Lily Savage graduates!

Birkenhead TV star Paul O'Grady is to receive an honorary degree at the same place he once performed as Lily Savage.

The presenter will pick up an Honorary Doctor of Arts from De Montfort University in Leicester later this month, recognising his outstanding contribution to television, radio and the stage.

When the 55-year-old, from Birkenhead, collects the gong at De Montfort Hall on July 23, he will be returning to a stage where he last sported a frock as his drag queen alter ego. "It really is a great honour and it is so nice to be recognised in this way.

"The last time I walked across the De Montfort Hall stage in Leicester it was as Lily Savage in front of an audience of ne'er-do-wells.

"Now I shall be up there being made a Doctor of Arts in front of an audience of academics. How times have changed, eh? I am absolutely chuffed to bits and delighted to be receiving a degree."