, he listened mostly to rock bands like Hawkwind, Captain Beefheart, Alice Cooper and Iggy and the Stooges – bands his mother also used to like, a fact which somewhat embarrassed him – as well as more mainstream groups like T. Rex and Gary Glitter.^[16]

Aged 15, he was kicked out of the school after a run in with a teacher, and subsequently went to another state school, Hackney and Kingsway Princeton College, where he befriended John Simon Ritchie, who in later years would become better known as Sid Vicious. It was Lydon who gave him this nickname, after his parents' pet hamster.^[18] Lydon and Vicious began squatting in a house in the wealthy Hampstead area with a group of ageing hippies and stopped bothering to go to college, which was often far away from where they were living.^[19] Meanwhile, he began working on building sites during the summer, employment that his father was able to help him with. He also got a job at a children's play centre in Finsbury Park after friends had recommended him for the job. It was here that he taught woodwork to some of the older children, but he was eventually fired after parents complained that somebody "weird" with bright green hair was teaching their children.^[20] Lydon and his friends, including Vicious, John Gray, Jah Wobble, Dave Crowe and Tony Purcell, began going to many of the London clubs, such as the Lacey Lady in Ilford, and also frequented both reggae and gay clubs, the latter of which he enjoyed because in them "you could be yourself, nobody bothered you".^[21]

1975–1978: Sex Pistols and the punk movement[link]

In 1975, Lydon was among a group of youths who regularly hung around Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood's fetish clothing shop SEX. McLaren had returned from a brief stint travelling with American protopunk band the New York Dolls, and he was working on promoting a new band formed by Steve Jones, Glen Matlock and Paul Cook called The Sex Pistols. McLaren was impressed with Lydon's ragged look and unique sense of style, particularly his orange hair and modified Pink Floyd T-shirt (with the band members' eyes scratched out and the words I Hate scrawled in felt-tip pen above the band's logo). After tunelessly singing Alice Cooper's "I'm Eighteen" to the accompaniment of the shop's jukebox, Lydon was chosen as the band's frontman.^[22]

In 1977, the band released "God Save the Queen" during the week of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee. At the time, August 1977, Lydon commented –

^{[clarification needed][23]}

Lydon was also interested in dub music. McLaren was said to have been upset when Lydon revealed during a radio interview that his influences included progressive experimentalists like Magma, Can, Captain Beefheart and Van der Graaf Generator.^[24]

Tensions between Lydon and bassist Glen Matlock arose. The reasons for this are disputed, but Lydon claimed in his autobiography that he believed Matlock to be too white-collar and middle-class and that Matlock was "always going on about nice things like the Beatles". Matlock stated in his own autobiography that most of the tension in the band, and between himself and Lydon, were orchestrated by McLaren. Matlock quit and as a replacement, Lydon recommended his school friend John Simon Ritchie. Although Ritchie was an incompetent musician, McLaren agreed that he had the look the band wanted: pale, emaciated, spike-haired, with ripped clothes and a perpetual sneer. Rotten dubbed him "Sid Vicious" as a joke, taking the name from his pet hamster, named Sid the Vicious. During a brief meeting on 12 August 1977 in CBGB's according to Kit and Morgan Benson's biography, Ritchie got his name after Sid the hamster bit him on his hand, and he exclaimed: "Sid is really vicious!"^[25]

Vicious' chaotic relationship with girlfriend Nancy Spungen, and his worsening heroin addiction, caused a great deal of friction among the band members, particularly with Lydon, whose sarcastic remarks often exacerbated the situation. Lydon closed the final Sid Vicious-era Sex Pistols concert in San Francisco's Winterland in January 1978 with a rhetorical question to the audience: "Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" Shortly thereafter, McLaren, Jones, and Cook went to Brazil to meet and record with former train robber Ronnie Biggs. Lydon declined to go, deriding the concept as a whole and feeling that they were attempting to make a hero out of a criminal who attacked a train driver and stole "working-class money".^{[citation needed]}

The Sex Pistols' disintegration was documented in Julian Temple's satirical pseudo-biographical film, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, in which Jones, Cook and Vicious each played a character. Matlock only appeared in previously-recorded live footage and as an animation and did not participate personally. Lydon refused to have anything to do with The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, feeling that McLaren had far too much control over the project. Although Lydon was highly critical of the film, many years later he agreed to let Temple direct the Sex Pistols documentary The Filth and the Fury. That film included new interviews with the band members' faces hidden in silhouette. It featured an uncharacteristically emotional Lydon choking up as he discussed Vicious' decline and death. Lydon denounced previous journalistic works regarding the Sex Pistols in the introduction to his autobiography, Rotten – No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, which he described as "as close to the truth as one can get".^[26]

[edit] 1978–1993: Public Image Limited, Time Zone and Copkiller

This section of a biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2008)

John Lydon, 1986

In 1978, Lydon formed the post-punk outfit Public Image Limited (PiL). PiL lasted for 14 years with Lydon as the only consistent member. The group enjoyed some early critical acclaim for its 1979 album, Metal Box (a.k.a. Second Edition), and influenced many bands of the later industrial movement. The band was lauded for its innovation and rejection of traditional musical forms. Musicians citing their influence have ranged from the Red Hot Chili Peppers to Massive Attack.^{[citation needed]}

The first lineup of the band included bassist Jah Wobble and former Clash guitarist Keith Levene. They released the albums Public Image (also known as First Issue), Metal Box and Paris in the Spring (live). Wobble then left and Lydon and Levene made The Flowers of Romance. Then came This Is What You Want...This Is What You Get featuring Martin Atkins on drums (he had also appeared on Metal Box and The Flowers of Romance); it featured their biggest hit, "This Is Not A Love Song", which hit No. 5 in 1983.

In 1983, Lydon co-starred with Harvey Keitel in the movie thriller Corrupt, a.k.a. Copkiller and The Order of Death. While the film was generally panned, Lydon won some praise for his role as a psychotic rich boy. Lydon would act again occasionally after that, such as a very small role in the 2000 film, The Independent, and as the host of the skateboard film, Sorry, featuring the Flip Skate Team.

In 1984, Lydon worked with Time Zone on their best-known single, "World Destruction". A collaboration between Lydon, Afrika Bambaataa and producer/bassist Bill Laswell, the single was an early example of "rap rock", along with Run-DMC. The song appears on Afrika Bambaataa's 1997 compilation album, Zulu Groove. It was arranged by Laswell after Lydon and Bambaataa had acknowledged respect for each others' work, as described in an interview from 1984:

Afrika Bambaataa: "I was talking to Bill Laswell saying I need somebody who's really crazy, man, and he thought of John Lydon. I knew he was perfect because I'd seen this movie that he'd made (Corrupt, a.k.a. Copkiller and The Order of Death), I knew about all the Sex Pistols and Public Image stuff, so we got together and we did a smashing crazy version, and a version where he cussed the Queen something terrible, which was never released."

John Lydon: "We went in, put a drum beat down on the machine and did the whole thing in about four-and-a-half hours. It was very, very quick."^[27]

The single also featured Bernie Worrell, Nicky Skopelitis and Aïyb Dieng, all of whom would later play on PiL's Album; Laswell also played bass and produced. In 1986 Public Image Limited released Album (also known as Compact Disc and Cassette). Most of the tracks on this album were written by Lydon and Bill Laswell. The musicians were session musicians including bassist Jonas Hellborg, guitarist Steve Vai and Cream drummer Ginger Baker. Like the previous album, this also featured a hit, the anti-apartheid anthem "Rise". The band's performance on the dance/concert TV show American Bandstand saw Lydon giving up on lip synching not long into the performance and dancing with audience members instead.^{[citation needed]}

In 1987 a new lineup was formed consisting of Lydon, former Magazine, Siouxsie & The Banshees and The Armoury Show guitarist John McGeoch, Allan Dias on bass guitar in addition to drummer Bruce Smith and Lu Edmunds. This lineup released Happy? and all except Lu Edmunds released the album 9 in 1989. In 1992 Lydon, Dias and McGeoch were joined by Curt Bisquera on drums and Gregg Arreguin on rhythm guitar for the album That What Is Not. This album also features the Tower of Power on two songs and Jimmie Wood on harmonica. Lydon, McGeoch and Dias also wrote the song "Criminal" for the movie Point Break. After this album, in 1993, Lydon put PiL on indefinite hiatus.

1993–2006: solo album, autobiography and celebrity status[link]

In 1993, Lydon's first autobiography, Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs, was published. Aided by Keith and Kent Zimmerman, and featuring contributions from figures including Paul Cook, Chrissie Hynde, Billy Idol and Don Letts, the work covered his life up until the collapse of the Sex Pistols. Describing the book, he stated that it "is as close to the truth as one can get, looking back on events from the inside. All the people in this book were actually there, and this book is as much their point of view as it is mine. This means contradictions and insults have not been edited, and neither have the compliments, if any. I have no time for lies or fantasy, and neither should you. Enjoy or die."^[28] In December 2005, Lydon told Q that he is working on a second autobiography to cover the PiL years.^[1]

In the mid-1990s, Lydon hosted Rotten Day, a daily syndicated US radio feature written by George Gimarc. The format of the show was a look back at events in popular music and culture occurring on the particular broadcast calendar date about which Lydon would offer cynical commentary. The show was originally developed as a radio vehicle for Gimarc's book, Punk Diary 1970–79, but after bringing Lydon onboard it was expanded to cover notable events from most of the second half of the 20th century.

In 1997 Lydon released a solo album on Virgin Records called Psycho's Path. He wrote all the songs and played all the instruments. In one song, "Sun", he sang the vocals through a toilet roll.^[29] It did not sell particularly well and received mixed reviews from critics. The US version included a Chemical Brothers remix of the song "Open Up" by Leftfield with vocals by Lydon. This song is heard during the title menu of the computer game All Star Baseball 2000 (Acclaim Entertainment). The song was also a club hit in the US and a big hit in England. John Lydon has recorded a second solo-album but it has not been released. One song from the album was released on The Best of British £1 Notes.

In November 1997, Lydon appeared on Judge Judy fighting a suit filed by his former tour drummer Robert Williams for breach of contract, assault and battery.^[30] Lydon won the case, although Judge Judy Sheindlin was not overly impressed with Lydon's antics and told him to keep quiet several times.

In 2000, Lydon hosted Rotten TV, a short-lived show on VH1. The show offered his acerbic commentary on American politics and pop culture. In one segment he attempted to take Neil Young to task for not appearing on the show, making fun of Young's singing style and pointing out that Young had once proclaimed Johnny Rotten "the king" in the song "Hey Hey, My My (Into The Black)".

In 2003 Lydon appeared as a panelist on an episode of Richard Belzer's ill-fated conspiracy-themed panel show, The Belzer Connection. The episode in question posed the query, "Was there a conspiracy involved in the death of Princess Diana?" For his part, Lydon responded to suggestions of British Royal Family involvement by proclaiming "If the Royal Family was going to assassinate someone, they would have gotten rid of me a long time ago." The series ran for only two episodes.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2004, Lydon appeared on the British reality television programme, I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, which took place in Australia. He proved he still had the capability to shock by calling the show's viewers "fucking cunts" during a live broadcast. The television regulator and ITV, the channel broadcasting the show, between them received 91 complaints about Lydon's language.^[31]

In a February 2004 interview with the Scottish Sunday Mirror, Lydon said that he and his wife "should be dead", since on 21 December 1988, thanks to delays caused by his wife's packing, they missed the doomed Pan Am Flight 103.^[32] During this interview, Lydon said that the real reason for him leaving Get Me Out of Here! was his fear over the Pan Am incident and the "appalling" refusal of the programme makers to let him know whether his wife had arrived safely in Australia. In an interview previous to the show's first episode, he had described it as "moronic", and throughout the show's run he had displayed an indifferent attitude to staying and threatened to walk out on numerous occasions. Thirty hours following ex-football star Neil Ruddock's departure, Lydon left the show for unclear reasons, although he had been very visibly angry both to and about fellow star Jordan. British newspapers claimed that Lydon had won a £100 bet with Ruddock over who would stay in the longest. Lydon, however, stated on air that he felt he would win outright and that it would be unfair to the other celebrities for him to win.

After I'm a Celebrity..., he presented a documentary about insects and spiders called John Lydon's Megabugs that was shown on the Discovery Channel.^[33] Radio Times described him as "more an enthusiast than an expert". He went to present two further programmes: John Lydon Goes Ape in which he searched for gorillas in Central Africa, and John Lydon's Shark Attack in which he swam with sharks off South Africa.

In 2005, he appeared in Reynebeau & Rotten, a five episode documentary on Canvas, the cultural channel of the Flemish public broadcaster VRT, in which Lydon guided Belgian journalist Marc Reynebeau through Great Britain in a chauffeured Rolls Royce, having a go at things typically 'British'. When asked why he was chosen as a guide, he answered that he was the cheapest one available. After the show had been broadcast, Lydon claimed in an interview with the popular Belgian magazine HUMO that he was very unhappy with the way they handled post-production and was very angry with the way they depicted him in this particular show. He claimed that the creators mainly showed his humorous, sometimes clownish antics, instead of focusing on his personal opinions and arguably philosophical conversations he had with Marc Reynebeau. Lydon was reportedly infuriated that the production company used songs from the Sex Pistols' catalogue, without consulting all the remaining members of the band, including him.^{[citation needed]}

Lydon broadcast a short pod on Current TV in which he critiqued The Doors' keyboardist Ray Manzarek's previously broadcast pod. Manzarek's advice to young people had been to "fuck your brains out." He emphasised this especially for 25-year-old women, saying that "it won't last." Lydon had several choice words for Manzarek and told young people that the best thing they could do was get an education because knowledge is free. In late 2008 Lydon appeared in an advertising campaign for "Country Life", a popular brand of butter, on British television. Lydon was widely mocked as a sell-out for this move.^[34]

Lydon defended the move by stating that the main reason he accepted the offer was to raise money to reform Public Image Limited from the ground-up without a record deal. The advertising campaign proved to be highly successful, with sales of the brand raising 85% in the quarter following, which many in the media attributed to Lydon's presence in the advert.^[35]

2006–2009: Sex Pistols revival[link]

John Lydon (2008)

Although Lydon spent years furiously denying that the Sex Pistols would ever perform together again, the band re-united (with Matlock returning on bass) in the 1990s, and continues to perform occasionally. In 2004, Lydon publicly refused to allow the Rhino record label to include any Sex Pistols songs on its box set No Thanks!: The 70s Punk Rebellion. In 2006, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted the Sex Pistols, but the band refused to attend the ceremony or acknowledge the induction, complaining that they had been asked for large sums of money to attend^[36] and stating that it went against everything the band stood for.

In June 2007, Lydon, Jones and Cook re-recorded "Pretty Vacant" in a Los Angeles studio for the video game Skate and, in a radio interview in the same month, Lydon announced that the Sex Pistols may perform again over the Christmas period. They also re-recorded "Anarchy in the UK" for the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. In September 2007, Lydon announced that the Sex Pistols would play a concert for the 30th anniversary of Never Mind the Bollocks at the Brixton Academy in London on 8 November 2007. Due to popular demand,^{[citation needed]} four additional concerts were added, as well as further shows in Manchester and Glasgow. The Sex Pistols appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival 2008 as the headlining act on Saturday night. They also appeared at the Peace and Love Festival (Sweden), Electric Picnic (Ireland), Lokerse Feesten festival in Lokeren (Belgium), the Live at Loch Lomond Festival (Scotland), Heineken Open'er Festival (Gdynia, Poland), Paredes de Coura Festival (Portugal), Traffic Free Festival (Turin, Italy), SZIGET Fesztival (Budapest, Hungary) and EXIT festival (Serbia), the same summer.^{[citation needed]}

2009–present PiL reformation[link]

John Lydon onstage with PiL at Guilfest 2011

In September 2009 it was announced that PiL would reform, including earlier members Bruce Smith and Lu Edmonds, for a number of Christmas shows in the UK.^[37] Lydon financed the reunion using money he earned doing a UK TV commercial for Country Life butter. "The money that I earned from that has now gone completely—lock stock and barrel—into reforming PiL,"^[38] said Lydon.

Controversies[link]

2008 Ritz Carlton Hotel incident[link]

On 23 January 2008 Lydon was reportedly involved in a string of offences, including sexual harrassment, physical assault and battery in Marina del Rey.^[39] Roxane Davis, who was a talent producer for the television program Bodog Battle Of The Bands, claimed that she was punched in the face by Lydon after being shouted at and called a "cunt" several times.^[39]

Lydon was one of three celebrity judges appearing on the reality show and Davis was responsible for "handling" them. According to the story appearing in the Belfast Telegraph, Lydon first refused accommodation at the Radisson hotel, stating it was sub-standard. After he and his personal assistant were relocated to the Ritz Carlton, Lydon reportedly became infuriated with the hotel staff after he was given a room lacking an interior connecting door to his assistant's room.^[39] According to the lawsuit, Davis heard Lydon screaming at a hotel employee, she approached him and he began screaming at her. After Davis apologised, Lydon and his assistant began screaming sexual epithets and obscene insults at Davis, and Lydon then punched her in the face.^[39] Davis reportedly initiated legal action on 19 causes of action, including retaliation, wrongful termination, assault and battery.^[39] Davis sued in June 2008 and filed an amended version about four months later. On 28 January 2010, however, Davis's lawyers filed papers in Los Angeles Superior Court stating that the case was resolved, although no terms were divulged.^[40]

2008 Summercase incident[link]

Bloc Party singer Kele Okereke claims he was left with severe facial bruising and a split lip following what he alleges was a verbal and physical racist assault by three members of Lydon's entourage. The incident occurred on the evening of 19 July 2008 at the Summercase festival in Barcelona while the bands were socialising backstage.^[41] In a statement to NME, Lydon denied the allegations of his involvement in this assault.^[42] After the report, Super Furry Animals lead singer Gruff Rhys came forward in support of Okereke's claim, saying "the statements Kele has said are absolutely true, it did happen."^[43]

A British tabloid accused Lydon of racism due to the incident, something he strongly denied during an appearance on The One Show, claiming that they were "atrocious" and "hurtful". He went on to say that:

He went on to say, when asked if he was racist, that:

2008 Duffy incident[link]

At the 2008 MoJo awards ceremony, Welsh singer Duffy attempted to say hello to Lydon when, according to her; "I was literally slammed against the wall, pinned by his arm at my throat. He called me a cunt."^[45] Other reports indicate a slightly different scenario, that Lydon "was being interviewed and he had his back to (the) door and she banged into him and then grabbed him. He then turned round in no uncertain terms to tell her to back off him".^[46] Lydon later claimed he had not realised who Duffy was, saying; "people are trying to pin something on me. I don't know who this Duffy person is, or why she'd want to get publicity from this. I was doing an interview and she came up behind me—I didn't see anything. I've been with my wife for 30 years and I've been brought up to be polite and have respect for people, especially women."^[47]

Adam Sherwin of The Times, witnessed the incident and has given an account which differs from that offered by Lydon, placing the blame for the physical assault on Lydon's personal assistant.^[48]

2010 performing in Israel[link]

Lydon played with Public Image Ltd in Tel Aviv, Israel, in August 2010. He refused to accept calls for him not to go to Israel.^[49][50]

^[51]

Lydon has also commented:

Origin of Johnny Rotten stage name[link]

The origin of John Lydon's stage name, Johnny Rotten, has had two longstanding explanations. One, given in a Daily Telegraph feature interview with Lydon in 2007, was that he was given the name in the mid 1970s, when his lack of oral hygiene led to his teeth turning green.^[52] Another story says the name was given to him by Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, who saw Lydon's teeth and exclaimed, "You're rotten, you are!"^[53]

In 2008, however, Lydon had extensive dental work performed in Los Angeles, at a reported cost of US $22,000. Lydon explained that it wasn't done out of vanity: "It was necessity ... all those rotten teeth were seriously beginning to corrupt my system".^[54]

Personal life[link]

Lydon is married to Nora Forster, a publishing heiress from Germany.^[55] He is the stepfather of Forster's daughter, Ari Up, who herself had been the lead singer in the post-punk band The Slits before her death in 2010. Lydon resides in Los Angeles, California.^[52] Lydon's parents raised him and his brothers in the Roman Catholic faith, but he "never had any godlike epiphanies or thought that God had anything to do with this dismal occurrence called life."^[56]

Lydon has been a fan of Oscar Wilde since he studied his works at school, when he came to the conclusion that "his stuff was fucking brilliant. What an attitude to life!… He turned out to be the biggest poof on earth at a time when that was completely unacceptable. What a genius."^[15]

Political and social criticism[link]

Ever since his rise to public attention, Lydon has remained a critic of much in British politics and society. Coming from a working class background, he has remained heavily opposed to the class system, describing how private schools "tend to turn out little snobs. They're taught a sense of superiority, which is the kiss of death… They're absolutely screwed up for life."^[57] He is critical of the upper classes, stating that they "parasite off the population as their friends help them along", but he equally criticises the working classes, claiming that "We're lazy, good-for-nothing bastards, absolute cop-outs [who] never accept responsibility for our own lives and that's why we'll always be downtrodden."^[58] He opposes all forms of segregation in schools, not only through the private and state school division, but also with single-sex schools; "It doesn't make sense. It's a much better environment with girls in the class. You learn a lot more, as diversity makes things more interesting."^[59]

He has also criticised the paramilitary organisations involved in the Northern Ireland conflict, remarking that both the Irish Republican Army and the Ulster Defence Association were "like two mafia gangs punching each other out… They both run their extortion rackets and plague people to no end." He remarked that "The Northern Ireland problem is a terrible thing, and its only the ignorance of the people living outside of it that keeps it going", but that ultimately the British government's exploitative attitude to the problem was in his opinion the main cause.^[60]

Discography[link]

All chart positions are UK.

Sex Pistols[link]

Studio albums

• Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1977) Platinum No. 1

Compilations and live albums

• Flogging a Dead Horse (Virgin,1979)
• The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle (Virgin, 1979)
• Some Product: Carri On Sex Pistols (Virgin, 1979)
• Kiss This (Virgin, 1992)
• Never Mind the Bollocks / Spunk (aka This is Crap) (Virgin, 1996)
• Filthy Lucre Live (Virgin, 1996)
• The Filth and the Fury (Virgin, 2000)
• Jubilee (Virgin, 2002)
• Sex Pistols Box Set (Virgin, 2002)

Singles

• "Anarchy in the UK" – 1976 No. 38
• "God Save the Queen" – 1977 No. 2
• "Pretty Vacant" – 1977 No. 6
• "Holidays in the Sun" – 1977 No. 8
• "(I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" – 1980 No. 21
• "Anarchy in the UK" (re-issue) – 1992 No. 33
• "Pretty Vacant" (live) – 1996 No. 18
• "God Save the Queen" (re-issue) – 2002 No. 15

Public Image Ltd.[link]

Studio albums

• First Issue (Virgin, 1978), No. 22
• Metal Box (a.k.a. Second Edition) (Virgin, 1979) #18, US No. 171
• Flowers of Romance (Virgin, 1981) #11, US No. 114
• Commercial Zone (PiL Records, 1983)
• This Is What You Want... This Is What You Get (Virgin, 1984)
• Album (Virgin, 1986)
• Happy? (Virgin, 1987)
• 9 (Virgin, 1989)
• That What Is Not (Virgin, 1992)
• This Is PiL (PiL Official, 2012)

Compilations and live albums

• Paris in the Spring (Paris au Printemps) (Virgin, 1980)
• Live in Tokyo (Virgin, 1983)
• The Greatest Hits, So Far (Virgin, 1990)

Singles

• "Public Image" – 1978 No. 9
• "Death Disco" – 1979 No. 20
• "Memories" – 1979 No. 60
• "Flowers of Romance" – 1981 No. 24
• "This Is Not a Love Song" – 1983 No. 5
• "Bad Life" – 1984 No. 71
• "Rise" – 1986 No. 11
• "Home" – 1986 No. 75
• "Seattle" – 1987 No. 47
• "The Body" – 1987 No. 100
• "Disappointed" – 1989 No. 38
• "Don't Ask Me" – 1990 No. 22
• "Cruel" – 1992 No. 49
• "One Drop" – 2012

The Lydons and The O'Donnells[link]

Studio albums

• Family Album (MBC records, 1986)

Time Zone[link]

Single

• "World Destruction" – 1984

Solo[link]

Studio albums

• Psycho's Path (Virgin, 1997)

Compilations

• The Best of British £1 Notes (Lydon, PiL & Sex Pistols) (Virgin/EMI, 2005)

Singles

• "Open Up" (with Leftfield) – 1993 – No. 11 UK
• "Sun" – 1997 – No. 42 UK

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Lydon, John (1993). Rotten: No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs. Hodder & Stoughton

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: John Lydon

• John Lydon – official website
• John Lydon discography on Discogs
• Johnny Rotten on The Hour
• interview with John Lydon at SuicideGirls
• John Lydon fronts UK butter campaign

Paul O'Grady MBE
O'Grady in 2009
Birth name	Paul James Michael O'Grady
Born	(1955-06-14) 14 June 1955 (age 57) Birkenhead, Cheshire, England
Medium	Broadcaster, actor, entrepreneur, comedian, author, television personality
Nationality	British
Years active	1988–present
Spouse	Teresa Fernandes (m. 1977–2005) «start: (1977-04)–end+1: (2006)»"Marriage: Teresa Fernandes to Paul O'Grady" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Paul_O%27Grady) (divorced)[1]
Domestic partner(s)	Brendan Murphy (1980–2005) (his death) Andre Portasio (2006–present)[2]
Notable works and roles	Blankety Blank (1997–2002) Eyes Down (2003–04) The Paul O'Grady Show (2004–09) Paul O'Grady Live (2010–11)
BAFTA Awards
Television Award for Best Entertainment Performance 2004 The Paul O'Grady Show (2008)

Paul James Michael O'Grady MBE (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, television presenter, actor, writer and radio DJ. He is best known for presenting the daytime chat television series, The Paul O'Grady Show and, more recently, Paul O'Grady Live, as well as his drag queen comedic alter ego, Lily Savage, as whom he performed in various television series including Blankety Blank (1997–1999) and Lily Live! (2000–2001). He also appeared in the comedy sitcom Eyes Down (2003–2004) and presented several travel documentaries. He is currently a presenter on BBC Radio 2 with his own Sunday evening show, Paul O'Grady on the Wireless produced by Malcolm Prince.

Born to a working class Irish migrant family in Birkenhead, O'Grady went through various jobs in his youth, including working in various bars, for the civil service and for social services, moving around the country to do so. It was whilst living in London in 1978 that he first turned his hand to drag, developing the character of Lily Savage based upon various female relatives of his.

In 2003, O'Grady was listed in The Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy, and in 2006 he was listed by The Independent at number 32 in their 101 most influential gay men and women in Britain. In October 2008, he was appointed MBE in the 2008 Birthday Honours list for services to entertainment. On 23 July 2010, O'Grady received an Honorary Doctor of Arts from De Montfort University, Leicester, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to television, radio and the stage.^[3]

Life and career[link]

Early life: 1955–71[link]

Paul O'Grady's father, Patrick "Paddy" Grady (died 1973),^[4] had grown up on a farm in Ballincurry, County Roscommon, Ireland, but moved to England in 1936 in search for work, and settled down in the working class area of Birkenhead. His name was accidentally changed from Grady to O'Grady in a paperwork mistake when he joined the Royal Air Force and he subsequently decided to keep this altered name.^[5][6] Patrick married Mary Savage (1916–1988),^[7] who was born in England but whose parents had also been Irish immigrants, from County Louth. Patrick and Mary were devout Catholics and brought up their children in the faith. Paul was their third child, born at 7:30am on 14 June 1955 at St. Catherine's Hospital, Tranmere.^[8][9] His birth, over a decade after that of his siblings Brendan and Sheila,^[4] was not planned; his mother was 39 and she only discovered the pregnancy when she visited the doctor complaining of indigestion. Paul O'Grady spent his early life at the family's rented home of 23 Holly Grove, Higher Tranmere, Birkenhead,^[10] a house that had been built in a former quarry during the early 1930s, and O'Grady would later remark that the house was always damp and cold and that it also suffered from "ominous cracks" which "would appear in the walls and ceilings overnight".^[11]

He initially attended St. Joseph's, a Catholic primary school, where he excelled in all subjects but mathematics, and so his parents, hoping that he had a good future ahead of him, budgeted so that they could afford to send him to a private school, Redcourt, which was the Roman Catholic primary school attached to St Anselm's College. He subsequently failed the Eleven Plus exam, meaning that he was unable to gain entry to a grammar school, much to his mother's dismay, and went instead to the Blessed Edward Campion R.C. Secondary Modern and the Corpus Christi High School.^[12] It was here that he had his first homosexual experience, having a brief romance aged twelve with another boy, although in keeping with societal attitudes at the time he still assumed that he was heterosexual.^[13]

At the time he was also a huge fan of the popular television series The Avengers and Batman,^[15] and was enrolled in the cub scouts by his mother, which he hated and left after a month. He later became an altar boy at a local Catholic church, though was dismissed from this position after laughing during a funeral service.^[16] Following on from this he joined the Marine cadets, later commenting that he was following in the footsteps of his childhood hero, the cartoon Popeye.^[17] He enjoyed the cadets, and at the advice of his captain joined the Boys' Amateur Boxing Club, where he gained his lifelong love of the sport.^[18][19] Meanwhile, he began playing truant from school, getting him into trouble with his parents, and then got into trouble with the police after he led three other boys into breaking and entering a house to commit burglary.^[20] O'Grady's first job was a paper round that he managed to keep for a week, being employed by a woman, Mrs Henshaw, whom his mother despised,^[21] and through this and other jobs he saved up to afford Mod clothes, for a time becoming a suedehead.^[22]

Early adulthood: 1972–76[link]

After leaving school aged sixteen, O'Grady's mother got him a job in the civil service, working as a clerical assistant for the DHSS, who had offices in Liverpool that he could commute to from his parents' home every morning. To supplement this income, he also got a job working part-time at the bar of the Royal Air Forces Association club in Oxton.^[23][24] He was later called for a disciplinary hearing at the DHSS, who accused him of being incompetent and often late, and at which he decided to resign.^[25] Hoping for a better and more exciting life, he got a job at the Wheatsheaf Hotel in Virginia Water, Surrey, and aged seventeen moved away from his parents' home in Birkenhead and travelled south. He subsequently found the work and accommodation to be appalling, although he noted that it was here that he lost his virginity to a woman whom he had met smoking cannabis at a party. He did not remain in Surrey long however, as soon after he was arrested, accused of stealing from the hotel and was subsequently fired despite protesting his innocence.^[26]

Promptly returning home to Birkenhead, he soon got his old job at the RAFA club back, and also began to increasingly socialise within the Liverpudlian gay scene, attending local meetings of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and getting a job at a gay bar, the Bear's Paw, all of which he kept a secret from his parents, to whom he was still not "out of the closet".^[27] Nonetheless, at the time he considered himself to be bisexual, and began having casual sex with a friend and colleague of his named Diane Jansen.^[28][29] Meanwhile, he had befriended a man named Tony on the gay scene, and they had "hit it off after a prolonged bitching session one night, though we were like chalk and cheese." Becoming best friends, the duo would regularly travel down to London to socialise with Tony's friend, the classical music conductor John Pritchard (1921–1989), whom O'Grady became very fond of.^[30]

When O'Grady was eighteen, his mother suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital, the stress of which caused his father to suffer the same fate within a matter of hours; whilst his mother recovered, his father soon died. Only a few days later, O'Grady's life was further complicated when he learned that Diane was pregnant with his child, a daughter named Sharon Lee Jansen.^[31][32] Following her birth on 16 May 1974, O'Grady agreed to pay £3 every week towards the upkeep of his daughter, but refused to marry Diane as he had begun to recognise that he was homosexual and did not want to enter a marriage that he would hate.^[33][34]

Briefly working as an assistant clerk at Liverpool Magistrates' Court, O'Grady subsequently got a job working as a barman at Yates's Wine Lodge, whilst also working the occasional night at the Bear's Paw.^[36][37] Realising that the wage from these jobs was not enough to support both himself and his daughter, he decided to travel to London in search for work. Moving in as a lodger of a gay couple in Westbourne Green, he once again only found poorly-paid work as a barman. Meanwhile, it was in London that he first began to associate with drag queens, particularly a man named Alistair and his stage partner Phil, who went under the stage name of The Harlequeens. Although he made friends in the city, O'Grady was homesick for Birkenhead and Liverpool, and feeling that he had few prospects in London, returned home.^[38]

Employed as an accountant in a Merseyside abattoir belonging to FMC Meats, he eventually became disgusted by the place and gained employment at Conny Home in West Kirby, a home for disabled and abused children, something he would continue for three years.^[39][40] Subsequently entering into a relationship with an older man named Norman, O'Grady moved into his house in Littlehampton, although their relationship was strained, with both cheating on one another, and ultimately it broke apart.^[41] Moving once more to London, where he rented a flat in Crouch End, O'Grady initially started busking with a friend in Camden Town before getting a job as a physiotherapist's assistant at the Royal Northern Hospital.^[42] Being made redundant from the hospital due to public sector cuts, O'Grady took up a job at a gay club called the Showplace, where he befriended a Portuguese lesbian named Theresa Fernandes, and in May 1977 they legally married in order to prevent her deportation back to Portugal, although eventually lost contact and only gained a divorce in 2005.^[43][44] He subsequently took up a job as a cleaner and a waiter at private functions, working for a series of wealthy clients in London, including an elite escort service.^[45] Following this, he began working for Camden Council as a peripatetic care officer who would live in with elderly people or dyfunctional families, a job that exposed him to the extreme poverty, poor living conditions and domestic violence faced by many Londoners, and would have a lasting effect on him for many years to come.^[46][47]

Lily Savage and Manila: 1978–80[link]

It was whilst working for Camden social services that O'Grady made his first attempt at putting together a drag act, creating the character of Lily Savage in the process. Commenting on this, he would later relate that "I wanted to get up there but be larger than life, a creature that was more cartoon than human. I wasn't sure yet."^[48] His debut was on the afternoon of Saturday 7 October 1978, at a pub called the Black Cap, where he mimed the words to the Barbra Streisand song "Nobody Makes a Pass at Me" from the show Pins and Needles. Coming offstage to a round of applause, another, more experienced drag act in the changing room remarked to him that "Well done, dahling [sic], You weren't bad, no, not bad at all… You've got something you know, de-ah, raw of course but with a little polish… who knows? A word of advice though. If you're considering getting an act together I'd drop the name. Lily Savage is all right for a bit of camp but no one is going to take an act that sounds like an old scrubber seriously, dahling."^[49] Nonetheless, the name, which was based upon his mother's maiden name, was one thing that he would maintain, and he would later recollect that:

I've frequently been asked over the years who Lily Savage was based on and I've always answered that it was no one in particular and she was just a figment of my imagination. The truth, I realize now, is that Lily owes a lot to the women I encountered in my childhood. Characteristics and attitudes were observed and absorbed, Aunty Chris's in particular, and they provided the roots and compost for the Lily that would germinate and grow later on.^[50]

Following a holiday to Poland,^[51] and discovering that he was owed several more weeks off of work, he agreed to go and visit an ex-boyfriend who was living in Manila, The Philippines. Managing to afford the fare due to a "sizeable tax rebate" from the Inland Revenue, O'Grady found Manila to be a "culture shock", having difficulty with the climate, the food and the child sex industry, something which deeply disgusted him. He nonetheless learned to like many things about the city, briefly getting a job as a barman and waiter at a brothel known as Gussie's Bar.^[52][53]

Success of Lily Savage: 1980s[link]

He returned to London in the early 1980s and subsequently achieved fame with his creation of Lily, initially playing to gay clubs and pubs up and down the country. He performed many times at the Goldsmith's Tavern, New Cross where he'd often precede Vic Reeves' three-hour show Vic Reeves Big Night Out before promptly leaving to do a show elsewhere. O'Grady's Lily was best known at the time for an eight-year residency at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in south London. As Lily Savage, O'Grady was also in several acts which toured Europe. After appearing at The Edinburgh Festival and gaining a Perrier Award nomination, O'Grady's Lily Savage act became more mainstream and the character became popular on television, making appearances on the ITV daytime programme This Morning and as the 'On the Bed Presenter' on The Big Breakfast. For a few years O'Grady hosted the game show Blankety Blank as Lily Savage, for the BBC and later for ITV. There was also a comedy show built around the character, Lily Live!, appearing on ITV in 2000. Performing as Lily, O'Grady also co-hosted the 1996 Smash Hits Poll Winners Party with Ant & Dec. O'Grady also appeared along side Cilla Black and Barbara Windsor (as Savage) in the 2001 Royal Variety Performance where the trio performed a rendition of "You Gotta Get a Gimmick" from the musical Gypsy.

It was during the 1980s that O'Grady would meet Brendan Murphy, known as "Murph" or "Murphy" to his friends, who would become his partner.^[54]

O'Grady retired the Lily Savage character around 2004. He claimed she had "seen the light, taken the veil and packed herself off to a convent in France" but on his TV show, he said, "she's escaped the convent and she's heading towards these shores!". On 23 May 2008 on the 500th edition of The Paul O'Grady Show, guest star Julie Goodyear told O'Grady that Bet Lynch, the character she played in television soap opera Coronation Street, had joined Savage in the French convent. On the 7 October 2009 episode of The Paul O'Grady Show, after being prompted by actor Martin Clunes to "bring Lily back", O'Grady said he could not because she had been "bricked up in a chimney" by the Mother Superior of the convent.

Return of Lily Savage: 2010–11[link]

However, in March 2010 it was announced that Lily Savage would be resurrected for one last time in the Christmas pantomime Aladdin – A Wish Come True at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton, from December 2010 till January 2011.^[55]

Television career: 1988–present[link]

Following the success of Lily Savage, O'Grady played a prostitute informant, Roxanne, in several episodes of The Bill between 1988 and 1990; in 1990 he appeared in the ITV miniseries Chimera as Tony Donaldson, a social worker skilled in signing for the deaf.

Abandoning drag, to portray himself, in 2000 he appeared in a six-part travelogue series entitled Paul O'Grady's Orient, filmed in Shanghai, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bangkok, Bali and Singapore. This was followed in 2001 by Paul O'Grady's America.

From 2002 onwards, he appeared less as Savage and more often as himself. In 2002 he presented Outtake TV, a bloopers show, and in 2003 starred as the lead character in the BBC sitcom Eyes Down for two series, as the manager of a northern Bingo hall. He also appeared in Celebrity Driving School for the BBC.

Richard and Judy are close friends of O'Grady, and gave him one of his first TV breaks on This Morning on ITV in the early 90s.

In July 2010 The Sun tipped that Paul O'Grady may judge acts in next year's series of Britain's Got Talent at the audition stages.^[56]

In December 2010, O'Grady hosted Coronation Street: The Big 50, to mark the end of Coronation Street's 50th anniversary week. The show featured 9 Corrie stars and 3 "superfans" in the bid to be crowned champions. The "Rovers Regulars" team which consisted of Michael Le Vell (Kevin Webster), Barbara Knox (Rita Sullivan) and William Roache (Ken Barlow) won overall. The show also featured popular ITV show The X Factor as Kirk Sutherland went on it, singing Sex on Fire and judges such as Simon Cowell praised him. It also featured boy band Boyzone (Keith Duffy starred on Corrie), singer Kym Marsh (who played Michelle Connor), Rachel Leskovac (who played Natasha Blakeman) as well as Norris Cole and Mary Taylor who went head to head on Countdown.

[edit] The Paul O'Grady Show: 2004–09

O'Grady stood in for Des O'Connor on an episode of the lunchtime celebrity chat show Today with Des and Mel, something that impressed ITV enough that they asked him to stand in for O'Connor on other occasions as well. Eventually they decided that O'Grady would be a success if he presented his own daytime television show, and so commissioned a series, The Paul O'Grady Show, which first aired on October 2004 in the 5 to 6pm slot. The show, which involved O'Grady interviewing celebrity guests, aired at the same time at Channel 4's similar series Richard and Judy, creating a friendly rivalry between the two programs for ratings. Despite the competition, O'Grady's was a success, and won a number of awards in 2005, including a BAFTA and the award for Best TV Comedy Entertainment Personality at the British Comedy Awards. The show ran on ITV for three series, before O'Grady fell out with the broadcasting company and decided to switch to Channel 4.

In producing the show, O'Grady worked with many of his old friends, including Andy Collins, his warm-up man, whose job it was to "make sure the [studio] audience is relaxed, happy and ready for the main event".^[58]

The show gained a devout following, with an "extraordinary hardcore of fans [who] try to be at as many recordings as possible", in many cases arriving at the studio gates two hours before the advertised starting time in order to get the best seats.^[59] O'Grady's biographer Neil Simpson commented on the crowds coming to see the show being recorded when he related that "Groups of middle aged women dominate - but they are joined by beautiful twenty-something women with flawless make-up, flash City boys with Louis Vuitton briefcases, hip-looking students out for a good time and pensioners just wanting a laugh in the afternoon."^[60] In many cases, fans queuing to see the show had to be turned away because too many had turned up, and for live shows as many as a hundred often had to be turned away.^[59]

The fourth series of the show appeared on Channel 4 under the title of The New Paul O'Grady Show and began broadcasting in March 2006. On 24 August 2007 the Daily Mirror revealed that O'Grady had rejected a £5 million deal to return to ITV as the "New Parkinson."^{[citation needed]} Instead he signed a £4 million deal to remain with Channel 4 until the end of 2009.^{[citation needed]}

On 28 June 2008, O'Grady appeared in the Doctor Who episode The Stolen Earth.^[62] On 6 June 2009, the Daily Mirror confirmed that O'Grady will sign a new two year contract with Channel 4 in autumn 2009 to keep his show on air until the end of 2011. However Channel 4 have told O'Grady that his show will face huge budget cuts, and his salary will most likely be halved.^[63] On Monday 21 September 2009, O'Grady returned to present the 11th (including ITV series) and final series of The Paul O'Grady Show.^[64] On 14 October 2009, O'Grady agreed to an £8 million deal with ITV to host a Friday prime-time chat-show, to rival that of BBC One's Friday Night with Jonathan Ross from 2010, after budget talks broke-down with Channel 4.^[64]

On 30 November 2009, O'Grady was a guest presenter on ITV's GMTV with Lorraine, in celebration of Lorraine Kelly's 50th birthday. He has guest starred on Living's paranormal show, Most Haunted Live!, after presenter Yvette Fielding was a guest on his show and invited him on. Also in November 2009, O'Grady reunited with Yvette Fielding to take part in a 2 part paranormal investigation series called Death In Venice where he and Fielding investigated haunted locations in Venice. The episodes were called "Vampire Island" and "Demonic Doctor".

On 18 December 2009, Channel 4 broadcast the final ever episode of The Paul O'Grady Show, after 11 series which started in 2004. Guests included in the final line up were, JLS, Beverley Callard, Catherine Tate, William Roache, Linda Thorson, Honor Blackman, Joe McFadden, Natalie Cassidy, Scott Maslen, Kate Thornton and Melanie Sykes.

[edit] Paul O'Grady Live: 2010–11

Following the end of his daytime television show, O'Grady made a deal with ITV to present a new, Friday night show, entitled Paul O'Grady Live. O'Grady spoke to The People in March 2010 about this show, saying "I have no idea what format it will take yet because we have not sat down with the producers ... The show will still have dogs and children but I want it to be a bit more adult too."^[65] The programme began airing on ITV on Friday 10 September 2010 and the first series ran for 10 episodes, ending on Friday 12 November 2010.^[66]

In October 2010, O'Grady attracted media attention when, on an episode of Paul O'Grady Live, he openly criticised the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government for their implementation of mass cuts to government spending on social services, calling them "bastards" and proclaiming "Do you know what got my back up? Those Tories hooping and hollering when they heard about the cuts. Gonna scrap the pensions – yeah! – no more wheelchairs – yeah!… I bet when they were children they laughed in Bambi when his mother got shot."^[67] His Bambi quote was soon after quoted by Peter Taffe at the Socialism 2010 conference.^[68] O'Grady also used the show to voice his support for those student protesters who had occupied and vandalised the headquarters of the Conservative Party at Millbank Tower on Wednesday 10 November 2010.^[69][70]

The show was picked up for a second series and a Lady Gaga special.

It was revealed on 6 October 2011, that ITV had axed his show after 2 series.^[72][73] Speaking to the Daily Mail, O'Grady stated that ITV had originally asked him to return for a third series but that he had refused, claiming that he had had enough of the chat show format.^[71] He remarked that he had become fed up with the "interference" from the show's producers, and the fact that certain guests had appeared on air while under the influence of the illicit drug cocaine.^[71]

[edit] Paul O'Grady: For the Love of Dogs: 2012

Paul is currently filming a new 6-episode series for airing on ITV in Q3 2012, covering life at Battersea Dogs and Cats Home.

Radio work[link]

O'Grady made his radio debut on 12 April 2003, when he stood in for Jonathan Ross to present the Saturday morning show on BBC Radio 2. Then, later in December 2003, O'Grady presented a two-part documentary about Cilla Black's illustrious career, with contributions from Black's other celebrity friends. O'Grady then presented his own radio show for the first time on Christmas Day afternoon of that year.

On 28 December 2003, O'Grady chose the tracks on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.

Throughout 2004 and 2005, O'Grady voiced many adverts for other local radio stations.

O'Grady returned to Radio 2 on Easter Saturday 2006, with his very own live 3-hour special radio show. The show featured special guests and celebrity chat, the best music and a whole host of games and competitions. O'Grady also taste-tested a selection of the finest Easter Eggs in a search for Britain's Best.

O'Grady then stood in for Elaine Paige on her Sunday radio show Elaine Paige on Sunday for two weeks, on 28 January and 4 February 2007. John Barrowman then took over from O'Grady for the following two weeks, before Paige returned.

O'Grady returned with his own show on Easter Monday 2007. The show featured special guests and celebrity chat, the best music and a whole host of games and competitions.

In January 2008, O'Grady once again presented Elaine Paige on Sunday, on 13, 20 and 27 January. He sat in for her once again on 31 August, and again on 9 November.

On Christmas 2008, O'Grady returned to Radio 2 with his own show The Paul O'Grady Christmas Show, featuring a seasonal mix of Christmas music and some of the biggest hits of the year, including music from McFly and Girls Aloud.

O'Grady presented a two-part documentary on New Year's Eve and New Years Day 2008 on Radio 2, which was a tribute to Bill Cotton.

From 22 February 2009, O'Grady returned to Elaine Paige on Sunday to present the show for a month, whilst Paige was on tour.

After 6 years, O'Grady was given his own show on BBC Radio 2 entitled Paul O'Grady On The Wireless, each Sunday.^[74]

O'Grady once again presented a Christmas Day show in 2009, from 11am until 1pm. Like The Paul O'Grady Christmas Show that he presented last year, the show featured a round-up of the nation's favourite pantos. There was also a Christmas Motown Triple, a Carpenters Christmas Triple, and Christmas Thank Yous.

On 7 September 2010, O'Grady presented 'Come To The Cabaret', a documentary celebrating the boozy, glitzy and subversive delights of the cabaret.

For the third year running, O'Grady once again presented a special show on Christmas Day. This year, the show was three hours long, running on Christmas morning from 10.00am until 1.00pm. There were Christmas phone messages from celebrity callers, and Christmas triples from Bette Middler, Sir Cliff Richard and Dolly Parton.

Personal life[link]

O'Grady is openly gay. However, he has previously had relationships with women as well as men, and married a Portuguese lesbian, Teresa Fernandes, who was from a Catholic family, at Harrow Road register office, London,^[1] on 1 April 1977^[75] in a marriage of convenience. They separated in 1980, before eventually divorcing in 2005.^[1] He is very close to his daughter Sharyn, who married her childhood friend Philip Mousley at Liverpool Town Hall on 30 July 2005. O'Grady's long-term lover and business partner of 20 years was Irish television producer Brendan Frank Murphy (4 March 1956^[7] – 9 June 2005), who was HIV+ and died of brain cancer at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, London,^[76] five days before O'Grady's fiftieth birthday. After the first show of series three of The Paul O'Grady Show, there was a tribute to him.

O'Grady owns a flat in London, and a farm in Aldington near Ashford, Kent where his neighbour is Julian Clary. The farm is stocked with 32 animals, including a flock of geese which O'Grady refers to as the "Geese-stapo" (a pun on the Gestapo).^[77] O'Grady had a grey Shih Tzu/Bichon Frise crossbreed dog named Buster Elvis Savage, who was euthanised on 19 November 2009,^[78] after he was diagnosed with cancer.^[79] A spokeswoman said "Buster had been suffering and in a lot of pain. Putting him down was the kind thing to do."^[80] O'Grady would later dedicate the second volume of his autobiography to his canine companion, describing him as "The greatest canine star since Lassie."^[81]

This came a few days after O'Grady announced on his show that Buster was 'in retirement' after viewers had asked if Buster had been given away, as Buster frequently appeared on his TV show with him, but has recently been replaced by one of O'Grady's other dogs, Olga, a Cairn Terrier after whom O'Grady named his recently formed production company, 'Olga TV'.^[79] He also has another dog called Louie, who only appeared a few times in the first ITV series (mainly due to his bad behaviour), before he adopted Olga live on air.^[77] On 29 September 2009, O'Grady adopted a puppy called Bullseye, who appeared on his show after much nagging from the crowd.

O'Grady became a grandfather on 26 December 2006, when his daughter Sharyn gave birth to a son, Abel. He revealed on his show on 2 December 2009 that he had become a grandfather again as Sharyn had given birth to a girl in the early hours of that morning.^[82]