Introduction To Paul O Grady

Paul O'Grady is a comedian, actor, and television presenter from Birkenhead, England. He is best known for his drag queen character, Lily Savage, which he created in the early 1980s and performed in clubs and cabarets across the UK. The character became a household name in the 1990s, appearing on TV shows such as "The Big Breakfast" and "Blankety Blank." O'Grady later retired Lily Savage and went on to host his own talk show, "The Paul O'Grady Show," which aired on ITV from 2004 to 2009. In addition to his comedy and presenting work, O'Grady has acted in various TV dramas, including "The Bill" and "Holby City," and has appeared as a contestant on reality shows such as "Celebrity Big Brother" and "Strictly Come Dancing." He has also written several books, including his autobiographies "At My Mother's Knee..." and "Open the Cage, Murphy!" which document his upbringing and the early years of his career. O'Grady has been a vocal supporter of various charities and causes, including Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and LGBTQ+ rights.

The issue of relativism looms large in many contemporary discussions of knowledge, reality, society, religion, culture and gender. Is truth relative? To what extent is knowledge dependent on context? Are there different logics? Do different cultures and societies see the world differently? And is reality itself something that is constructed? This book offers a path through these debates. O'Grady begins by clarifying what exactly relativism is and how it differs from scepticism and pluralism. He then examines five main types of cognitive relativism: alethic relativism, logical relativism, ontological relativism; epistemological relativism, and relativism about rationality. Each is clearly distinguised and the arguments for and against each are assessed. O'Grady offers a welcome survey of recent debates, engaging with the work of Davidson, Devitt, Kuhn, Putnam, Quine, Rorty, Searle, Winch and Wittgenstein, among others, and he offers a distinct position of his own on this hotly contested issue.

Paul O'Grady is a comedian, actor, and television presenter from Birkenhead, England. He is best known for his drag queen character, Lily Savage, which he created in the early 1980s and performed in clubs and cabarets across the UK. The character became a household name in the 1990s, appearing on TV shows such as "The Big Breakfast" and "Blankety Blank." O'Grady later retired Lily Savage and went on to host his own talk show, "The Paul O'Grady Show," which aired on ITV from 2004 to 2009. In addition to his comedy and presenting work, O'Grady has acted in various TV dramas, including "The Bill" and "Holby City," and has appeared as a contestant on reality shows such as "Celebrity Big Brother" and "Strictly Come Dancing." He has also written several books, including his autobiographies "At My Mother's Knee..." and "Open the Cage, Murphy!" which document his upbringing and the early years of his career. O'Grady has been a vocal supporter of various charities and causes, including Battersea Dogs & Cats Home and LGBTQ+ rights.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER A fascinating and hilarious glimpse into Paul's life at home in the country with his animals Paul O'Grady's Country Life for the first time gives a glimpse into the home life of one of Britain’s best loved stars, alongside the animals he adores. Sometimes rural idyll, sometimes hell on earth, Paul’s life in rural Kent has been shared over the years with some very vocal pigs, a mad cow, various rescued barn owls, the world’s most sadistic geese and Christine the psychotic sheep – among many other animal waifs and strays. And of course Paul tells the stories of the dogs in his life – including the tiny chihuahua/Jack Russell cross with Napoleonic ambitions, Eddie, Miss Olga, Bullseye, Louis, Boycie and, of course, Buster, the greatest canine star since Lassie. In addition, Paul shares some of his favourite recipes, explores country lore and superstitions, and extols the benefits of growing your own vegetables, herbs and fruit. This is a warts-and-all account of country living, as far removed from the bright lights of celebrity as you could ever imagine. The trials and tribulations Paul experienced on moving to deepest darkest Kent as a dyed-in-the-wool city dweller are every bit as hilarious and eventful as you would think. He had a lot of new skills to learn, and fast: everything from how to churn your own butter and how to birth a lamb to the best way to lure a cow out of your kitchen while naked from the waist down. Brilliantly funny and full of classic stories, Paul O’Grady’s Country Life is your armchair guide to the wonders and horrors of rural existence. _____________________________ Readers love Paul O’Grady’s Country Life: ***** ‘This book is excellent. It will make you laugh out loud and it will make you cry.’ ***** ‘Delightful read. An insight into Paul O’Gradys country life, told in his true fashion. Couldn’t put it down!’ ***** ‘I think he has a gift of compassion for animals as well as people and it always shines through.’

Comedian, talk show host, and all-round entertainer, multi-award winning Paul O'Grady is one of the most popular figures on television. But his real-life journey has been more dramatic than any of his on-stage stories. Born into an Irish Catholic household in Birkenhead, Paul was always determined to live a colorful life. He was a boxing champion as a boy and became a father as a teenager. He has been a barman in a brothel and spent his first years in London working as a caregiver to some of the city's most at-risk kids. In this intriguing biography, Neil Simpson reveals the extraordinary highs and the terrible lows of Paul's life. Topics addressed include Lily Savage's origins as a way to make more money and help Paul take his mind off the horrors he saw as a social worker; the difficulties faced by the "blonde bombsite from Birkenhead" to break into the entertainment mainstream; and why Paul decided to risk everything by throwing off Lily's wig and carve out a new career as himself. Frequently hilarious and sometimes heart-wrenchingly sad, Paul O'Grady has always lived his life on a rollercoaster of emotions. Today he is a proud grandfather, a multimillionaire, and a man loved by millions of devoted fans. This is his incredible story.

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Funny, forthright and sharp as a knife . . . O'Grady writes just as he speaks.' Daily Mirror Lilian Maeve Veronica Savage, international sex kitten, was born on the steps of The Legs of Man public house, Lime Street, Liverpool on a policeman's overcoat. Her mother, the lady wrestler Hell Cat Savage, had no such luxuries as gas and air. She just bit down on the policeman's torch and recovered afterwards at the bar with a large pale ale... Paul O'Grady shot to fame via his brilliant comic creation, the blonde bombsite Lily Savage. In the first two parts of his bestselling and critically acclaimed autobiography, Paul took us through his childhood in Birkenhead to his first, teetering steps on stage. Now, in Still Standing, for the first time, he brings us the no-holds-barred true story of Lily and the rocky road to stardom... Paul pulls no punches in this tale of bar room brawls, drunken escapades and liaisons dangereuses. And that's just backstage at the Panto... Along the way, we stop off at some extremely dodgy pubs and clubs, and meet a collection of exotic characters who made the world a louder, brighter and more hilarious place. From the chaos of the Toxteth riots and the Vauxhall Tavern police raid, to the mystery of who shot Skippy and the great chip pan fire of Victoria Mansions, Paul emerges shaken but not stirred. Still Standing will make you laugh and make you cry. Some of the stories might even make your hair curl. But it stands as a glorious tribute to absent friends and to a world which has now all but vanished. Readers love Still Standing: 'Paul makes you feel like he's chatting to you as a friend. The stories are bold, honest, sometimes hilarious, sometimes very sad.' ***** 'This had my crying, nervous and laughing out loud. I would expect nothing less from the fabulously honest Paul O'Grady.' ***** 'He writes as he speaks, entirely from the heart . . . with his usual warmth, care, concern and honesty, a brilliant read.' *****

'Think about a tune ... the unsayable, the invisible, the longing in music. Here is a book of tunes without musical notes ... It wrings the heart' John Berger 'A masterpiece' Robert Macfarlane 'O'Grady does not just respond to Pyke's stark, beautiful photographs: he gives voice to thousands' Louise Kennedy An old man lies alone and sleepless in London. Before dawn he is taken by an image from his childhood in the West of Ireland, and begins to remember a migrant's life. Haunted by the faces and the land he left behind, he calls forth the bars and boxing booths of England, the potato fields and building sites, the music he played and the woman he loved. Timothy O'Grady's tender, vivid prose and Steve Pyke's starkly beautiful photographs combine to make a unique work of fiction, an act of remembering suffused with loss, defiance and an unforgettable loveliness. An Irish life with echoes of the lives of unregarded migrant workers everywhere. Since it was first published in 1997, I Could Read the Sky has achieved the status of a classic.

Writing in Space, 1973-2019 gathers the writings of conceptual artist Lorraine O'Grady, who for over forty years has investigated the complicated relationship between text and image. A firsthand account of O'Grady's wide-ranging practice, this volume contains statements, scripts, and previously unpublished notes charting the development of her performance work and conceptual photography; her art and music criticism that appeared in the Village Voice and Artforum; critical and theoretical essays on art and culture, including her classic "Olympia's Maid"; and interviews in which O'Grady maps, expands, and complicates the intellectual terrain of her work. She examines issues ranging from black female subjectivity to diaspora and race and representation in contemporary art, exploring both their personal and their institutional implications. O'Grady's writings—introduced in this collection by critic and curator Aruna D'Souza—offer a unique window into her artistic and intellectual evolution while consistently plumbing the political possibilities of art.