Shaun remembers ‘lovely, great guy’ Paul O’Grady

STRABANE’S resident Scouser, Shaun ‘Amo’ Hamilton, has opened up about his meeting with funny man and fellow Liverpudlian, Paul O’Grady, following news of the comedian, actor and television presenter’s sudden death on Tuesday evening.

Shaun was a contestant on ‘Blind Date’ during O’Grady’s presenting tenure, and fondly remembers his fellow Scouser.

“I met Paul when I took part in the revived Blind Date show in 2018. “It had been filmed about a year before, but it was shown around Christmas time the following year,” Shaun explained.

“It was an interesting experience, but the thing I remember most was Paul. As a fellow Scouser, it was lovely to meet him.

“The man was an absolute gentleman on-and-off camera; very chatty and witty with all the contestants, and when the camera rolled; there was a man who knew how to hold his audience.

“Because I was also from Liverpool, there was a bit of a bond between us, although he was lovely to everyone. He was from Garston, the same area of Liverpool as me, so we talked a lot about our roots.

“It was nice to reminisce about where I grew up with an absolutely great guy.”

O’Grady had been a fixture on television screens for many years.

His first television appearance was in popular crime show, ‘The Bill’, but came to prominence as the outrageous Lily Savage, gaining his own TV show as the drag queen.

He became the face of light entertainment shows, such as ‘Lily’ followed, ‘Blankety Blank’ and ‘Blind Date’ before hanging up his stilettos, and embracing the animal lover in him, presenting ‘For The Love Of Dogs’ and ‘Battersea Dogs Home’. He further narrated various other programmes and occasional TV appearances as Lily, up until his death.

Shaun concluded, “I’m really sad to hear about his death. He was a truly-multi-talented performer, who will be badly missed!”