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2009
THE PAUL O'GRADY SHOW - Daily Star 21 September 2009
PAUL has not been a happy bunny of late, kicking up a stink about Channel 4 wanting to slash his budget.
But whatever the rights and wrongs of that dispute (do YOU know how much money it really takes to make a daytime chat show? Me neither – I'm keeping out of it) it's safe to assume he'll be sticking to the business in hand this afternoon as he launches his latest series.
In other words, lots of down-to-earth chat with celebrity guests, plus items which put real-life non-celebs into the spotlight.
Joining him today are singer Mika (or "Mike", as it originally said, far more amusingly, in the press release) and Dame Edna Everage.
The latter, of course, is actually a bloke in drag – a career path I'm sure Paul would thoroughly disapprove of.
Outspoken as ever at 54, irreverent star Paul O'Grady takes a swipe at ageism on TV - Hello September 2009
He is one of TV's most successful and loved chat show hosts, but as speculation mounts as to whether Paul O'Grady will quit his Channel 4 series at the end of the year, the man himself admits he just wants to get on with the job he loves doing most - presenting a live TV chat show.
And Paul acknowledges he is lucky to even be working, as some of his female peers over the age of 50 have been given the chop.
Citing the decision to replace 65-year-old Arlene Phillips with the younger Alesha Dixon on Strictly Come Dancing, the 54-year-old presenter says: "It is just awful what has happened.
"Poor old Arlene - that is wrong. The thing is Arlene has been dancing for so long. Nobody knows dancing better than Arlene, so why was she axed? I have worked with her in the past and she is great. The BBC has made a huge mistake. It is so blatant and so wrong what is happening to older women in TV. You need people with experience on television. So why get rid of women of a certain age? Awful"
And what exactly is going on with his contract at Channel 4? Reports have suggested he is refusing to accept a 50 per cent cut in the show budget.
Today Paul is uncharacteristically coy about the subject, but he reveals talks are on-going and says he plans to carry on working for as long as he still enjoys doing the series. "I don't know what will happen long term. I have done it now for six years and I might have a change. I am leaving the negotiations to my manager. I don't like taking part in the discussions," he admits.
In the meantime, he is busy planning the return of his chat show. Ozzy Osbourne, Gladys Knight and boyband JLS have all been confirmed as guests on the new Channel 4 series, which returns on 21 September, plus a new feature in which he helps unlucky-in-love women to find the right boyfriend.
Paul suffered a heart attack in 2002 the another four years later, but he says he never lets the pressure get to him in the ever-competitive TV ratings battle.
"When you have had a blip in your life with two heart attacks that you never planned for, you find you don't worry as much," he says. "I certainly don't. My outlook has changed. I love my job, but I don't let work worry me any more. I am at the stage now where I think, 'So what?' and let things go rather than panicking. It is live television. I'm not saving lives or pulling people from burning buildings.
"Thankfully, healthwise, I am okay. I saw my doctor over the summer and he checked everything out. He said I was fine. I did the MoonWalk recently, the nighttime fundraiser for breast cancer awareness. I wore a flashing bra... I did nine miles. When I told my doctor, he asked me how I felt, and if I had got out of breath. I told him no. He said it was remarkable."
The enthusiastic and down-to-earth TV presenter, who lives on a farm in Kent, says he still has a ball on his chat show. "So many people make me laugh on the programme. It never cease to amaze me how many incredible people I get to meet.
"Anyone tuning in must think I'm a lunatic as so many daft things happen on the programme, like me reading out letters to a chicken.
"I've had more or less everyone on my series, and we've had some great guests over the years, so there isn't anyone I am desperate to book to come on. Everyone seems to really enjoy it."
He says he feels raring to go after his summer break, which saw him travelling to Peru, spending time with his grandson, Abel, and pottering about on his farm. He remains incredibly close to his daughter, Sharyn, who is expecting his second grandchild.
"She is a smashing girl," he says of his daughter, the result of a brief relationship in his teens. "We are really close and I love that. I love having them to stay. It's full on when they do come though. I don't know how parents do it. It's so tiring, but I enjoy it so much. She's having another baby in November. I'm really looking forward to that."
Keeping his private life private, Paul, who is in a relationship, paints a happy picture of life nowadays. Turning his back on his former party lifestyle, he likes nothing better than having friends over for dinner - or even going swimming.
"I have stopped going clubbing, and I don't like going to showbiz parties either," he says. "I used to be able to knock it back, but now I have one glass of wine and I'm drunk. It's why I don't go to those awards ceremonies. You have two glasses of champagne in the reception, a glass of wine at the meal and I'm steaming - and then I go and make a show of myself! The next day I say to myself, 'Why did you behave like that?'"
Looking to the future, Paul has already started writing his second autobiography, which will be published next year. He says he has no other TV ambitions left to fulfil. "I am really happy right now. Life is just great."
Christine Smith
Slaughter row school sheep culled - The Independent 14 September 2009
A sheep reared by schoolchildren who was at the centre of a row over whether it should be sent to slaughter has been culled, a headteacher said today.
Hundreds of people, including comedian Paul O'Grady, voiced opposition to turning Marcus into chops and selling off his meat as a raffle prize at Lydd Primary School in Romney Marsh, Kent.
Animals lovers said it was "heartless" to allow children to personalise the sheep and then learn that it is to be sent to an abattoir for its meat to be auctioned.
But the school defended the decision, saying the aim was to educate children about the food cycle at the school, which is within a farming community.
Headteacher Andrea Charman refused to back down on the decision to cull Marcus, and today urged people to "move on from this issue" for the sake of the children's education.
She said: "The decision to send the Wether lamb for meat, which has the support of the school council and staff, the governing body and the majority of parents, has now been carried out.
"When we started the farm in spring 2009, the aim was to educate the children in all aspects of farming life and everything that implies.
"The children have had a range of opportunities to discuss this issue, both in terms of the food cycle and the ethical aspect.
"There is overwhelming support for the school, locally and further afield. It is important for everyone to move on from this issue, so the children can focus on their education."
Where and when Marcus was culled have not been disclosed but Kent County Council strongly denied suggestions that children visited an abattoir beforehand to learn about the slaughter process.
Ms Charman has said pupils voted in favour of selling lamb to raise money to buy more animals.
O'Grady, host of Channel 4's Paul O'Grady Show, stepped into the row last week by offering to buy the animal and give it sanctuary alongside sheep he owns.
"The sheep that go to slaughter are not made pets of," he told BBC Radio Kent on Friday.
"But a lamb that you hand-rear, that you personalise, that you give it a name and then announce that is going off to the abattoir is wrong. You can't do that."
Facebook groups in support of preserving Marcus's life have attracted hundreds of supporters, including some from people offering to care for him.
One poster said today: "I am really quite worried about the state of mind of a headteacher who is so determined to kill this animal.
"She says she is teaching kids the food chain, but letting them fall in love with him, feed him and care for him is inappropriate.
"Can we not let kids hold on to their childhood for a little longer before they have to face the grim realities of life?"
Mother-of-one Trudy Dixon, 26, from Copthorne, West Sussex, who campaigned to keep Marcus alive, said: "It's disgusting. The headteacher should be sacked over this.
"There were so many supporters to keep the sheep alive. Many of the poor kids will need counselling over this.
"The school should've accepted the money offered by Paul O'Grady which would've been a lot more than they would get from a raffle."
Tom Pugh
Paul O'Grady poised to make decision on Channel 4 chatshow - Guardian 14 September 2009
Chatshow host O'Grady is understood to have been holiding talks with Sky1 and ITV
Channel 4 presenter Paul O'Grady is expected to decide this week whether to stay with the broadcaster or move to a rival such as Sky1, where he has been wooed with an offer that is thought to include a new peaktime weekend show.
O'Grady publicly fell out with Channel 4 earlier this month when he criticised the broadcaster for asking him to slash the budget of his weekday teatime chatshow by 50% in an attempt to cut costs. The presenter said he would rather walk away from the show than do it "on the cheap".
Over the past several weeks, O'Grady is understood to have been holding talks with a number of rival broadcasters, including Sky1 and ITV, and according to sources is expected to decide towards the end of next week whether to stay at Channel 4 or move.
Sky1 is said to be making a big push for O'Grady, offering him either a Friday or Saturday night peaktime show.
"There have been various approaches from different broadcasters and there are ongoing talks with Channel 4," one source close to O'Grady said. "Everything is in flux at the moment, but more should be known towards the end of next week."
The Sky1 controller, Stuart Murphy, is keen to attract new talent to the channel, with O'Grady one of his key targets, although insiders have warned that – contrary to speculation – the channel does not have huge amounts of money to spend on new signings.
"There are loads of people Stuart would love on the channel, and Paul would be one of them," another source said. "The big thing for whoever he talks to though is that Sky1 – like other channels – can't offer a fortune, but it is about trying to say 'this is what he wants to do with the channel – make it like HBO'. Marketing is also a big thing for talent – they love how much Sky pushes shows."
O'Grady's exclusive contract with Channel 4 is due to expire at the end of this year, while the final run of his chatshow on his current deal begins on 21 September.
Leigh Holmwood
MARCUS FACES THE CHOP - Mirror 12 September 2009
EXCLUSIVE: 'Sheepnap plot' foiled
A lamb on death row at a primary school has been taken to a secret hideaway.
Pupils' pet Marcus is nearer the chop after being moved to foil a sheepnap plot by animal lovers.
But now TV's Paul O'Grady is trying to save his life.
School governors were flooded by protests as children realised the lamb they raised was to be killed.
As the Mirror revealed, they saw packs of lamb promised as raffle prizes. Parents at Lydd Primary School in Romney Marsh, Kent, yesterday urged a reprieve but were told the ram would be slaughtered. Last night Marcus was at a farm but set for an abattoir.
Yet angry mum Jo Davis, 33, revealed celeb Paul had called to give support and added: "He keeps sheep and wants to buy Marcus."
She also said the school had "put a plan to buy pigs and make sausages on hold".
Head Andrea Charman has said rearing animals for food at the school is an important part of pupils' education.
David Collins
Paul O'Grady He is Back and Bigger than Ever - Lifestyle Magazine 12 September 2009
When Paul O'Grady was just starting out as Lily Savage, performing to the proverbial two-men-and-a-dog on the notoriously tough pub circuit, he can little have imagined that the path he was embarking on would lead him to his own daily TV show, BAFTA recognition, and getting an MBE in the Queen's birthday honours. Yet here he is, with his royally-bestowed honour, a new series of The Paul O'Grady Show about to start, and an eagerly-awaited autobiography about to hit the shops.
It seems that all is well in the world of O'Grady, and the man himself can't quite believe it. Gratifyingly, the letters after his name have not blunted O'Grady's famously caustic wit, or taken the edge off his humorously cantankerous persona. Here, he reveals how he almost missed out on his MBE, what scared him witless on a trip to Palermo, and why he's finally won the approval of the local kids where he lives.
Paul O'Grady MBE. Have you got used to that yet?
What? You're joking if the Daily Mail readers are looking for proof that the country has gone to the dogs, there's your proof!
How did you find out about it?
I got a letter. But I've got a weird friend who always sends me letters, looking really official, saying 'Dear Mr O'Grady, We have reason to believe you are running a brothel at weekends,' or 'Dear Mr O'Grady, this baby-farming has got to cease. So I thought it was one of those. I thought it was quite a weak attempt. And then they rang up and said 'Why haven't you sent your letter back?' And then the penny dropped. So I rang the family and my sister. It was my cousin in Ireland, a lovely old fella, said 'It would be very crass and ignorant if you turned it down'.
It's double cause for celebration, as you've finally finished your book, after however many years!
I know. I only go up to when I'm 18 years old as well. It's longer than Lord of the Rings. I sat down and started it, and I did the word count, and I'd got over 100,000 words, and by that stage I wasn't even eleven. But I've done lots about the family, about my mum and I have included conversations and dialogue and things like that. That's what took up all the space. It gives people a general idea of what it was like, what life was like then and there.
Are you pleased with the final result?
I'm having panic attacks over it. I got to bed, and I think 'Why did I put that in?'
Is it nice to have it finished, or does it feel like something's missing now?
No, I'm delighted to get rid of it. It became an obsession. So much so that I've started on the second one. I've left the first one on cliff-hanger, so you have to follow that up. While I'm in the habit, I'll keep going. It's become part of the routine, to sit down and bang out a couple of hours each day.
So you enjoy the process of writing, then?
Well, I've already started on a load of mini-horror stories. I used to love the Pan Horror Stories when I was a kid. They were short horror stories, and I was mad on them. So I decided to write 13 of them. And they're very creepy. You watch these films, and you think 'What kind of a person thinks all of these twisted ideas up?' And then, actually, when you sit down yourself, you realise you can be every bit as creepy yourself.
Apart from writing, what have you done with break between series?
I went to the States. I went to Las Vegas. I hated it. Hated every minute of it. I was there two days, and then left. I absolutely couldn't stand it. You look out of the window, and there's the Eiffel Tower, which they're very proud of. But there's no irony. It's all for real, they don't go 'We've got the Eiffel Tower - wink, wink!' It's completely devoid of camp. The entire place is soulless. Everything's artificial. There are no showgirls, no Dean Martin, nothing like that. That's what I thought Vegas would be like. And the food! The amount people eat! I kept saying 'Keep moving, or they'll eat us!'
So you abandoned Vegas and went where?
LA. I like LA. Had a bit of time there. Went round to Jackie Collins' house for dinner. She's nice, Jackie.
Did she give you advice about writing?
No, she's very good. She sort of leaves you to it. The one thing she did say was 'Don't sit there worrying about a beginning, a middle and an end, just put it all down. And when it's like a jigsaw, put it all together.' And then we went to New York, which was stifling hot, but great.
I'm told you've also become quite a keen cook.
I always was, I just kept my mouth shut about it, because I thought people would take the mickey. People wouldn't associate me with cooking, the same way they wouldn't have done with animals. But I've always baked. I don't like cooking boring things, I like making cakes and desserts.
So what's your signature dish?
Definitely Strawberry Torte. That's the one I get the requests for. But I have to be in the mood to cook. It's not something I want to do all the time. I only do it when I feel like it. I make ice cream as well. But you've got to be up for it, because if you rush it, you ruin it.
The last time I spoke to you, you were heading off to Palermo for a Most Haunted Special with Yvette Fielding. What was it like?
We had a ball. We were sealed into as tomb in a castle, and did a séance in a theatre, which was very creepy, but nothing happened. And then we went to a restaurant, and had loads of wine. And then we went to the catacombs at 3am, where they hang all the dead on the wall. What freaked us out was this little girl in a coffin. It really upset us all. I felt that she shouldn't have been there, she should have been buried. It was really sad. And then we went and did a séance, in this terrible room where they used to do all the embalming. Up until then I was a real cynic. But we heard a voice groaning, and I absolutely levitated with fear! Then I thought I'd got the belt of my coat caught on something on the wall, and I turned around and there was nothing there. But something had been pulling it. I could feel it. It was terrifying. But that was the fun of it. It was like Scooby Do. You're in the dark, and a ghost appears, and everyone runs, screaming. Fabulous!
You also appeared in Doctor Who, didn't you?
Oh yeah, in the Invasion of the Daleks. I was appearing as myself, on the set of the show, talking to the camera about seeing lights in the sky. I didn't have to leave my studio. And I just appeared saying it on a TV on Doctor Who. But all the local kids were really impressed. They were coming up to me, amazed I'd been on Doctor Who. They knew me from my show, but couldn't care less about that, but when I was on Doctor Who they were well impressed.
The show's about to return for a new series. I'd ask if there's anything new coming up, but part of its charm is that you don't try and re-build it anew every series.
Exactly. Every time we change even the tiniest thing, you wouldn't believe the complaints we get! You put new fabric on the sofa and there's a discussion for around a month about whether they like it, until they forget all about it. It's like a song that you know really well, you like it the way you know it. Change it, and they don't like it at all. We change bits and pieces, but not much. We have new reporters on, members of the public and that, but otherwise they like the tried and tested, so we leave well alone.
Are you looking forward to getting back in the chair and getting on with the series?
I am, actually. I get bored when I'm not working - books and holidays aside. I need to go back to work. I need a routine, otherwise I go to the dogs. So yeah, I'm looking forward to going back.
The Paul O'Grady Show is on Channel 4 every weekday at 5pm from Monday September 22nd.
HALFWITS - Mirror 1 September 2009
EXCLUSIVE: Chat show Paul's fury at 50% cutback
Paul O'Grady is threatening to quit Channel 4 after cash-strapped bosses said they would HALVE his chat show's £2million budget.
He says he will not accept the massive pay cut, compromise the quality of the teatime ratings winner or sack hard-working staff.
And he is prepared to walk away rather than do the show "on the cheap".
Furious Paul, 54, told the Mirror: "Cutting it by half is outrageous. It's like entering the Grand Prix but only being given half the petrol to complete it.
"You're going to end up with the blandest of the bland and I won't be part of it."
He added: "I really want to carry on. I like Channel 4 and I'm more than happy to stay and take a cut in my own wages, perhaps 20%."
"But I'm not going to turn around to my staff and say, 'We've got to cut your wages or sack you'. They've been with me for six years - they have mortgages to pay and families to feed.
"This credit crunch has become an excuse for bosses all around the country to fire people and save money."
Paul, whose production firm Olga TV makes the show, went on: "I was absolutely gobsmacked when they said 50%.
"I would understand if my ratings were down and the show wasn't performing but it consistently wins its slot and brings in good advertising revenue.
"If we take a 50% cut, it means we'd only be able to afford a couple of cameras. We can't do five days a week for half the price.
"It would be c**p. For a start, we'd have to get rid of crew members, the lighting guys, cameramen, make-up artists and office staff who have worked bloody hard, long hours for years to make that show work.
"Imagine it - there'd be no guests. Certainly, we wouldn't be able to send our mums to Dallas to do a marathon, or take the little lad who has never been out of Peckham to Tibet.
"Honestly, it would be the bare a**e of a show and it would be a compromise too far. I'd be mortified to do a show that's third rate."
The show is due to return on September 24 and Paul's current contract expires at the end of the year. "I'm in the doldrums," he said. "Perhaps Channel 4 thought I'd roll over, but that's not going to happen. I haven't heard from them, so I've no idea what's going on."
He added: "They said they can do Come Dine With Me for half the price, but we're not about four people eating a lousy dinner and moaning about it."
Paul, whose show regularly attracts two million viewers, is now considering a move back to ITV or starting afresh on Sky. Both channels are believed to be keen to sign the outspoken Scouser.
An ITV insider said: "Paul was poached by Channel 4 in the first place because of the generous budget it was offering, but he has made it clear he will not hesitate to move on to safeguard the show."
Channel 4 has annoyed many of its programme makers by insisting on major cuts. A source said last night: "We are a commercial company and therefore not immune from the current climate. People have the right to look elsewhere when their deals with us end."
Carol Vorderman quit Countdown last year after her salary was slashed by 90%.
Fiona Cummins & Sue Carroll
Paul O'Grady looks set to leave Channel 4 show over budget cuts - Guardian 1 September 2009
Presenter's refusal to accept C4 cuts could spark a merry-go-round of TV talent
Channel 4 and presenter Paul O'Grady look to be going their separate ways after the star rejected a 50% budget cut for his teatime chatshow – prompting reports of a return to the broadcaster for Graham Norton.
O'Grady, whose Channel 4 series is due to return later this month, said he would walk away from the show rather than do it "on the cheap". His contract with the broadcaster, which he joined from ITV three years ago, runs out at the end of this year and he is reportedly talking to Sky1.
His exit would spark a merry-go-round of TV talent, with Norton already tipped for a move to Channel 4. He is in discussions about returning to the broadcaster after his exclusive BBC contract finishes at the end of this year.
Norton joined the corporation from Channel 4 in a golden handcuffs deal in 2005 reportedly worth £7.5m, but his last BBC1 show, Totally Saturday, flopped. His new BBC1 chatshow begins next month.
O'Grady said he was "gobsmacked" when he was told by Channel 4 his show's budget would be cut in half.
"I'm in the doldrums. Perhaps Channel 4 thought I'd roll over, but that's not going to happen," O'Grady told today's Daily Mirror.
"I haven't heard from them so I've no idea what's going on. They said they can do Come Dine With Me for half the price, but we're not about four people eating a lousy dinner and moaning about it."
He added: "It's like entering the grand prix and only being given half the petrol to complete it. You're going to end up with the blandest of the bland and I won't be part of it.
"This credit crunch has become an excuse for bosses all around the country to fire people and save money. I would understand if my ratings were down and the show wasn't performing but it consistently wins its slot and brings in good advertising revenue.
"If we take a 50% cut it means we'd only be able to afford a couple of cameras. We can't do five days a week for half the price. It would be crap."
"Honestly, it would be the bare arse of a show and it would be a compromise too far. I'd be mortified to do a show that's third rate."
O'Grady's comments in the Mirror follow a story in yesterday's Daily Mail reporting that Channel 4 was set to axe O'Grady because he was refusing to accept the scale of pay cut the broadcaster had asked him to take.
Norton's latest BBC1 show, Totally Saturday, limped to a finish with just 2 million viewers in July, but he is set to return to the channel later this year when his late-night chatshow switches from BBC2 to BBC1.
His track record at the BBC has been mixed – he enjoyed big ratings with Saturday night talent shows Any Dream Will Do and How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?. But his BBC1 debut, The Bigger Picture, was unmemorable and his BBC2 chatshow has failed to hit the heights of its Channel 4 predecessor.
Norton is understood to have had discussions with Channel 4 about returning to the broadcaster next year. A report today suggested he was being lined up to take over O'Grady's teatime slot, but sources suggested Norton was more likely to return to the broadcaster in a peaktime slot.
But another "golden handcuffs" deal anywhere seems unlikely in the current economic climate.
"It's where he started his television career and we are in talks about him taking Paul O'Grady's timeslot," a source told today's Sun. "Graham has a natural energy on TV and his forte is entertaining and interviewing people. So it would be a perfect show for him."
However, Norton's business partner Graham Stuart, co-owner with the presenter of production company So Television, said: "From our point of view, So Television is preparing to take Graham's talkshow from BBC2 to BBC1. That is what we are focused on. We see that as a long-term project."
A Sky1 spokesman said: "There were a number of exciting new signings announced by Sky1 just last week and we're certainly looking to bring more new talent to the channel. At this stage we have no one else to announce. Paul O'Grady is a very talented and much-loved presenter who would be a great asset to any channel."
John Plunkett
Channel 4 is to axe Paul O'Grady's chat show after he refused to take a drastic cut in his £2million-a-year salary - 31 August 2009
The star's contract expires at the end of the year and he is now expected to join Sky in a lucrative deal.
Channel 4 planned to slash the budget on O'Grady's hit teatime show as it grapples with the recession.
It would have seen the presenter's salary cut by an estimated 30 per cent. However, he was not prepared to take the pay drop and in the face of a multi-million pound offer from a rival channel, the two parties have agreed to part ways.
The decision will come as a massive blow to the star's fans who have got used to seeing him every night on terrestrial TV.
It will also mark the end of one of the most successful daytime shows in recent years. The Paul O'Grady Show has won a string of awards and has in the past attracted 3million viewers.
O'Grady defected to Channel 4 in January 2006 after an ugly falling out with ITV bosses following two successful years doing a similar show.
Earlier this year he said he was prepared to take a pay cut, but admitted he did not know how long he would continue with the show.
He would have lost further money if he had renewed his contract because his own production company, Olga TV, makes the programme.
O'Grady, 54, is just the latest star to have been cut loose by Channel 4. Carol Vorderman left Countdown after she said she was told to accept a 90 per cent pay cut.
The channel's other tea-time stars Richard and Judy also left when their show was dropped last year.
It is understood O'Grady has been offered a prime-time talk show at Sky One in a deal which insiders claim could top £9million over a number of years. Sky One wants him to help the channel broaden its appeal to women.
This is not the first time the broadcaster has tried to steal O'Grady from Channel 4 having offered him a reported £16million deal in 2007.
The last Channel 4 Paul O'Grady Show is expected to air in December.
An insider said: 'Paul has worked for a lot of different broadcasters and he does like a change. He is being offered a lot of money from Sky.'
Sky did not deny it was trying to poach the star but simply said 'at this stage' it had no further talent signings to announce.
O'Grady in US airport 'alien' row - Mirror 12 August 2009
Paul O'Grady was held in the USA suspicion of being an illegal alien from Cuba - because of his "funny" accent.
The Liverpudlian chat show king was dragged into a holding room at Miami airport and detained for two hours.
Last night furious O'Grady, 54, revealed how he was made to feel like a criminal by rude officials, who confiscated his passport.
He said: "Every time I said, 'Excuse me, can you tell me why am I here?', they just ignored me. It was so rude."
Quizzed on when he had last visited Cuba, O'Grady replied: "I said, 'You've been studying my passport for the last hour and you can see I've never been to Cuba in my life'.
"Then this guy said to me, 'He thinks you're a Cuban immigrant'. I said, 'cos I look Cuban, don't I?'"
The Channel 4 host, who was on his way home from a holiday in Peru, added: "I've just been to hell folks and it's called Miami airport."
Fiona Cummins
O'Grady to end feud for comeback to ITV - The Sun 1 July 2009
PAUL O'Grady is plotting a sensational return to ITV – three year's after vowing he would "rather sweep streets" than work there.
The camp comic is in talks to move his successful teatime chat show from Channel 4 when the deal expires at the end of the year.
He has been tempted to return to ITV after C4 chiefs announced plans to slash his show's budget. The cuts are understood to be "massive and painful" and would "seriously alter the show", according to sources.
Now ITV — which originally aired The Paul O'Grady Show — is believed to be offering a deal that would cut Paul's pay but leave the show's budget alone. A source close to the Lily Savage star said: "Paul is happy to take a smaller fee for presenting the show, he knows times are hard.
"But taking a massive cut from the budget of the show will just make it worse.
"There will be major changes that will have to be made to it if that happens — and then it won't be the same show. At present the programme, made by O'Grady's own firm Olga TV, costs £2million a year including his salary.
Moving his New Paul O'Grady Show show back to ITV – almost certainly in the same 5pm slot – would be a major turnaround of events.
Paul, 54, quit ITV in a rage in 2006 accusing bosses of ignoring him and "forgetting to renew his contract" — despite his show being a runaway success.
They then tried to retaliate by banning him from making the new show in any of their studios — despite offering them to shows from other channels. Paul hit back again — pulling out of fronting any show for them and blasted chiefs.
He said: "I'm not working for these petty tyrants anymore. The ban is pure spite. I will lose money but I would rather be sweeping the streets than working for ITV."
Channel 4 has annoyed many of its programme makers by insisting on major cuts to budgets. But a source at the channel defended its stance last night, saying: "We are a commercial company and therefore not immune from the current climate.
"People have the right to look elsewhere when their deals with us end."
Colin Robertson
Helen Mirren backs young carers - Western Daily Press 22 June 2009
Dame Helen Mirren and Sir David Jason are among a host of stars to send personal messages of support to the Young Carers Festival.
The Oscar-winning actress and the Only Fools And Horses star join Paul O'Grady, T4's Rick Edwards, Jo Brand, Roxanne Pallett, JLS's Oritse Williams and others congratulating young carers on the tenth anniversary of the festival.
Dame Helen said: "I'd like to wish everyone a happy and sunny festival in 2009."
She added: "I know for many young carers the festival is your only chance to come together, meet friends and enjoy a weekend away from everyday responsibilities. I hope this year gives you all that and much, much more."
Sir David said: "Young carers play a vital role in their families and today I would like to acknowledge your commitment and dedication.
"I wish you a happy festival, making new friends or catching up with old ones and hopefully taking time to relax too!"
Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Chris Tarrant and Pam Ferris were also among those who left messages on The Children's Society website.
The tenth Young Carers festival, organised by YMCA Fairthorne Manor and The Children's Society, is being held at Fairthorne Manor between June 26 and June 28, bringing together over 1,800 young carers.
The children are given respite from their care work and the chance to enjoy their childhood and take part in activities and socialise with one another.
The messages can be viewed at www.childrenssociety.org.uk/youngcarers.
Daytime shows fall foul of Ofcom - BBC 22 June 2009
The Alan Titchmarsh Show, The Paul O'Grady Show and Five News at 7 have all been found in breach of Ofcom's codes on product placement.
The broadcast watchdog ruled that Five News at 7 had promoted a GPS running watch and given it undue prominence.
The Alan Titchmarsh and Paul O'Grady Show were both found to have promoted and given undue prominence to two different skincare products.
Unlike the US, product placement is prohibited in the UK.
Five News at 7 was found in breach of a rule which states products and services must not be promoted in programmes and another which rules that no undue prominence may be given to any programme to any product or service.
The Five news programme on 5 February included in a pre-recorded report and a live studio discussion included comments about the GPS device such as: "small but genius invention", "as easy to charge as a mobile phone and "you get what you pay for with these".
Ofcom took into account Five's statement that there was no commercial arrangement in place and acknowledged there was no evidence of product placement.
But the watchdog likened the gadget review slot to a teleshopping promotion.
The Alan Titchmarsh Show breaches related to two programmes - one on 23 March involving an interview with actress Jane Seymour, and another on 26 March featuring the actress Stephanie Beacham.
Titchmarsh and Seymour were seen discussing Seymour's commercial venture as the face of a clothing company.
Ofcom noted Titchmarsh did not draw the conversation away from his guest's commercial interest but in fact initiated a conversation by saying, "You're as beautifully clad as ever".
There were several references to the clothing brand throughout the interview.
Channel TV, an ITV licence holder responsible for the compliance of the programme on behalf of the ITV network, said the references were justified by the editorial context in which they appeared.
But the programme was found to have given the firm undue prominence.
When interviewing Beacham later that month, Ofcom revealed its concern that skincare products were set out on the table in front of the presenter and Beacham in advance of the interview, which was pre-recorded.
There were then several references to the brand and viewers were also directed to the skincare range's website.
The actress had worked with the manufacturer to create the range of products shown.
Ofcom ruled the show had given the products undue prominence and that the products had also been promoted within the programme.
The Paul O'Grady Show was found in breach of the same rules. The incident on 24 March this year also involved a skincare product.
Channel Four said "the script was carefully drafted... and only made one verbal reference to the product".
But the presenter, Paul O'Grady, deviated from the intended script and the product was referred to on six occasions. O'Grady said: "I feel like I'm on QVC here" in reference to the shopping channel.
A UEFA Champions' League football match on ITV1 was also found to be in breach of rule 10.3, which states that products and services must not be promoted in programmes.
The commentator was heard promoting the release of a DVD of a football documentary Clough, accompanied by a full-screen shot of the DVD cover.
MTV Two's MySpace Chart was found to have broken a rule relating to sponsorship because the programme title accompanied by the channel logo remained on screen for the entirety of the one-hour programme.
Ofcom ruled this gave the sponsor "undue prominence".
FX police drama Dexter was criticised over its sponsorship credits for the film Angels and Demons during screening of the programme on various dates during May this year.
Ofcom showed concern that some of the credits shown before and after the programmes were "essentially no different to promotional trailers for the film - in other words, they closely resembled advertisements".
FX admitted the "credits are in breach of rule 9.13" - essentially that sponsor credits should not resemble adverts - and apologised.
Paul: Beeb wrong over talent cuts - Mirror 16 June 2009
Paul O'Grady has lashed out at BBC executives for hitting talent with big pay cuts - but keeping their own six-figure salaries.
The former BBC star, who works at Channel 4, said he could not understand why only star presenters such as Jonathan Ross and Chris Moyles were being hit in the pocket.
O'Grady, 54, said: "That is grossly unfair. Why expect the people who bring in the viewers to your networks to take a big cut and not you? Insane. Wrong. If I worked for the BBC I would not be amused."
BBC director-general Mark Thompson earned £816,000 last year, despite waiving his bonuses.
ITV has axed 15 out of 60 staff who make sports shows. A worker said: "It seems an odd decision. They are covering the World Cup next year and won't have enough staff for some events."
Mark Jefferies
'Taking a pay cut won't demotivate me' - The Guardian 15 June 2009
Paul O'Grady talks about the cost of BBC talent, his hopes for an amicable renewal of the contract, and why working on Radio 2 is not the fun it was.
A few hours after our interview Paul O'Grady calls from his Kent farmhouse, where he has been building a Fort Knox chicken run for 26 rescued battery hens. "These pay cuts of 25-40% that the BBC is telling its talent to take - does that include [director general] Mark Thompson?" asks the Channel 4 chatshow host. When told that BBC executives are imposing a pay freeze on themselves, O'Grady growls: "That is grossly unfair. Why expect the people who bring in the viewers to your networks to take a big cut and not you. Insane. Wrong. If I worked for the BBC I would not be amused by that. Especially when we know the licence fee has not gone down."
The comments and the scenario are vintage O'Grady, who has positioned himself as a funny, animal-loving ex-social worker daytime TV presenter since ditching Lily Savage, the alter ego that made him famous, five years ago. Yet the highly-paid 55-year-old is also conscious that these constrained times demand change. Unlike many of his TV peers, who all appeared to go to ground when news of the BBC's plans to cut salaries emerged last week, O'Grady told the Guardian he supported a pay cut. "I am quite happy to take a cut. You've got to, if you want to work and continue working."
O'Grady has got the message that advertising-funded British television, such as C4 and ITV, is being painfully squeezed, so showbusiness cannot continue in the way it has for the past two decades.
One leading entertainment executive spoke for many when he said: "In a credit crunch they are as equally responsible for the future of broadcasting as the people off screen. The top talent are paid too much, it's as simple as that."
Few of O'Grady's viewers and fans are in the mood for sympathy with stars who moan about pay cuts. C4, in the middle of negotiations over its survival, has made it clear that it can only continue with savings of between 25-30% on the cost of his programme.
O'Grady is phlegmatic. "I can afford it. We can't be ridiculous and hold out for silly money," he says. "I was talking about it with Cilla Black the other day. We can't be greedy in these times."
He has risen to become one of TV's most bankable stars over the last five years. He is among the top 100 earners who take a lion's share of the £750m paid annually to all television and radio presenters.
Crucially, he created his own company, Olga TV, when he walked out of ITV in 2006 in a coup staged by C4. Olga has made his chatshow ever since and therefore takes a production fee on top of standard performance fees, and a share of any profit left after production costs are taken out.
In this, he is similar to many of the big-name stars such as Jonathan Ross, Graham Norton, and Richard and Judy, who led the way in owning (or part-owning) their own companies. So successful has the model been for these owner/presenters that television executives call it double and treble creaming.
Olga TV is renegotiating its two-year contract for the Paul O'Grady Show with C4 (it is off air for the summer but returning in September). The show expires at the end of December, and in some ways the negotiation is an indicator of how decisively the power balance has shifted away from the talent.
Following the channel's loss of Richard and Judy and Carol Vorderman and its slashing of budgets for daytime programmes, it could of course be a relief that C4 has decided to keep O'Grady's show - but then it regularly attracts more than two million viewers, an audience share in excess of 15%, and advertisers keen to reach housewives.
"I want an amicable agreement without fights," says O'Grady, who fell out with ITV partly over his desire to create Olga TV. "I'm not a businessman. I could pack it in, but I like work. I don't want to sound like Catherine Cookson but I've worked since I was eight, with a paper round and in a fruit and veg shop. Taking a pay cut won't demotivate me, not at all. It's not about money in the first place. It's about the job.
"I have a responsibility to my staff. A lot of people are working for me. Also, the wage we get, for most people, it's a fortune. An absolute fortune!"
He makes it clear that he loves his job, which he took on in 2004 after ditching the Lily Savage drag act after 20 years.
"I went from being a big harridan in a wig to a talkshow host with my dog, Buster. I like this job, I've found a format which suits me. I have trotted around the country, doing stand up, I've been there, done it. I want to go on doing this," he says.
The bottom line is that he and his business partner, the Labour peer Lord (Waheed) Alli, know, as do other presenters and their agents, that they cannot play off C4 with threats of moving back, say to ITV, or to Channel Five - the market for big entertainment talent has collapsed. "There's no competition," O'Grady admits. Quite how big a pay cut he will take is up for negotiation, but a star's fees can be a very large portion of the overall cost of a programme. O'Grady says he accepts that reducing his pay is the only way to make sufficiently meaningful economies to satisfy C4, without damaging the show or failing to protect his 15 permanent staff or any of the people hired to help for the show's 26-week run.
"Times are hard. I'm providing a lot of regular, reliable work and wages. I have friends on the staff."
The Paul O'Grady Show, which runs five times a week, costs C4 £111,000 per hour, a total of £14.43m a year. Informed sources say that O'Grady makes far more than the estimated £20,000 per show performance fee he was paid at ITV. He has made millions as a mainstream star but all he will say on the pay front is: "It varies. In the weeks I am not on television I turn everything else down. It wasn't about money, though. I moved [to C4] because it was about control of the show. I was the only star without my own production company."
But the channel's executives point out his popularity has flowed over into other deals. The first part of his hilarious and moving autobiography At My Mother's Knee, about growing up in a damp little house in Birkenhead, has sold 800,000 copies in hardback, topped the bestseller lists, and last week went into paperback. He is writing, with relish, a second instalment, about the Lily Savage years, for a rumoured £2m advance.
The two-year deal, which runs out at the end of this year, was done when there was plenty of advertising money in the system: now the market is down 15%, and C4, which has overpaid for the rights to a floundering Big Brother, has slashed its programme budget accordingly.
It fears that 2010 (the final year it is contracted to buy Big Brother) will be extremely tough. At current costs O'Grady's programme is said to be not making a profit for the company, especially since the ending of premium-rate phone revenue from now-abandoned quizzes. The show stopped the general knowledge phone-ins during the controversy of two years ago.
O'Grady, who is about to go on holiday - a luxury train across Siberia to Vladivostok - hopes to return home to his chickens and to sign another a long-term deal that stretches to 2011. And to resume his one other outside commitment, a slot on Radio 2.
As a parting shot, I ask what he thinks of Ross's controversial three-year deal with the BBC, which has stoked public outrage about BBC largesse and strengthened its determination to act on inflated contracts.
"Ridiculous wages. But I always thought, good for him. He's not to blame, it was the BBC. If you can get such a deal, do it. Film stars do."
But he adds that working for Radio 2 is no longer the fun it once was, with editorial compliance executives breathing down the necks of producers. In what sounds like a slap at those busybody producers but could also be a slap at his rival, he says archly, "As if I would swear live on TV or radio!"
Maggie Brown
O'Grady is so grubby - The Sun 12 June 2009
PAUL O'Grady says he loves working on his BBC radio show because he can forget about his personal hygiene.
The TV favourite told ITV1's This Morning: "I love doing radio — you don't have to shave, get dressed up and you don't have to even have a wash if you don't want!"
He has hosted Paul O'Grady On the Wireless, on Radio 2 each Sunday since April.
O'Grady facing credit crunch cutbacks - Digital Spy 6 June 2009
Paul O'Grady has admitted that his teatime chatshow is facing budget cuts due to the recession.
The TV host is expected to sign a new two-year deal with Channel 4 in the autumn after reaching the end of his current £4 million contract.
According to The Mirror, the star's earnings will drop by half under the new arrangement, while the show's production costs will also be slashed.
"We're all going to have to take a pay cut, that's just how things are," O'Grady told the newspaper. "They are talking about bringing the budgets down and I know we can do it for less money. As long as the show is feasible and we have enough to pay the guests then I'll do it."
The Paul O'Grady Show launched on ITV1 in October 2004, but the comedian defected to Channel 4 fourteen months later after deciding that he wanted greater creative control.
He added: "Channel 4 are a great bunch of people to work with and the crew are lovely. Working at ITV was like being in the court of Caligula."
Daniel Kilkelly
Danny La Rue dies of cancer aged 81 - Mirror 2 June 2009
Tribute to Danny La Rue, by Paul O'Grady
I'm so sad, I thought he'd go on for ever. Danny didn't like me at first because I was the new kid on the block as Lily Savage.
When I met him about 15 years ago I was terrified, but we became friends. He was the biggest star in Britain in the 60s and I was in awe of him.
He always looked stunning, Lily, on the other hand, was in leopard skin skirts with a cigarette. Danny was a complete pro. They don't make them like him any more.
Nicola Methven
Stars' grief as cancer kills Danny La Rue, 81 - The Sun 2 June 2009
Barbara Windsor said the female impersonator was a "gorgeous man", while Paul O'Grady called him "the ultimate showman".
Strictly Come Dancing host Bruce Forsyth, 81, also told of his sorrow at the loss of the "great showman".
EastEnder Barbara said she saw Danny three weeks ago and his wit was as sharp as ever.
When she told him he looked handsome he asked her if she fancied "a bit then?"
Babs, 71, who had known Danny since she was 18 and starred with him in the West End, said: "Those were the last words he ever said to me."
Paul, 53, who used to perform as Lily Savage, recalled a first tense meeting with Danny. The chatshow host said: "I was terrified, but then we got on very well. When I had my heart attack he sent me a card saying, 'Get well soon'."
Cara Lee & Sara Nathan
Paul O'Grady: Lily Savage would love my bra - Liverpool Echo 18 May 2009
HE may have said goodbye to Lily Savage ... but comedian Paul O'Grady proved he still looks the part in this dazzling number.
The 53-year-old Wirral-born comic wore this cheeky glow-in-the-dark bra to raise money for breast cancer research and care charities.
He joined 15,000 men and women on Saturday night for the 26.2mile Playtex MoonWalk through central London.
O'Grady, famous for his outlandish drag act as Lily, said: "Lily would have been in her element.
"I've had friends who have had breast cancer, cancer seems to touch everybody these days."
Vicki Kellaway
Paul O'Grady dons a bra for Playtex MoonWalk - Liverpool Echo 16 May 2009
TV STAR Paul O'Grady will today don a light-up bra and join 15,000 celebrity women and men for a midnight power walk.
The chat show host, who used to dress up as outrageous drag act Lily Savage, is taking part in the Playtex MoonWalk for breast cancer causes.
Birkenhead-born Paul said: "If you're going to wear a bra, you might as well do it properly.
"It lights up like Blackpool illuminations, Lily would be in her element.
"I've had friends who have had breast cancer, cancer seems to touch everybody these days."
The comedian, who hosts The Paul O'Grady Show, will be pounding the streets of London for a second time.
He said: "I want to raise the profile of the event and help breast cancer causes.
"The atmosphere was fabulous last year."
Paul will march up to a marathon distance with friends, plus radio DJ Sara Cox and Strictly Come Dancing stars.
Cash will go to Walk the Walk who support breast cancer causes.
Last year, the event raised more than £6m for the grant making health charity.
Nina Barough, the founder of the charity, said: "For fun, this year's theme is Strictly Walking so we are expecting the glitz, the glamour and the sequins of the ballroom to be transported to the streets of London.
"The Playtex MoonWalk has continually grown over the years, and we want to generate as much support and encouragement for the walkers as possible.
"Walk the Walk is not just about walking, it's about life, and we hope to make history once again in 2009 by raising more money than ever before."
Tina Miles
Q & A Paul O'Grady, actor and radio host - The Guardian 16 May 2009
Paul O'Grady tells us his guiltiest pleasure.
Paul O'Grady, 53, was born in Birkenhead and moved to London when he was 18. He became a social worker and appeared in drag as his alter ego, Lily Savage, at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. As Lily, he went on to have his own series on BBC and ITV, and won numerous awards. He retired Lily in 2004 and launched a chatshow, The Paul O'Grady Show, on Channel 4. He also has a Sunday evening show on Radio 2.
When were you happiest?
In my late 20s, living in Vicky Mansions in Vauxhall.
What is your greatest fear?
A long, lingering death.
What is your earliest memory?
In a bunk with my mother on the night boat to Dublin from Liverpool. I must have been about three.
Which living person do you most admire, and why?
The two Afrikaner women I met who run a feeding station for hundreds of children in Johannesburg.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Negativity.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Ignorance and intolerance.
Aside from a property, what's the most expensive thing you've bought?
A Morgan car.
What is your most treasured possession?
My dogs.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I can go from immaculate in a bespoke suit to looking like I slept in a skip in minutes.
If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
Lew Grade.
What is your favourite book?
The Same Old Grind, by Judy Roe.
What is your guiltiest pleasure?
Full cream Jersey gold top milk.
Who would play you in the film of your life?
Jean-Claude Van Damme.
Which living person do you most despise?
Fred Goodwin.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
Marlene Dietrich, Brendan Behan, George Melly, Gypsy Rose Lee, Catherine de' Medici. To cook, Rosa Lewis from the Cavendish Hotel (the Duchess of Duke Street), and to provide the music, Henry Hall.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"Bugger this" and "seriously".
What is the worst job you've done?
A stint in an abattoir.
What has been your biggest disappointment?
Too many of my friends, family and peers dying.
When did you last cry?
Watching The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas.
How often do you have sex?
For the better part of the day I recline on my Shanghainese opium bed, entertaining suitors in my parlour.
What is the closest you've come to death?
Two heart attacks.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting to 53!
What song would you like played at your funeral?
I have a list a mile long, ranging from the theme from The Avengers to Méditation from Massenet's Thaïs.
Where would you most like to be right now?
In the Three Chimneys on Skye, eating brown bread and oysters washed down with black velvet.
Tell us a secret
I really was in the Toxteth riots.
Rosanna Greenstreet
Tried and tested - The Northern Echo 12 May 2009
PAUL O'Grady is known for his generosity to his studio audience, and recently he was determined to help them turn back the clock. Every member of the audience was given an anti-ageing serum called Ageless Painless Perfection which promises to improve the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles in only five minutes.
Our tester tried it out on the fine lines around her lips and it appeared to do just what it said on the tin. A colourless gel in a pump-action bottle, it is virtually odourless, feels slightly sticky at first to the touch, but dries almost instantly when applied to the face, leaving the skin feeling soft and plumped. Lovely stuff!
It's dermatologist tested and independent testing showed that Ageless worked below the skin's surface, not filling lines and wrinkles, but actually releasing them.
One of the key ingredients was found in the tropical jungles of Madagascar, where scientists discovered that a botanical specimen known as Acmella Oleracea could relax wrinkles and fine lines on the face. Those who want to try it now don't have to go quite so far. It costs £45 for 15ml and is distributed by AHA Medical Services Durham, DH1 1TF.
CHANNEL 4 STARS FACE AXE - Daily Star 7 May 2009
SOME of Channel 4's top stars fear the axe as the crisis-hit network announced plans to slash at least £60million from its programme budget.
Senior sources claimed last night all its programmes, except Big Brother, are facing savage cuts.
The public service broadcaster also warned its top stars that they could expect big salary cuts of up to 20%, or even be axed if their shows fail to deliver.
Those who could be affected include chat hosts Alan Carr, 32, Justin Lee Collins, 34, and Paul O'Grady, 53, plus long-serving newsreader Jon Snow, 61.
Property experts like Kevin McCloud, 49, Kirstie Allsopp, 35, Phil Spencer, 39, and Sarah Beeny, 37, also face the prospect of their contracts being cut or frozen when they are renegotiated.
Profitable shows like Location, Location, Location and Grand Designs will escape the axe, as will a slimmed-down Channel 4 Racing.
But budgets will be slashed and there will be more repeats or so-called "re-visits" for property shows.
The future could be bleak for revamped Countdown after a ratings slump. The grim news came as Channel 4's chief executive Andy Duncan launched its annual report.
He unveiled plans to axe an extra 10% from the network's £600m editorial budgets as it battles falling advertising revenues.
The channel expects ad income to fall by 18% in the first half of 2009.
Mr Duncan, 46, said programme budgets had to be slashed as they had already made "significant" savings to staff numbers, marketing and other overheads.
He said: "We are facing the worst economic conditions in our history. The impact on us is the thick end of £100million. It will impact on programme content."
Big Brother will escape the cuts because it is two-thirds of the way into a three-year deal with makers Endemol.
A Channel 4 spokesman said: "We do not discuss individual contracts but it is fair to say every programme and every presenter will be judged on their merits."
West Highland Terrier shortlisted for Dogs Trust Honours - West Lothian Courier 30 April 2009
AN AMAZING little dog from West Lothian has been shortlisted for a national honour.
The finalists for the Dogs Trust Honours 2009 have been announced and local dog Toby is one of the pooches to be shortlisted.
Toby is among 14 dogs and three humans who have been picked from over 250 nominations received from across the UK.
The Courier reported last month that his owner Fiona Hagenbuch, from Uphall, nominated the 15-year-old West Highland Terrier because he helps her overcome her cerebral palsy, epilepsy and vertigo.
He is now in line for a Dogged Devotion Award, which recognises the achievements of ordinary dogs that, without special training, help provide a better quality of life for their owners.
Fiona said: "Toby has opened new doors and given me such freedom that I now participate in various sporting activities as well as part time work. None of this would have been possible without Toby. His special bark always alerts me if something is wrong and if I'm about to have another turn."
Celebrity judges, Paul O'Grady, Kirsty Gallacher and TV presenter Kate Humble will decide the winners of the doggy version of the Pride of Britain Awards at a star-studded awards dinner being held at London's Hurlingham Club on May 19.
Dogs Trust chief executive, Clarissa Baldwin, said: "All sorts of canines are represented from trained rescue dogs, assistance dogs, ordinary dogs protecting their owners from attack, old and young dogs caring for their sick owners and those who simply enhance the lives of their family.
"This awards ceremony is dedicated to celebrating the wonderful relationship between man and dog and uplifting news."
Debbie Spalding
Alan to replace Paul? - New! 28 April 2009
Paul O'Grady may be the king of chat with his teatime show, but he has hinted that this may be his last series.
Now Channel 4 has an alternative plan should Paul, 53, quit – step forward Alan Carr!
Yes, the camp comedian, 32, is being lined up as a replacement for the former drag queen. Alan recently stepped in for Paul while he was on a break and proved to be a great success, so bosses are keen to tie him down to another deal. Watch your back, Jonathan Ross!
Paul O'Grady and Alastair Campbell nominated for mental health award - Guardian 16 April 2009
Former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell and chatshow host Paul O'Grady hailed by charity Mind for raising awareness about mental health issues
Chatshow host Paul O'Grady and former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell are in the running for an award celebrating people who have helped improve understanding of mental health issues, it was announced today.
O'Grady, who hosts a daily teatime show on Channel 4, is one of five people nominated by the public for the Mind Champion of the Year Award 2009.
The mental health charity explained that O'Grady "dedicated an entire series of his talkshow to mental health. Through a number of features and interviews, Paul raised awareness about mental health issues with humour and sensitivity.
"He supported a number of mental health charities throughout the series, raising awareness of campaigns and key issues. Paul also gave a personal account of the depression he experienced following the death of his partner in his biography. Through being open about his experiences of mental distress, giving interviews in newspapers and on television, Paul has helped to destigmatise mental health."
And Campbell was cited for the frank way he has discussed his personal history of breakdown and mental distress, as well as for his more recent involvement in the Time to Change campaign, run by Mind and Rethink, which aims to break down taboos surrounding mental health.
Also among the nominees are three highly successful mental health campaigners: Anna Savage, who fought and won a historic legal battle for the rights of mental inpatients, MP Lynne Jones, co-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on mental health, and the chair of the Hearing Voices Network, Jacqui Dillon. All three have dedicated their time and effort to improving the lives of people experiencing mental distress.
Previous winners include Stephen Fry for his awareness-raising work on bipolar disorder, and Frank Bruno. Last year's champion was Dr Liz Miller, co-founder of the Doctors' Support Network.
The Champion of the year will be chosen by the public and voting is open throughout April at www.mind.org.uk.
The winner – along with the Mind Book of the Year, Journalist of the Year and Student Journalist of the Year awards – will be announced at Mind's annual awards ceremony in May, which is part of the charity's annual awareness-raising week, which this year will focus on men and mental health.
A new campaign, called 'Get it off your chest', will help raise awareness of male experiences of mental distress. Men are three times more likely than women to take their own lives, says Mind, but only half as likely to be diagnosed with depression. Mind's campaign will encourage men to seek professional help and will urge the government to take the needs of men into consideration when planning mental health services.
Clare Horton
Paul O'Grady planning future as an author of children's books - Liverpool Echo 6 April 2009
PAUL O'GRADY could follow Sir Paul McCartney, Madonna and Ricky Gervais by reinventing himself as a children's author.
The Birkenhead-born comic today told the ECHO he plans to pen a children's book when he finishes the second instalment of his autobiography.
The chat show presenter's first volume, At My Mother's Knee And Other Low Joints, topped last year's non-fiction hardback list.
Paul said: "I think fiction would be very hard to write, but I have a kids' book I am thinking of doing. It is germinating in my mind.
"I keep making notes for it and think ‘that is a good idea'. Harry Potter has been overdone now, there are lots of books about witches and wizards, so I have been thinking about writing about a little boy in the war."
At My Mother's Knee... sold 800,000 copies, beating memoirs by Julie Walters, Michael Parkinson and Sir Cliff Richard last year.
The star, who found fame as drag queen Lily Savage, said: "People who have read the book come up to me and say their mother was just like mine or they had a house like ours.
"This book picks up where the last left off and goes up to the present day.
"It was interesting for me to write about when I first started out as Lily and doing the clubs – there were some great characters."
He joked: "I am finding this book difficult because it is nearer the present time. I can remember years and years ago, but last week is a bit of a problem.
"I got hold of some old friends and it was lovely talking to them again. I have rung up mates and asked things like ‘when did we go to Denmark?'
"I have diaries and old contracts, so that helped with dates. I also have a bin liner full of old newspaper stories from when I started as Lily.
"It took me 18 months to write the first book. It was hard going, but I enjoyed it.
"It is really hard with working. It is easy to put it off and think ‘I've got to clean the windows and walk the dog'. But when I do sit down and do it, I really enjoy it.
"It brought back a lot of happy memories and a lot of sad memories. A lot of my mates and the old acts are all dead now."
Paul will use the cash from his latest book deal to splash out – on a new fridge – but laughed off rumours he is getting £2m for the second volume.
He was reported to have demanded a £1m pay rise after hearing Dawn French got more than him for her memoir, Dear Fatty.
But the comic said: "I am not getting £2m. I wish! I was recently featured in a rich list and my accountant rang me up and asked if I had something to tell him. It is all rumours.
"I am hopeless with figures, so I am not sure what my deal is.
"A lot of people do get a lot of money – I heard Wayne Rooney got a fortune."
Tina Miles
Paul O'Grady lands two million pound book deal - What's On TV 2 April 2009
Paul O'Grady is apparently being paid £2 million for the second volume of his autobiography - double his fee for the first instalment.
Paul's first book, At My Mother's Knee and Other Low Joints, went straight to the top of last year's non-fiction hardback chart.
And the chat show host is said to have demanded an increase on his £1 million pay cheque from publishers Transworld after learning that comedienne Dawn French got far more than him for her memoir Dear Fatty, also published by Transworld.
Paul's agent Lord Waheed Alli secured the new deal, according to reports in The Mirror.
At My Mother's Knee sold 600,000 copies in 2008, more than the memoirs of Julie Walters, Michael Parkinson and Sir Cliff Richard.
Spare us earnest icons. Please just give us the glam - The Observer 29 March 2009
Are we supposed to be impressed by the aching worthiness of the gay icons exhibition recently announced by the National Portrait Gallery?
Selected by a panel of 10 prominent gay people, including Elton John, Ian McKellen, Sarah Waters and Billie Jean King, there's is no Kylie, Judy, Liza, Barbra, Shirley, David and Victoria, Bette, Joan or Madonna to be seen.
Instead, we get Nelson Mandela, Virginia Woolf, poet Maya Angelou, Enigma mathematician Alan Turing, sculptor Rosa Bonheur, cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, and so it goes on. A gently lapping sea of academia-pleasing, well-behaved, hushed library tone, don't scare the horses gay goodliness. There's a cursory sprinkling of Joe Ortons and Quentin Crisps to keep the people in the cheap seats happy, presumably so that the thicker, less moneyed/metropolitan homosexual can cry: "Phew, I've heard of that one."
Clearly some point is being made that "it's not all disco balls and Kylie". Only Lord Alli opted for unashamedly populist choices such as Lily Savage and Will Young, and you can bet the rest of the panel were bitching about him behind his back. "Did you see what Waheed did? He might as well have said Zac Efron. How mortifying!"
And if you think all this is anti-gay you're missing the point.
To my mind, it is the thinking behind this exhibition that seems curiously homophobic.
Granted, the full list has not been released yet. Moreover, the chair, Sandi Toksvig, said that the exhibition's aim was to challenge cliched perceptions of gay life: "There is no such thing as a gay community any more than there's a straight community." Toksvig also stressed that the struggle goes on, especially when nearly one in five mental health professionals admits, as they did last week, to attempting to "cure" homosexuality.
Points taken, but still, did the NPG panel have to be quite this contrary and dreary? Elton namechecks a cellist but every time you see him, he's hanging out with Posh and Donatella Versace. And why not? Haven't gay icons routinely been fashioned from The Beautiful and the Damned rather than The Dry and the Worthy? Isn't this a tradition worth keeping?
Arguably, the exclusion of obvious icons such as Garland or Minogue could be construed as self-hating, anti-gay in itself. Certainly anti a particular strain of gayness, a stern slapping down of "queens and screamers", almost as if they are the wrong kind of gay, throwbacks, embarrassments, who should quieten down, shut up. Which, ironically, is what homophobic elements of straight society have always wanted too.
The NPG list also seems to replace old prejudices with a new one, namely that the only gay people who matter are rich, cultured, London-based and too individualistic to be lazily lumped together as a gay community.
They're forgetting, perhaps, that away from their creamy, relatively easy existences, all over the country many young men and women, terrified, nervous, preparing to come out, would find the concept of a gay community less an insult than a comfort; that, similarly, some of them may prefer their gay icons to be shiny, obvious, easy to spot, rather than, as seems here, obscure, worthy and requiring extensive googling and/or a pass for the British Library.
There, for me, lies the essential problem with the NPG list. Not only does it stuffily refuse to have fun (and we straights thought that was our forte!), it speaks only to the elegant, assimilated gay cream and leaves the rest, the less moneyed, metropolitan and established stranded.
Just as those mental health professionals tried to cure homosexuals, it would appear that some homosexuals would quite like to "cure" a certain kind of gayness - to once and for all banish the brash camp, noisy and joyous to the gay cultural wilderness.
So, yes we get it: for some gay people, it's not all disco balls and Kylie. But perhaps for others, it actually is and there's nothing wrong with that.
Barbara Ellen
People - The Times 25 March 2009
Barack Obama goes head to head with Paul O'Grady for Biography of the Year at the Galaxy British Book Awards. The Grosvenor House event is after the G20 summit. Will the President attend?
Paul O'Grady: I was chased by a kangaroo and an emu - Now Magazine 25 March 2009
Paul O'Grady has revealed a kangaroo and an emu ran after him at a nature reserve.
The chat show host was in Australia when the animals took a shine to him.
'I got battered by a kangaroo in Waratah Park in Sydney,' Paul, 53, told viewers of his Channel 4 show.
'I'm saying "aren't they lovely" and there was one hopping around loose that was supposed to be quite tame and I went up to it then it chased after me along with an emu.'
She wished upon a star and her wish came true - Bournemouth Echo 20 March 2009
A POOLE youngster is still on cloud nine after spending the day with her idol, TV chat show favourite Paul O'Grady.
Plucky Joanne Sibley, who is fighting the genetic condition Noonan Syndrome, has never missed one of Paul's programmes.
So when the Make-a-Wish Foundation charity found out, they put a plan together ensuring the nine-year-old became his VIP guest of honour for the day.
Paul said: "It was a sheer pleasure meeting Joanne.
"She is fantastic and had great fun with Buster and Olga in the Green Room.
"I'm hoping she'll come back and be on the show very soon."
Joanne was whisked off to ITV's London Television Studio by limousine with mum Louise and stepdad Christopher.
She met Paul and the production team, even going onto the set of his live show.
Joanne was also given the opportunity to sing to the studio audience one of her favourite High School Musical tunes.
As well as meeting her idol, Paul, and his dogs Buster and Olga, Joanne also met Myleene Klass and Enrique Iglesias.
Louise said: "Joanne had a great day.
"She's met Paul O'Grady, which was top of her wish list, and she's ecstatic.
"Thanks so much to Make-a-Wish for making Joanne's wish so special for her."
Jim Durkin
Eh, listen to this one: comics cash in on second memoirs - The Sunday Times 15 March 2009
Peter Kay set to bring out another autobiography, as is Paul O'Grady, as publishers and public look for upbeat stories
SOME jokes raise a laugh the second time around and so, publishers hope, do comedians' autobiographies.
Peter Kay, the northern comic, is to bring out his second memoir, as is Paul O'Grady, formerly the cult comedian Lily Savage. Another bite at the cherry could greatly enrich them.
Both men have already topped the bestseller charts - Kay in 2006 and O'Grady last year. Kay sold 750,000 in hardback and O'Grady 600,000, making them the biggest sellers of their respective years.
So, like the mother-in-law joke, they are coming back for another turn. Both will be paid well into seven figures for their next instalments, expected this autumn.
For this reason the books had seemed risky propositions at the time. Both comedians were brought up as Catholics in northern England - Kay in Lancashire, where he still lives, and O'Grady in nearby Liverpool. But the books paid off in spades.
Both memoirs aimed for a "feel-good" reaction rather than belabouring the comedians' poor and unprivileged backgrounds.
The sequels will probably vie with each other this autumn, when sales of books always peak in the lead-up to Christmas. They will also have to compete against several rival memoirs by other comedians such as Jack Dee, Ant and Dec, Dara O'Briain, June Whitfield, Frankie Boyle and Alan Carr.
"Books by comedians will be the biggest this year," said Jonny Geller of Curtis Brown, the literary agent. "It's the need for upbeat stories."
Yet Philip Stone of The Bookseller magazine is not as hopeful that the sequels will prove to be so successful. "I doubt if Kay will be able to shift as many copies as his Sounds of Laughter did, especially as he's up against these other comics," Stone said.
He may be proved right. In the past actors have succeeded in stretching out their autobiographies over several volumes - notably Dirk Bogarde and David Niven. However, there was a crucial authenticity to their books because both men were talented writers.
The day of the "misery memoir" - or "mis-lit" as it is known in the book trade - is now nearly over. They had boomed for more than a decade in the slipstream of Dave Pelzer's successful A Child Called It in 1995.
Pelzer then brought out three more memoirs of his youth - the last in 2004. They were followed by the likes of Constance Briscoe's Ugly, Don't Tell Mummy by Toni Maguire and The Little Prisoner by Jane Elliott.
However, sales of this genre were down by at least 35% last year and will fall even further during 2009.
"These 'mis-memoirs' now run against the grain of the times," said Alan Samson, publisher at Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
"I also think that people now distrust memoirs by what you might call people in authority. They want more warm-hearted stories in these miserable times."
Samson also argues that the public prefers the childhood memoirs of people who are now famous.
"They can get the famous bits off Wikipedia. Only the authors themselves have been there and can tell it," he said.
Richard Brooks
O'Grady and Carr join BBC Radio 2 - BBC 13 March 2009
O'Grady and Carr's shows will both have a strong interactive element Comedians Paul O'Grady and Alan Carr are to join BBC Radio 2 in a revamp of its weekend schedule.
O'Grady will present a Sunday teatime programme while Carr will team up with Emma Forbes on Saturday evenings.
Paul Gambaccini and a documentary strand will take the Saturday night slot vacated by Russell Brand.
O'Grady, who has presented one-off programmes for the station, commented: "It's about time after years of being everyone's stand-in."
Carr has previously fronted a six-part comedy series for Radio 2 as well as presenting on sister station 6 Music. A large element of his new show will be listeners calling in to talk about their evening's plans.
Carr said: "Emma and I will be getting listeners in the mood for Saturday nights, whether they're going out and about or having a quiet night in with a ready meal and a cheap bottle of plonk."
"You've had the hairy cornflake - now you've got the fairy cornflake!"
Veteran broadcaster Johnnie Walker, who is currently presenting the series Pirate Johnnie Walker on Saturdays, will move to Sunday afternoons with a new show, Johnnie Walker's Sounds of the 70s.
The presenter fronted a lunchtime show on Radio 1 from 1971 to 1976 and the new programme will revisit that. Walker said: "We're even bringing back the original quiz Pop The Question."
He continued: "When I was growing up Sunday afternoons was compulsory listening so I'm delighted to be actually presenting a show in that slot."
Carol isn't a racist ... but Royals should be ashamed - The Sun 26 February 2009
TV chat king Paul O'Grady has defended Carol Thatcher after she controversially called a tennis player a "golliwog".
But he blasted the Royals for using racist nicknames.
Scouser Paul, 53, said Carol, 55, was wrong to make the remark, which saw her fired from BBC1's The One Show.
However, he insisted she was not racist. He said: "I've met Carol and she's lovely, she really is. I don't believe she's a racist.
"But she shouldn't be saying things like that. She needs a good slap on the wrist."
He insisted Prince Harry and Prince Charles ought to be ashamed after they called friends "Paki" and "Sooty".
Paul said: "For God's sake, what's up with these people? There are certain words you don't say in public or private.
"Re-educate yourself. There's no excuse. You don't think like that, never mind talk like that.
"Their friends might say they are OK with it, but they shouldn't be."
Paul also told how he thought comics Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand were "wrong" for their phone prank on Fawlty Towers star Andrew Sachs.
But he said it had turned telly into a "a bit of a witch hunt".
The Channel 4 chat show host also gossiped about Richard and Judy's New Position the show which has plummeted to just 8,000 viewers on cable channel Watch.
Paul whose former ITV programme thrashed the pair in the ratings when they were on C4 was stunned when told the figures by TV Biz.
He gasped: "You're joking? No! It must be hard for them."
The star, born in Birkenhead, Merseyside, even had a chinwag about Britain's 13-year-old dad Alfie Patten. Paul, who has daughter Sharyn, said: "I was a 17-year-old dad so glasshouses, stones and all that. But I don't envy them."
Paul is now writing a second autobiography after his first, At My Mother's Knee, sold a whopping 700,000 copies.
He said: "If it had sold 10,000, I'd be happy. I think this one will take us to the end. The first was meant to, but I got carried away and wrote too much."
THE Paul O'Grady Show is on C4 on weekdays at 5pm.
Emma Cox
End of the road for old-school drag queens - The Independent Times 8 March 2009
The misogynistic, wig-wearing female impersonator is being replaced by a sassier, more sophisticated act.
The old drag queen is dead; long live the new drag queen. As Jason Donovan dons a frock this week in the stage version of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, cabarets and clubs across Britain are dispensing with "old school" drag artists in their thick make-up, grandiose wigs and extravagant outfits. They are being replaced by a new generation of sassy and sophisticated young men in make-up who are rejecting the "misogyny" of the grotesque female impersonator.
It is a trend paralleled in the mainstream: Paul O'Grady, who gave life to the caustic Liverpudlian Lily Savage, has doffed his wig; Danny La Rue is long gone, and no one seems to be in the wings to take up their mantle.
And while wearing make-up and women's clothes has been a springboard for a number of entertainers, they have tended to scale back their cross-dressing once established. Eddie Izzard, well known as a transvestite, now rarely appears publicly in women's clothes and is increasingly known for his straight acting. Julian Clary, who used to perform as the drag artist Gillian Pie-Face, is these days much more likely to be seen in a sharp men's suit and tie.
Paul Burston, an author and journalist with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the gay club scene, says that a lot of the "old school" drag acts are found only on the fringes of the circuit. Instead they have been replaced by a modern, liberated, knowing, alternative drag act such as Johnny Woo or Tina C, who reject the grotesque impersonations of women.
"There's alternative drag now," he said. "The old school drag was very misogynistic and just not funny. Now there are acts such as Tina C, who is very satirical, Johnny Woo who isn't pretending to be a woman, and Pam Ann, who is actually a woman doing a drag act. Lily Savage was a great character and very sophisticated, but there's no one since then taking traditional drag in a positive progression."
He added: "It's happening because young gay kids are more assimilated now. So instead of just having gay friends they will have straight friends as well, so they have to go somewhere that entertains everyone. They don't want to see someone doing boob and fanny jokes. It's just boring."
Johnny Woo added that the notion of drag now was "very free and easy". "There are still acts who impersonate women," he said. "But it's also more about being yourself, but putting on a bit of slap or a wig or dress."
Traditional drag can still be found in mainstream productions, however, but it is unlikely to find a gay audience.
Priscilla Queen of the Desert, the story of a troupe of drag artists in the outback, which transfers to the West End after breaking box-office records in Australia, is likely to be a similar story, according to one of the lead actors in the show. Tony Sheldon, who plays Bernadette in the musical production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert – which is based on the 1994 film and which begins its previews on Tuesday, said that the hit show is aimed squarely at families.
"It's about three people leaving the drag scene of Sydney and being thrown into the outback, which is entirely macho," he said. "It's a road movie, not a gay show, and it's aimed at people who love a big family show. The people who come are families, and those we call matinee ladies."
Andrew Johnson
Raising More Than Just A Smile - Daily Record 7 March 2009
Comic Relief Friday, BBC1, 7pm This Year's Annual Charity Telethon Will Feature Laughs Aplenty Including French And Saunders' Final Ever Comedy Sketch
What the BBC gleefully calls "an amazing bounty of TV beauties" will guide us through the comic treats and good causes of this year's extravaganza.
Since they list Graham Norton, David Tennant and Jonathan Ross alongside Davina McCall, Claudia Winkleman and Fern Britton, it's not as sexist as it sounds.
David Walliams and Matt Lucas will be adding some Little Britainstyle moments to the mayhem, and therewill be sketches too fromRicky Gervais, plusHarry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse doing their wickedly funny send-up of Dragon's Den.
Ever optimistic, BBC publicists promise "tears of both laughter and sadness" as French and Saunders performwhat is claimed to be their very last sketch together.
Tears of either sort might be tricky to generate given that their last funny sketch together was in around 1998, but they're giving their time in a very good cause so let's not be too chippy.
Davina, Lenny Henry, Paul O'Grady and - a rare sight on BBC1 - Ant and Dec, will all offer interludes throughout the night showing how the cash you donate is changing lives in Africa and in the UK.
There's also the conclusion to Comic Relief Does The Apprentice, revealing which of the celebrity candidates manage to irritate Sir Alan Sugar enough to make him say the magic words "You're fired!"
Special moments from the series Let's Dance for Comic Relief could be ahoot, there's a one-off sketch based on Dr Who spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures, featuring the ageless Ronnie Corbett, and double acts Armstrong and Miller plus Mitchell and Webb double up for a unique four-man collaboration.
Britain's biggest 'boy' band Take That will performlive in the studio as well as Scottish favourites Franz Ferdinand and girl band The Saturdays, who perform one of this year's Red Nose Day singles, Just Can't Get Enough.
Gavin and Stacey's Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones are also on song with their version of (Barry) Islands In The Stream, while James Corden, alias Smithy, tries to put The Brits behind him and imparts his wisdom to the England football squad.
BBC2 joins in with a special Top of the Pops at 10.30 as BBC1 coverage breaks for the 10pm news.
It's a live show with performances from Oasis, U2 and Rob Bryden and Ruth Jones (again).
James Corden and Mathew Horne are back again to present collected clips of some of the more risque moments of Comic Relief as we reach the wee small hours of the morning.
O'Grady Pauls a face - The Sun 27 February 2009
PAUL O'Grady gives viewers some lip on tonight's show when he attaches a mega mouth to his face.
The scouse presenter is bemused to find the selection of goodies sent in from viewers - including a set of lips and a bushy wig.
And Paul doesn't disappoint when he puts the gifts on and puckers up to his beloved pet pooch Olga.
Paul will be trying on the wigs on The Paul O'Grady Show, tonight, 5pm, Channel 4.
Paul O'Grady on his Channel 4 show, riots and that snake bite - Liverpool Daily Post 27 February 2009
He's a doting granddad who loves time on the farm, but Jade Wright finds that Paul O'Grady isn't ready for the quiet life just yet
PAUL O'GRADY is fast becoming a national treasure. His Channel 4 chat show continues to win a clutch of awards, most recently the National TV Award for Best Entertainment Show. When he's not filming, he can be found looking after the animals on his farm or writing the next instalment of his autobiography.
Paul, who was born and bred in Birkenhead, found fame late in life and spent years as a barman, a social worker and a court usher. Oh, and Britain's top female impersonator.
His first book, At My Mother's Knee . . . And Other Low Joints chronicled his early life and has already taken the publishing world by storm, with fabulous reviews and remarkable sales.
"I can't believe it," grins Paul, 53. "They rang me up, the publishers. I was in Bruges for the weekend – they rang me up and told me it's now sold something like 692,000 copies. Unbelievable.
"I got a letter today off a woman who said that her seven-year-old granddaughter went out with her Christmas money and came back with my book. And I thought 'It's not suitable for a seven-year-old'. So I'm going to send her a nodding Buster, and say 'Put it away until you're 15!'."
After a few months off and a holiday in the Maldives, Paul is practically glowing. He seems to have bounced back from his second heart attack a couple of years ago.
"What I had to do was re-educate myself to eat big in the morning, slightly less at lunchtime, and then hardly anything for dinner," he says.
"I'm forever juicing. I've got one of those juicers, and the amount of ginger I can take makes people's nose bleed."
Last time we spoke to Paul, he was also thinking about writing some short horror stories.
"I did start but, again, I've put that on the back burner," he says. "And then I've started on a kids' book. You see, this is what happens. The genie's out of the bottle and it's going berserk."
With all these projects on the go, it's amazing he still finds time to work on his farm.
"I go out and feed them and sit with them and what have you," he grins. "I love getting dirty, I don't mind that at all. I'll go down to the post office to get a paper, and there are people looking at me. I look like Catweazle, my hair's on end, I haven't shaved for a week, I'm filthy, probably smell, and I don't care. That's the joy of living in the country."
But this will be Paul's first lamb-less year on the farm.
"I didn't get the ram in this year," he sighs. "But the farmer I'm friendly with, if he has any orphaned lambs, I'll have them.>/P>
"I love having a lamb in the spring, they're just lovely creatures.
"I had four living in the house with me at one stage – living in the kitchen.
"Four lambs and three dogs, and they'd all follow me. I'd walk from the kitchen to the front room, and there'd be a procession behind me."
Not all animals are so friendly, though, as Paul found out to his cost. He was bitten by an adder just before Christmas while out gathering logs.
"I'm not scared of snakes – quite the opposite," says Paul, ever the animal lover. "I like them. I didn't want to get them any more bad press. Maybe they're not very venomous in the winter, because they're hibernating – I don't know – I was lucky.
"It had crawled into one of the logs to hibernate, and I disturbed it, so it went for me.
"If it had been in the summer, it might've been a different story."
Thankfully, after that, Paul's Christmas seems to have been much less dramatic.
"We had a houseful," grins the proud grandad. "My daughter came down with the baby, and we had loads of friends round.
"I'm not a fan of Christmas. It's such hard work.
"You find yourself wanting to go to bed at quarter to ten. I'll think 'Come on granddad, you should be out terrorising the West End!'
But it's lovely having my grandson around, I really like it. He's very chatty. He's two, you've got to be really careful what you say, because he picks everything up.
"He's got a broad Scouse accent. He's a little cracker, he really is."
Paul's new series began this week, and he says he's particularly looking forward to one guest in particular.
"Julie Walters is coming back," he says. "Did you see her in the drama, A Short Stay in Switzerland?
"God, wasn't it heartbreaking? Y
"This should have had an announcement saying 'Warning, this film will have you in bits'! I was broken.
"She's such a good actress. When she came on the show, she was there to plug her book, but she just kept talking about my book all the time. She said to me in the green room afterwards 'Listen, when you do the film – because there will be a film – I'm playing your mother. I'm desperate to play her.' She'd be fabulous as her.
"I like so many of the guests. Henry Winkler – the guy who played The Fonz – what a lovely fella. And the night we had Cagney and Lacey on was great.
"Sometimes I get star struck and have to pinch myself that I'm talking to one of my idols."
Over the last few months, Paul has also thrown himself into working for Comic Relief again, and has teamed up with Save the Children.
"I was in social services for years, so it's a sort of throwback to those days," he explains. "You get out to South Africa to a refugee camp, and you see how people are living, and you realise you can't enjoy your life until you've done something, whatever it is.
"You start worrying about these kids. One kid over there, Tatu, I'm very fond of. Sometimes I'll go online to see what the weather's like there, and find myself worrying if he's cold.
"It's good to get out there and see what real life is."
And Paul says that the tougher areas of Africa hold no fear for a lad born and raised in Merseyside. "Are you joking?" he laughs. "I was in the Toxteth riots. I came home and my mum said 'Bloody hell, get out, you smell like a bonfire!'
"I was caught up in the LA riots, and I was caught up in the Bristol riots and the poll tax riots. I love a good riot. I think I should open up a riot consultancy."
Jade Wright
Paul O'Grady - Julie Walters wants to be my mum - Liverpool Echo 26 February 2009
SHE'S been a madam, a tea lady, and Meryl Streep's best friend. Now Insider understands that actress Julie Walters has her sights on her most unlikely role to date ... as Paul O'Grady's mum!
Apparently Julie, currently gracing millions of DVD shelves in Mamma Mia, loved Paul's best-selling autobiography At My Mother's Knee.
And the C4 chat show host tells Insider Julie fancies playing her part if his story ever makes it on to the big screen.
"Julie came on my show to plug her own book but she just kept talking about mine all the time," says Paul.
"She said to me in the green room afterwards ‘Listen, when you do the film – because there will be a film – I'm playing your mother. I'm desperate to play her.' She'd be fabulous as her. And she's such a nice woman as well."
With sales of almost 700,000, there's every chance of Paul O'Grady: the Movie hitting cinemas one day. Although the man himself can hardly believe its success.
"It's unbelievable," he says. "I got a letter today off a woman who said that her seven-year-old granddaughter went out with her Christmas money and came back with my book. And I thought ‘It's not suitable for a seven-year-old.' So I'm going to send her a nodding Buster, and say ‘Put it away until you're 15!'."
So, fans of all ages then, does that mean it's time for a sequel?
"I've done a bit of it," says Paul. "I've done about 10,000 words, but I'm worried about getting properly into it, because then it takes over.
"I'll sit there and do 14 hours and it's not good for your health, being sedentary for that long. But I find it so interesting. I give it 100%.
"I could never be one of these people who gets up and does an hour on the book. I just get carried away, and I look up, the dogs haven't been fed, I haven't been fed… It takes over completely, there's no room for anything else, that's it.
"I was like that with work for years and years, it was all I cared about, when I was doing Lily, I was obsessed. Now I've got a bit more perspective."
Dawn Collinson
Hollyoaks stars revealed for Let's Dance - What's On TV 19 February 2009
Ricky Whittle and Chris Fountain head up the Hollyoaks stars set to dust off their dancing shoes for Comic Relief's celebrity talent competition, Let's Dance.
Ricky and Chris, who play heartthrobs Calvin Valentine and Justin Burton in the soap, will be joined by Loui Batley (Sarah Barnes), Nathalie Emmanuel (Sasha Valentine), Dominique Jackson (Lauren Valentine) and Garnon Davies (Elliot Bevan) for the show as part of this year's Red Nose Day campaign.
The Hollyoaks stars will appear compete against Jo Brand, the Dragons Den judges, Blue Peter presenters, Keith Lemon and Paddy McGuinness, Neil Fox and Nancy Sorrell in the second heat on Saturday 28 February.
Judging the soap hopefuls will be guest judge Denise Van Outen alongside head panellist Anton Du Beke. Each week they will be joined by two different guest panellists including Emma Bunton, Paul O'Grady and comedian Michael McIntyre.
Hosted by Claudia Winkleman and Steve Jones, the series will run over four weeks, comprising three heats and culminating in a spectacular final dance off on the Saturday of Red Nose Day weekend, March 14.
The first show, due to air on Saturday 21 February on BBC One, will see members of the EastEnders cast, Les Dennis, Christopher Biggins, Nicky Chapman, Robert Webb, Dick & Dom and 10 well known chefs recreate a number of famous dances from movie and pop classics.
The winners of each heat will be chosen by the public and the judging panel and will go on to compete in the final on March 14.
I'll Paul the plug - The Sun Times 18 February 2009
PAUL O'Grady has hinted he may quit his Channel 4 chat show when his contract runs out at the end of the year, TV Biz can reveal.
The TV favourite signed a £2million golden handcuffs deal when he jumped ship from ITV in 2006 and re-signed it last year.
But last night Paul, 53, said he had a career check while staying with his great pal Cilla Black at her Barbados holiday home earlier this month.
He told TV Biz: "My contract with Channel 4 comes up at the end of this year. I'm not sure what will happen after that.
"Funnily enough, Cilla asked me what I'm going to do and I just don't know.
"I never do TV for money or fame and I always like to go out on a high when everything is going really well.
"I always think one morning I'll wake up, the penny will drop and I'll just stop.
"That's what happened with Lily Savage I had a diary full of events but I decided not to play her any more, so who knows!"
The star, who gets two million viewers for his daily show, returns to screens on Monday.
But he said he would take a wage freeze due to the credit crunch. He added: "You cannot afford to be greedy in this current climate."
Last night a Channel 4 spokesman said: "We remain committed to The Paul O'Grady Show and it continues to perform strongly."
Hollyoaks stars sign up for Let's Dance - What's On TV 12 February 2009
The cast of Hollyoaks and a team of TV chefs will join the likes of entertainer Les Dennis and DJ Neil Fox for the second heat of Let's Dance for Comic Relief, the BBC has confirmed.
Former Come Dancing host Angela Rippon and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here! star Nancy Sorrell will also be putting on their dancing shoes for the special BBC1 series, in which celebrities recreate iconic dance routines from films and pop videos.
It's not clear yet which Hollyoaks stars will be taking part - but TV chefs Paul Rankin, John Burton Race and Nancy Lam will be among those hoping to cook up a storm on the dancefloor.
Jo Brand, Keith Lemon, judges from Dragon's Den and Blue Peter presenters have already been announced as contestants on the show, which kicks off on Saturday February 21 and runs for four weeks.
As head judge, Strictly Come Dancing pro Anton du Beke will be joined by two different guest panellists each week, including Emma Bunton, Paul O'Grady and Michael McIntyre.
A team of choreographers and stylists with work with the acts - a mix of solo dancers, duos and groups - as they pay homage to cult films such as High School Musical and pop classics including Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Viewers will be voting for the acts they would like to see in the final dance-off on the Saturday of Red Nose Day weekend, March 14.
The six acts to make the final will be decided over three heats - but contestants for third heat are yet to be announced.
Claudia Winkleman and Steve Jones have already been confirmed as the show's presenters.
PPC winners announced - theBookseller.com 11 February 2009
The winners of the annual Publishers Publicity Circle (PPC) awards were announced last night (10th February) with two awards for Transworld and three for Penguin titles.
Winner of the PPC Silver Trophy Award for hardback non-fiction was Rina Gill from Random House for her promotion of Angels in My Hair by Lorna Fitzgerald Byrne.
A special mention in this category went to Ross Hulbert from Headline for his "brilliant reactionary campaign" for Cityboy: Beer and Loathing in the Square Mile by Geraint Anderson.
The Foyles Award for hardback non-fiction celebrity went to Alison Barrow from Transworld for Paul O'Grady's At My Mother's Knee and Other Low Joints.
The judges couldn't decide on one winner for The Bookseller Award for hardback fiction so it was awarded to two: Lucy Chavasse and Jill Cotton from Colman Getty PR for their campaign for Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks (Penguin), and Louise Rhind-Tutt's work on The Outcast by Sadie Jones (Chatto).
The W H Smith Award for paperback original fiction was awarded to Emma Finnigan for Kill Your Friends by John Niven (William Heinemann).
The Daily Mail award for paperback (second edition fiction or non-fiction) went to Preena Gadher for her work on The Shock Doctrine by Naomi Klein (Penguin).
The Bookbrunch Award for paperback original non-fiction went to Jessica Jackson from Penguin for Wife in the North by Judith O'Reilly.
The London Book Fair award for a Children's Book went to Kate Wright-Morris from Colman Getty and Dom Kingston of Macmillan for their campaign for Geri Halliwell's Ugenia Lavender six-book series (Macmillan Children's Books).
The winner of the Nielsen Book Award for a Generic Campaign was Digby Halsby from Midas PR for his work on the Mills & Boon Centenary.
And the Waterstone's Award for best newcomer was awarded to Polly Andrews from Transworld, for her work with Jonny Kingdom's book Bambi and Me.
The judges were Katie Allen from The Bookseller, Jo James from Waterstone's, Julia Kingford from Foyles, Victoria MacDonald from W H Smith, Amber Pearson from the Daily Mail, Mo Siewcharran from Nielsen Bookdata, Liz Thomson from Bookbrunch and Gwen Wilcox from LBF.
Katie Allen
O'Grady to fill in for a month on Paige's Radio 2 show - The Stage 4 February 2009
Paul O'Grady is to step in for Elaine Paige on BBC Radio 2 show for a month, while the musical theatre actress tours the UK with a concert to mark her 40 years in the industry.
Starting on February 22, O'Grady will host the 90-minute Sunday afternoon show, during which he will reflect on some of the shows that Paige has starred in throughout her career.
His guests over the four weeks will include Connie Fisher, who will perform a track from her new album.
Matthew Hemley
Jonathan Ross to donate prized Spider-Man comic to Comic Relief - Mirror 3 February 2009
Jonathan Ross is giving up his most prized possession for Comic Relief – one of the world's rarest comics.
The presenter is auctioning a copy of the first Spider-Man adventure, worth at least £40,000.
The superhero made his debut in Amazing Fantasy Number 15 in 1962.
An expert said it was "one of the most important comics in history".
A source close to the star said: "It is his pride and joy, but it's such a good cause it doesn't matter."
Ross, 48, has a massive comic collection, particularly Spider-Man and Batman originals, and spent years tracking down the first Spider-Man.
The source said: "He hopes someone as comic-obsessive as him snaps it up. It's a real rarity and he keeps it hidden in a safe." Ross revealed he even had a go at writing a strip himself during his three-month ban from the BBC.
He said: "I'm writing comic books but it's a lot harder than I thought."
He also filmed a celebrity edition of The Apprentice for Red Nose Day on March 13.
Bosses allowed it as it will be broadcast after his ban ended last month.
The auction for the Spider-Man comic opens in two weeks on internet trading site The People's Web.
Other celebrity items include one of Lily Savage's dresses, a ride with Top Gear's Stig, one of Ruby Wax's necklaces and clothes from the BBC hit show Absolutely Fabulous.
To go and see everything on offer, go to www.marketplace09.com