Still Standing, By Paul O'Grady

For his third autobiography, O'Grady revisits the Eighties, and the ascent of his alter ego Lily Savage – the brassy, backchatting "Blonde Bombsite" from Liverpool – from sawdust to stardust.

As Lily the sequinned diva rises to glory, so Paul the dutiful care worker recedes. As a narrator, stroppy of tongue but melting of heart, O'Grady still charms and tickles.

And, as friend after friend departs in the deadliest stage of the Aids epidemic, this gag-rich memoir of an old-school drag act also bears witness to stellar compassion and courage.