Paul told me: 'I won't make old bones'

A NEW BOOK ON THE LATE, MUCH-LOVED TV STAR PAUL O'GRADY GIVES A WINDOW ON HIS FINAL DAYS.

- BY TOM BRYANT

EARLY DAYS: Paul as Lily Savage

HE could make the nation roar with laughter as Lily Savage and melt hearts with his love of animals.

Yet away from the spotlight, Paul O'Grady faced health struggles and professional heartbreak, while also nurturing a secret friendship with the late Queen.

In Paul O'Grady - Not the Same Without You, his longtime BBC Radio 2 producer and friend Malcolm Prince paints a candid picture of the TV presenter who died two years ago.

Written with the blessing of Paul's daughter Sharyn, and featuring testimony from family, colleagues, and celebrity friends, it tells how in the final months of his life Paul refused a potentially lifesaving heart operation because he did not want to let anyone down.

"He had signed up to do the musical Annie, he signed up to do the dog show [For the Love of Dogs]," Malcolm says. "He didn't want to go back into hospital to have another procedure and then spend time recuperating. He wanted to get on and live his life but also work. He didn't want to let people down."

Ultimately, the device - an implantable defibrillator - could have saved his life. Paul, who had a history of heart problems, died from a sudden cardiac arrhythmia on March 28, 2023, at the age of 67. Months earlier, he had spent a week in William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent, and the thought of being sidelined again was unbearable.

In a text to his daughter Sharyn Mousley, Paul wrote: "The cardiologist just wants me to have a defib. But no way am I having one of them. He is being overcautious and, besides, I'm nowhere near as bad as I was."

Joan Marshrons, his manager and close friend, had explained the procedure at length - but there was no changing his mind.