These photos of Paul O’Grady as Lily Savage in London in the 1980s show what an icon she was

Paul O’Grady, who has sadly died, was beloved as a TV and radio presenter. But in the 1980s and 1990s he was more famous as pioneering drag queen, Lily Savage, who was integral LGBTQ representation on British TV in an era before drag queens were mainstream.

Many of the UK Drag Race queens today owe much to Lily Savage, O’Grady’s alter ego famously named after his mum.

Thanks to the Bishopsgate Institute, an LGBTQ charity and photo archive, and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, the gay pub in Vauxhall where Paul O’Grady frequently performed as Lily Savage, City A.M. is able to share these wonderful photos of Savage performing in London.

Many of these photos were shot at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern, and at other London gay bars of London in the 1980s and 1990s. There is also a video of Savage at the Royal Vauxhall Tavern below, shared exclusively with us.

Gordon Rainsford, Savage’s photographer, has kindly shared some memories of shooting Savage. All of the photos below were shot by Rainsford, and are now owned by the Bishopsgate Institute.

Rainsford remembers Savage’s typically sharp tongue. “I do remember the night Margaret Thatcher resigned,” says Rainsford. “Lily Savage was on at the Vauxhall Tavern and had already created a hilarious sketch about Thatcher going to the palace to hand in her resignation, with the Queen and Princess Margaret hiding behind their sofas to pretend they weren’t in, because they couldn’t stand her!”

Rainsford says of the photos below: “The one with the crowd is probably the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. A couple of them I think were at Bang Nightclub [a night that ran at Heaven nightclub until the early 1990s].

“The one with the sculpture was at an exhibition in Princelet St Synagogue. He said of the sculpture: ‘It’s very nice but I don’t know where I would put it.’”

RIP Paul and Lily, here’s to an amazing career.

© Provided by City AM Lily Savage, shot by Gordon Rainsford, courtesy of the Bishopsgate Institute © Provided by City AM Lily Savage, shot by Gordon Rainsford, courtesy of the Bishopsgate Institute © Provided by City AM Lily Savage, shot by Gordon Rainsford, courtesy of the Bishopsgate Institute © Provided by City AM Lily Savage, shot by Gordon Rainsford, courtesy of the Bishopsgate Institute © Provided by City AM Lily Savage, shot by Gordon Rainsford, courtesy of the Bishopsgate Institute