Plans to award Paul O’Grady freedom of Wirral as tribute to his legacy

Councillors agreed that the tribute would recognise O’Grady’s years entertaining as well as his activism and charity work
Paul O’Grady was born in Birkenhead, Wirral (Steve Parsons/PA)
PA Wire
Eleanor Barlow31 May 2023
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Entertainer Paul O’Grady could be posthumously given the freedom of Wirral as part of plans to pay tribute to his legacy.

Councillors will vote next week on whether to award the honorary freedom of the borough to the TV presenter, who was born in Birkenhead, Wirral, and died in March at the age of 67.

O’Grady grew up in Merseyside but later moved to London, where he found fame as his drag alter-ego Lily Savage and went on to host a string of television programmes.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1663844895512035328

In a statement, Wirral Council said: “Since the sad passing of Birkenhead’s legendary entertainer Paul O’Grady in March, we’ve heard the many asks for us to celebrate his legacy and we agree.

“The first step in doing so will see councillors consider a recommendation to bestow the star – who first found fame as the self-proclaimed ‘blonde bombsite’ Lily Savage – with the honour of freedom of the borough.

“This would recognise his years entertaining the nation, along with his dedicated activism and charity work.

“We are also looking at other ways to pay tribute to the legacy of both Paul and Lily – more details will be shared as soon as we have them.”

Councillors will discuss the award at a regulatory and general purposes committee on Wednesday, June 7.

The agenda item for the meeting states: “This is a very significant step for the council to take.

“Very few people have been awarded this status and, it should only be awarded to someone who has made an exceptional contribution to the borough.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in