I couldn't put it down . . . Paul comes across as a very intelligent man . . . with a heart of gold under that naughty exterior.' ***** Why does he think people voted for a Conservative majority? “They’re absolutely blinded. They listen to this guff from Osborne – dreadful man. And Cameron – ugh! I loathe them,” he hisses. “They have no idea how normal people live, and how they try to manage. They see us all as Jeremy Kyle.” He remembers nursing his friend Chrissie, who was dying in hospital, “in the early days, when they were testing the meds. They put him on extra-strong medication. And he said: ‘You can’t sit there, Jesus is there.’ And there’s his mother. And Joan of Arc. It became perfectly acceptable to me to be having tea with Francis Drake. I just went along with it. It was like improv.” How else does a comic deal with a desperate situation, other than with humour? “I’ll never forget a guy who used to dance with paper fans. They were a bloody nuisance, to tell you the truth, and he said, oh, they’re not cool any more. And I said, ‘What is?’ And he said, ‘Dying.’ I’ll never forget that, in the kitchen of Westminster hospital, scraping the ice-cream off me that Chrissie had thrown.” This is such a great read, Paul is excellent when describing things makes you feel as though you are there with him. His humour warmth and caring comes out in abundance.' ***** O’Grady says one of the reasons he never goes out now is that he would spend the week worrying what he should wear. “I’m terrified of being mutton dressed as lamb.” He says gentrification has ruined pubs. “Any pub that says they do gastro food and children are welcome – that’s not a pub!” he roars. “A pub should smell of cigarette smoke, booze, with a nice old barmaid who reeks of perfume, who’s been there all her life.”

Open the Cage, Murphy! - Penguin Books UK

With typical razor-sharp wit and candour, Paul tells of his rise to fame as Lily Savage . . . Riveting.' Daily Mirror

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