He’s a doting granddad who loves time on the farm, but Jade Wright finds that Paul O’Grady isn’t ready for the quiet life just yet

PAUL O’GRADY is fast becoming a national treasure. His Channel 4 chat show continues to win a clutch of awards, most recently the National TV Award for Best Entertainment Show. When he’s not filming, he can be found looking after the animals on his farm or writing the next instalment of his autobiography.

Paul, who was born and bred in Birkenhead, found fame late in life and spent years as a barman, a social worker and a court usher. Oh, and Britain’s top female impersonator.

His first book, At My Mother’s Knee . . . And Other Low Joints chronicled his early life and has already taken the publishing world by storm, with fabulous reviews and remarkable sales.

"I can’t believe it," grins Paul, 53. "They rang me up, the publishers. I was in Bruges for the weekend – 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!’."

After a few months off and a holiday in the Maldives, Paul is practically glowing. He seems to have bounced back from his second heart attack a couple of years ago.

"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," he says.

"I’m forever juicing. I’ve got one of those juicers, and the amount of ginger I can take makes people’s nose bleed."

Last time we spoke to Paul, he was also thinking about writing some short horror stories.

"I did start but, again, I’ve put that on the back burner," he says. "And then I’ve started on a kids’ book. You see, this is what happens. The genie’s out of the bottle and it’s going berserk."

With all these projects on the go, it’s amazing he still finds time to work on his farm.

"I go out and feed them and sit with them and what have you," he grins. "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 hair’s 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."

But this will be Paul’s first lamb- less year on the farm.

"I didn’t get the ram in this year," he sighs. "But the farmer I’m friendly with, if he has any orphaned lambs, I’ll have them.