INTERVIEW WITH PAUL O'GRADY
Paul, you’ve clearly bounced back really well from your health scare a couple of years ago. Is that to do with being really careful about what you eat and drink?
What I had to do was re-educate myself to eat big in the morning, slightly less at lunchtime, and then hardly anything for dinner. I was living on club hours where I’d eat at 4am, things like that, for so many years. Now I’m forever juicing. I’ve got one of those juicers, and the amount of ginger I can take makes people’s nose bleed! So I do have all of that kind of stuff, I suppose. And I do exercise.
Your book came out, and it’s been a phenomenal success, hasn’t it?
I can’t believe it! They rang me up, the publishers. I was in Bruges for the weekend – it’s beautiful, I couldn’t get over it. If you’re going to film Cinderella, that’s where you’d do it. 24 hours is quite enough – you feel like you’re stuck in Christmas-land. “Get me out of here before I start smiling!” But they rang me up and told me it’s now sold something like 692,000 copies. Unbelievable. I got a letter today off a woman who said that her seven-year-old granddaughter went out with her Christmas money and came back with my book. And I thought ‘It’s not suitable for a seven-year-old.’ So I’m going to send her a nodding Buster, and say ‘Put it away until you’re 15!’.
It hasn’t just sold well, it’s had really good reviews. Do you pay attention to things like that?
Well, normally I wouldn’t – I don’t bother with telly reviews. But this was something completely new to me, writing a book. And it was so personal, and I really wanted to know what people thought. There was even a really nice one in Private Eye, and you know what Private Eye‘s like. At the end, the editor had written: ‘This smacks of a glowing review to me. You’re fired!’ I couldn’t believe it.
Are you writing the next installment?
I’ve done a bit of it. I’ve done about 10,000 words. But I’m worried about getting properly into it, because then it takes over. I’ll sit there and do 14 hours. It’s not good for your health, being sedentary for that long. But I find it so interesting. I give it 100 per cent. I could never be one of these people who gets up and does an hour on the book. I just get carried away, and I look up, the dogs haven’t been fed, I haven’t been fed…
Are you like that in general? If you put your mind to something, you give it your all?
Yeah, definitely. It takes over completely, there’s no room for anything else, that’s it. I was like that with work for years and years, it was all I cared about, when I was doing Lily, I was obsessed. Now I’ve got a bit more perspective.
I understand you've been thinking about writing some short horror stories?
I did start but, again, I’ve put that on the back burner. And then I’ve started on a kids’ book. You see, this is what happens.
The genie’s out of the bottle.
Definitely. And it’s going beserk! So at one time I was doing my book, the kids’ book and the horror stories.
Not things you’d want to get confused.
No I had to really discipline myself to just get my book finished, even though I was sometimes itching to get back to the other stuff. But I’m going to have a look at them again.
So with all of these projects you have going on, do you still find time to do much on the farm?
Oh yeah. Not a huge amount, but I go out and feed them and sit with them and what have you. I love getting dirty, I don’t mind that at all. I’ll go down to the post office to get a paper, and there are people looking at me. I look like Catweazle, my hairs on end, I haven’t shaved for a week, I’m filthy, probably smell, and I don’t care. That’s the joy of living in the country.
Spring must be a busy time of year on the farm. Have you got any new arrivals expected?
No, because I didn’t get the ram in this year. So I’ve got no lambs – except that the farmer I’m friendly with, if he has any orphaned lambs, I’ll have them. I love having a lamb in the spring, they’re just lovely creatures. I had four living in the house with me at one stage. One of the sheep had four lambs, and I took three off her because she couldn’t feed them. Then another one rejected her lamb. So I had four living in the kitchen. Four lambs and three dogs, and they’d all follow me. I’d walk from the kitchen to the front room, and there’d be a procession behind me.
Not all animals are so friendly, though. You were bitten by an adder just before Christmas. What happened?
I was, yeah. I’m not scared of snakes – quite the opposite. I like them. I didn’t want to get them any more bad press. Maybe they’re not very venomous in the winter, because they’re hibernating – I don’t know – I was lucky. If it had been in the summer, it might’ve been a different story. A friend of mine was bitten by one in the summer, and his whole arm swelled right up and he had to go to hospital for some anti-venom. But yeah, with me, it had crawled into one of the logs to hibernate, and I disturbed it, so it went for me.
Having your grandson Abel there must be an added element of excitement at Christmas and such times?
Oh yeah, of course. But I dunno how people cope with kids at Christmas. They’re up at the crack of dawn. You find yourself wanting to go to bed at quarter to ten. I’ll think ‘Come on grandad, you should be out terrorising the West End!’ But it’s lovely having him around, I really like it. He’s very chatty. He’s two, you’ve got to be really careful what you say, because he picks everything up. He’s got a broad Scouse accent. He’s a little cracker, he really is.
You won Best Entertainment Show at the National TV Awards. Do you get blasé about awards having won so many?
No, I don’t get blasé, I get nervous! I don’t like awards ceremonies. You get out the car and there’s all those people screaming (not at me I should add – usually at one of the young soap stars!!) – and all of the press lined up – I feel like jumping back in the car!
What guests have you really liked over the years?
There have been so many. This will be the tenth series. So it’s really difficult to remember, I like so many of them. Henry Winkler – the guy who played the Fonz – what a lovely fella. And the night we had Cagney and Lacey on was great. I won’t forget that one in a hurry. They caused mayhem. Judge Judy I was mad on as well, what a nice woman – there’s too many to mention!
Do you ever get nervous before interviewing a really big star?
Sometimes I get star struck and have to pinch myself that I am talking to one of my idols and also some big stars are nervous because of the rubbish they’ve had printed about them in the papers and are worried that I’m going to say something negative so you have to lead them by the hand and let them know they are OK.
You’ve got a lot of friends in the industry. Is it odd having people on the show who are your pals?
That’s difficult as well, because you don’t want to sit there and do a chummy chummy best pals interview. You have to talk to them about what they’re doing, their work – and you know how they really feel whatever they’re saying. So you have to ignore all that, and put your telly head on. I had Amanda Mealing on, from Holby City, she’s a good mate, I’ve known her for years and years. And we were talking about when she had the breast cancer, and I should never have gone there, because we both got upset. And poor Harry Connick Jnr was on the couch as well. And he said: ‘So you’ve had breast cancer?’ and she nodded, and then he said to me ‘And you’ve had two heart attacks?’ and I nodded through the hankie. And he sat back and said ‘Jesus, it’s worse than Oprah! I’m getting out of here before I get struck down.’
You’re friends with Christopher Biggins, aren’t you?
Listen, if you don’t know Biggins, you might as well retire. If you haven’t been touched by Biggins, then you’re not in show business. He’s smashing, he really is. He’s always up. Good luck to him.
What I had to do was re-educate myself to eat big in the morning, slightly less at lunchtime, and then hardly anything for dinner. I was living on club hours where I’d eat at 4am, things like that, for so many years. Now I’m forever juicing. I’ve got one of those juicers, and the amount of ginger I can take makes people’s nose bleed! So I do have all of that kind of stuff, I suppose. And I do exercise.
Your book came out, and it’s been a phenomenal success, hasn’t it?
I can’t believe it! They rang me up, the publishers. I was in Bruges for the weekend – it’s beautiful, I couldn’t get over it. If you’re going to film Cinderella, that’s where you’d do it. 24 hours is quite enough – you feel like you’re stuck in Christmas-land. “Get me out of here before I start smiling!” But they rang me up and told me it’s now sold something like 692,000 copies. Unbelievable. I got a letter today off a woman who said that her seven-year-old granddaughter went out with her Christmas money and came back with my book. And I thought ‘It’s not suitable for a seven-year-old.’ So I’m going to send her a nodding Buster, and say ‘Put it away until you’re 15!’.
It hasn’t just sold well, it’s had really good reviews. Do you pay attention to things like that?
Well, normally I wouldn’t – I don’t bother with telly reviews. But this was something completely new to me, writing a book. And it was so personal, and I really wanted to know what people thought. There was even a really nice one in Private Eye, and you know what Private Eye‘s like. At the end, the editor had written: ‘This smacks of a glowing review to me. You’re fired!’ I couldn’t believe it.
Are you writing the next installment?
I’ve done a bit of it. I’ve done about 10,000 words. But I’m worried about getting properly into it, because then it takes over. I’ll sit there and do 14 hours. It’s not good for your health, being sedentary for that long. But I find it so interesting. I give it 100 per cent. I could never be one of these people who gets up and does an hour on the book. I just get carried away, and I look up, the dogs haven’t been fed, I haven’t been fed…
Are you like that in general? If you put your mind to something, you give it your all?
Yeah, definitely. It takes over completely, there’s no room for anything else, that’s it. I was like that with work for years and years, it was all I cared about, when I was doing Lily, I was obsessed. Now I’ve got a bit more perspective.
I understand you've been thinking about writing some short horror stories?
I did start but, again, I’ve put that on the back burner. And then I’ve started on a kids’ book. You see, this is what happens.
The genie’s out of the bottle.
Definitely. And it’s going beserk! So at one time I was doing my book, the kids’ book and the horror stories.
Not things you’d want to get confused.
No I had to really discipline myself to just get my book finished, even though I was sometimes itching to get back to the other stuff. But I’m going to have a look at them again.
So with all of these projects you have going on, do you still find time to do much on the farm?
Oh yeah. Not a huge amount, but I go out and feed them and sit with them and what have you. I love getting dirty, I don’t mind that at all. I’ll go down to the post office to get a paper, and there are people looking at me. I look like Catweazle, my hairs on end, I haven’t shaved for a week, I’m filthy, probably smell, and I don’t care. That’s the joy of living in the country.
Spring must be a busy time of year on the farm. Have you got any new arrivals expected?
No, because I didn’t get the ram in this year. So I’ve got no lambs – except that the farmer I’m friendly with, if he has any orphaned lambs, I’ll have them. I love having a lamb in the spring, they’re just lovely creatures. I had four living in the house with me at one stage. One of the sheep had four lambs, and I took three off her because she couldn’t feed them. Then another one rejected her lamb. So I had four living in the kitchen. Four lambs and three dogs, and they’d all follow me. I’d walk from the kitchen to the front room, and there’d be a procession behind me.
Not all animals are so friendly, though. You were bitten by an adder just before Christmas. What happened?
I was, yeah. I’m not scared of snakes – quite the opposite. I like them. I didn’t want to get them any more bad press. Maybe they’re not very venomous in the winter, because they’re hibernating – I don’t know – I was lucky. If it had been in the summer, it might’ve been a different story. A friend of mine was bitten by one in the summer, and his whole arm swelled right up and he had to go to hospital for some anti-venom. But yeah, with me, it had crawled into one of the logs to hibernate, and I disturbed it, so it went for me.
Having your grandson Abel there must be an added element of excitement at Christmas and such times?
Oh yeah, of course. But I dunno how people cope with kids at Christmas. They’re up at the crack of dawn. You find yourself wanting to go to bed at quarter to ten. I’ll think ‘Come on grandad, you should be out terrorising the West End!’ But it’s lovely having him around, I really like it. He’s very chatty. He’s two, you’ve got to be really careful what you say, because he picks everything up. He’s got a broad Scouse accent. He’s a little cracker, he really is.
You won Best Entertainment Show at the National TV Awards. Do you get blasé about awards having won so many?
No, I don’t get blasé, I get nervous! I don’t like awards ceremonies. You get out the car and there’s all those people screaming (not at me I should add – usually at one of the young soap stars!!) – and all of the press lined up – I feel like jumping back in the car!
What guests have you really liked over the years?
There have been so many. This will be the tenth series. So it’s really difficult to remember, I like so many of them. Henry Winkler – the guy who played the Fonz – what a lovely fella. And the night we had Cagney and Lacey on was great. I won’t forget that one in a hurry. They caused mayhem. Judge Judy I was mad on as well, what a nice woman – there’s too many to mention!
Do you ever get nervous before interviewing a really big star?
Sometimes I get star struck and have to pinch myself that I am talking to one of my idols and also some big stars are nervous because of the rubbish they’ve had printed about them in the papers and are worried that I’m going to say something negative so you have to lead them by the hand and let them know they are OK.
You’ve got a lot of friends in the industry. Is it odd having people on the show who are your pals?
That’s difficult as well, because you don’t want to sit there and do a chummy chummy best pals interview. You have to talk to them about what they’re doing, their work – and you know how they really feel whatever they’re saying. So you have to ignore all that, and put your telly head on. I had Amanda Mealing on, from Holby City, she’s a good mate, I’ve known her for years and years. And we were talking about when she had the breast cancer, and I should never have gone there, because we both got upset. And poor Harry Connick Jnr was on the couch as well. And he said: ‘So you’ve had breast cancer?’ and she nodded, and then he said to me ‘And you’ve had two heart attacks?’ and I nodded through the hankie. And he sat back and said ‘Jesus, it’s worse than Oprah! I’m getting out of here before I get struck down.’
You’re friends with Christopher Biggins, aren’t you?
Listen, if you don’t know Biggins, you might as well retire. If you haven’t been touched by Biggins, then you’re not in show business. He’s smashing, he really is. He’s always up. Good luck to him.
