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| Lilian Maeve Veronica Savage was conceived in Butlins, Pwllheli and was born in Liverpool, outside The Legs Of Man public house, Lime Street. Lily is decidedly cagey about the exact date, but it was rumoured that this diva's birthday fell on the feast day of St. Veronica. It was also the day that Ruth Ellis was hanged, 13 July 1955.
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 Birthplace |
| Her mother, Hellcat Savage, didn't have gas or air but just lay on a Policeman's Mac and was assisted by the midwife, Mrs Maureen Scobie, who held the Policeman's torch because it was a dark night. Two hours later, Lily's mother was sitting on a bar stool inside the pub having a cherry beer. Hellcat was one of the Wirral's leading lady wrestlers until she had a nasty accident and then she became an Odour Eater demonstrator for Woolworths, in selected stores all round the country. | |
| Lily's grandmother, Erica Von Savage, whose real name was Bernadette, was mad as a hatter and would say she was a secret agent going off on missions when actually she was working as a chalet maid on the Isle Of Man. She died of hypothermia after shoplifting frozen turkeys from Bejams. Erica had loved playing with kids so after she was cremated her ashes were put in an Etch-a-Sketch so they could still play with her. | |
 Grandmother |
 Years later Erica's ghost would appear to watch over her granddaughter's rise to fame. |
| Lily had an adopted sister, Veronica Alice Cheeseman, now sadly deceased. 'Our Vera' was found on the step in a little basket, all wrapped in swaddling clothes, with a big label round her neck. She was 23 at the time. Lily's mam had just bought bunk beds and as it was a shame to waste them, she took Vera in. Vera was rather plain looking and wore glasses like re-entry shields but she was very close to Lily. | |
| Lily had a happy childhood and was Miss Pears 1959. At five she wanted ballet lessons but they were too expensive. Her family were poor but they were shoplifters. Instead, Lily did country dancing at St. Winifred's Reform School and was also in the Legion Of Mary before being expelled. The Holy nuns couldn't keep her under control so she was put in a detention centre. |
| Lily took up the oldest profession and both her and Vera also did some modelling. Lily was centrefold for Angler's Weekly, May issue, as a dressed crab and Vera did two adverts for Nursing Mirror, one for incontinence pads and the other for a Stannah stairlift. Lily's first real job was in Woolies on the Pick 'n' Mix and then she was moved to the cold meat counter before her now manager discovered her. She also worked as a stripper in the Blue Balloon Club, Huddersfield, alongside the Tooting Bec Twirler, Gaby Rose Lyn. |  Blue Balloon Club |
 Royal Vauxhall Tavern |
 First venue |
 The Elephant & Castle |
| Before long, Lily was appearing in elegant watering holes such as The Elephant And Castle and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern where she took part in Stars Of The Future. Not afraid to work with animals, Lily initially featured a ferret in her act then later teamed up with Skippy the fox, who is now retired and living in a home in Brighton. In her early acting career she made a low budget, Swedish movie, 'Nativity 2', filmed in a block of flats in Stockwell. She has also done children's parties as Lily Poppins. She would make a trifle out of Night Nurse and finish them off with a Benylin scone. Her theatre debut came in 1991 when she appeared at the Hackney Empire, a show witnessed by the ghost of her grandmother who watched from the box. | ||
 Ferret |
 Box Office Record |
 Skippy |
| Television beckoned and in 1995 Lily landed her own variety series, 'Live From The Lilydrome', recorded in Blackpool. She was back in the seaside resort the following year when her show on the North Pier broke all box office records selling in excess of 100,000 tickets and winning her a gold disc. More TV success followed with the 'Big Breakfast' where Lily interviewed celebrities whom she'd enticed onto her bed. She was known as 'Queen of the Boudoir'. In 1996 Lily won Cosmopolitan's 'best looking legs' award, which was followed by Lily advertising snag-free Resilience tights in 1997 for Pretty Polly. The TV offers continued to flooded in and Lily became host of the resurrected game show 'Blankety Blank' on which contestants competed for prizes such as toasters and sets of pans. | ||
 Prisoner Cell Block H |
Interspersed with TV, there were sell-out tours in theatres up and down the country. She was now playing such esteemed venues as the London Palladium and the Royal Albert Hall and made her debut in London's West End with 'Prisoner Cell Block H The Musical'. Lily was able to draw on her own experiences in the detention centre to play the prisoner wrongly accused of killing her sister, Vera. Further stage credits included Miss Hannigan in the musical 'Annie'. At this time, Lily was asked to compere the Royal Variety Performance but had to decline due to work commitments. She did however perform at the show with a routine from 'Annie'. Most recently, she has undertaken five seasons of Pantomime playing The Wicked Queen in 'Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs'. |
| Although being in showbiz, Lily also found time to become a wife and mother. Unfortunately, Lily was the first in her family to get divorced but this was hardly surprising since she was the only one to have got married in the first place. Since then, she has been romantically linked with the Australian charmer, Bob Downe, whom she first met in 1991 at one of her many Edinburgh Festival appearances. They subsequently toured together both in the UK and Australia. Although they professed to be "just good friends" they were engaged at one stage. Lily broke off the engagement when the ring Bob gave her turned her finger green. |  With fiancé Bob |
 The Savage Family |
Lily has two illegitimate children, Bunty Bernadette and Jason (her social worker wouldn't take the kids off her). The eldest, Bunty married Ashley, a Hells Angel, turned tile cleaner, from Wigan. Before Ashley slung his hook, they provided Lily with her first grandchild, Kylie Marie. At puberty, she will no doubt inherit the Savage Streak, that clump of black hair amid the peroxide blonde, similar to the Mallen Streak. Lily's son, Jason Ozzie Savage, was born in 1980 and is the only male member of the Savage clan. He spent some time in |
| Once Lily made the big time she moved her family from her Lambeth multi storey flat to a dead posh house in Hampstead, 63 Upitself Avenue. With Richard & Judy and Katie Boyle as neighbours, the area is a bit rough but Lily's mansion is set in it's own grounds and even has an indoor swimming pool. Lily's mother's ashes sit in an urn next to the pool since she loved water and was always down the docks. | Lily's pets include her constant, canine companion, Buster, who will only drink bottled, sparkling mineral water and is partial to a tongue sandwich and two Persian cats who need daily grooming. She also has a 42 stone whippet called Queenie who has had 28 litters in her day. She was a champion racer but retired in 1955 and hasn't run a mile in the last ten years. She's now on Royal Jelly and has a leaking bladder. |  Buster |
 Queenie |
Of a morning, Lily enjoys a Blackpool breakfast - 20 ciggies (Lambert & Butler) and a pot of tea. She only drinks cider but not the designer muck. During the winter, Lily likes nothing better than to visit Skye with the dogs. She would often go on holiday with Vera to Lourdes with the Union of Catholic Mothers or visit her 4-berth caravan in Talacre North Wales, which is available for hire, October to January. |
| Now that she is a superstar and International Sex Kitten, Lily has reputedly insured her legs for £1 million with Lloyds of London and has developed her own range of beauty products including a perfume, Flame of Llandudno, by Avon but she remains true to her roots and still wears M&S 100% cotton, double gusset drawers. Her previous occupation behind her, Lily still provides the occasional 'special' service to very respectable gentlemen. |
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