Forget Larry...
Why town rejected Grayson tribute
Prejudice against Larry Grayson’s camp persona has stopped his home town honouring him, the comic’s relatives have claimed.
The comedian, who spent 40-years on the working men’s club circuit before getting his TV break on the Generation Game, has not even got a plaque in Nuneaton.
Councillors once considered a statue but, according to Grayson’s nephew Michael Malyon, it was decided he was not the ‘right sort of person’ the Warwickshire town wanted to be associated with.
Malyon said: “Some years ago when Larry was alive, it was suggested in a council meeting that they would name something after Larry for the way he'd put Nuneaton on the map.
"Apparently, someone stood up and said they didn't think they should be associated with someone of that ilk.
"It was relayed back to Larry and it hurt [him]. And he said to me, 'You must make sure, Michael, that after I'm gone there's no statue to me. If that's what they think about me when I'm alive, then they can forget it.'
"Personally I'd love to see it."
Larry Grayson, who started his career as a drag act, died in 1995 aged 71. He was born – illegitimately - as William White, and put up for adoption. He arrived in Nuneaton only 10 days after his birth.
His story is told in Inside Out, on BBC1 in the West Midlands, at 7.30pm tonight.
Published: 21 Feb 2005
