Vanessa Feltz has paid tribute to her friend Paul O’Grady after he was laid to rest near his home village of Aldington on Thursday.
Feltz, 61, dedicated part of her TalkTV show to the national treasure, who she first met while on The Big Breakfast, and said he had the “sweetest, kindest heart in the world”.
Addressing her viewers, she shared: “I wanted to say how deeply, deeply he’s going to be missed by so very many different people. Because he touched so many different communities.
“Of course, there were all his fans who watched him on television, who just adored him as an entertainer whether in the guise of Lily Savage or whether as himself, Paul O’Grady – a lover of animals, that champion of LGBT groups, that champion of social justice.”
Speaking about Paul’s drag alter ego, Lily Savage, the 61-year-old said: “He had been a social worker before he was a comedian and was once watching a show when he thought, gosh, that MC is so abysmal, I’m sure I could do better.
“And leapt on the stage and that very night Lily Savage was born.”
The former Radio 2 presenter revealed that she has voice messages on her phone from the late star, who she said was “looking forward to some evenings of dissipation and debauchery” with her.
She added: “And, my gosh, I can’t tell you how much I was looking forward to spending them with him.”
Feltz concluded her tribute by reflecting on the person O’Grady was, sharing: “He really was a gifted man. I don’t just mean a comedian, but a well-read polymath, an intellectual giant actually – although he wore his intellect and his education very, very lightly.
“He was fascinating, he was kind and considerate. He had an acerbic humour but the sweetest, kindest heart in the world.
“He will be missed so much, by so many of us. I just wanted to pay tribute to him today because I am among those people who will miss him desperately.”
On Thursday, hundreds of emotional fans lined the streets of Aldington, the village where O’Grady lived for more than 20 years, with their dogs as his funeral procession moved through the town.
Many of the star’s famous friends were in attendance, including Dame Sheila Hancock, the late Dame Barbara Windsor’s widower Scott Mitchell, EastEnders’ Scott Maslen. Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood, Alan Carr and Julian Clary, who delivered the eulogy.
O’Grady died “unexpectedly but peacefully” at his home on March 28 at the age of 67 from a cardiac arrhythmia.
Born in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Merseyside, he later adopted Kent as his home for more than two decades.
