English comedian and television host Paul O’Grady was BOTD in 1955. Born in Tranmere, Cheshire to an Irish immigrant family, he left school at 16, working briefly in the civil service and becoming involved in Liverpool’s burgeoning gay scene. He moved to London in the late 1970s, working as a care officer for a local authority, while developing a drag act in his spare time. In 1978, he released his drag alter ego Lily Savage, a chain-smoking foul-mouthed platinum blonde with a penchant for leopard-skin – based, he said, on the wit and grit of his female relatives. From 1984, he became a fixture at gay pub the Royal Vauxhall Tavern in south London, eventually working full-time as a drag artist, undertaking several successful tours and befriending celebrity queers Divine and Ian McKellen. O’Grady was a prominent critic of the anti-gay policies of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and undertook extensive fundraising campaigns for HIV/AIDS charities. In 1991, he performed as Lily at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and was nominated for its top comedy prize, significantly boosting his public profile. He transitioned successfully into a TV career, appearing in episodes of TV dramas The Bill and The New Statesman, resurrecting Lily for occasional variety shows and hysterical talk-show interviews. Eventually retiring Lily, he became the host of popular TV chat show The Paul O’Grady Show, and appeared in travel shows and other light entertainment programmes. O’Grady was in a long-term relationship with his business partner Brendan Murphy until the latter’s death in 2005. He married André Portasio in 2017, remaining together until his death in 2023. He was 67.