contribution to camp culture was, and how his mass popularity did perhaps help spearhead greater acceptance of the LGBT community". Early career Grayson left school at the age of 14 and began working professionally as a supporting drag act on the comedy club circuit. He initially used the stage name Billy Breen, but changed it to Larry Grayson in the 1950s on the advice of his agent. While the origin of the name Larry is unknown, his management at the time felt a two-syllable first name would be more memorable and go better with the surname Grayson. Over the next 30 years he toured the UK in male revues and drag shows, as well as in variety shows at venues including working men's clubs, regional theatres and the Metropolitan in London. He also added stand-up comedy to his act and developed a gentle anecdotal style of comedy. It was usually based around his various imaginary friends such as Everard, Apricot Lil, Slack Alice, milkman Sterilised Stan, window cleaner Peek-a-boo Pete with his dirty chamois and the postman Pop-It-In Pete. A lot of his material was observational. In his early years, Grayson's family had the only telephone in the street, and his inspiration came from overhearing his neighbours using it. The "imaginary friends" were in fact based on local characters: for example, Apricot Lil worked at the local jam factory. It was while he performed as Billy Breen at the New Pavilion Theatre Redcar (now the Regent Cinema) that he started using his familiar catchphrase "shut that door" when a side door had been left open causing a cold breeze to blow across the stage straight from the sea. During this period, Grayson was briefly managed by Eve Taylor, who renamed him Larry Grayson and is credited with being the source of the phrase, as several of her clients revealed that whenever she wanted to discuss money or personal issues with her clients she would always tell them to "shut that door". Taylor struggled to find him the right opportunities and they parted, with Grayson becoming a client of Michael Grade. Television career An early TV appearance in the 1950s had led to complaints about his act being too outrageous, and Grayson had resigned himself to a career off television. Then in the early 1970s his club act was seen by Michael Grade, then an agent, who signed him. Following several