Celebrity

This tale of Lily Savage’s response to a police raid is a fabulous and important read

Shock news today that the great Paul O’Grady has died aged just 67.

The comedian and presenter’s husband, Andre Portasio, confirmed in a statement that O’Grady died “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Tuesday evening.

His death prompted no end of tributes on Twitter, including this thread about the night O’Grady – performing as Lily Savage – was arrested in full drag by police while performing at the legendary Royal Vauxhall Tavern pub in London.

It was back in 1987 at the height of the AIDS crisis and was widely perceived as an attempt by police to intimidate the LGBTQ+ community.

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Here’s how Paul himself remembered the night a couple of years back on Instagram, shared by @mrnicklevine on Twitter.

And the front page news story that followed it back in the day.

Here are just a few of the things people were saying about it on Wednesday.

RIP Paul O’Grady.

Source Twitter @garius