Eurovision 2022: Real life of Graham Norton - near-death experience and famous ex

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

Graham Norton is a staple of British telly, a National treasure and, when Eurovision rolls around each year, there's no-one else we'd rather be sharing it with.

His hilarious and sometimes pretty daring commentary during the Grand Final of the European singing competition on BBC One is probably the biggest reason why us Brits are still fans of the show, despite it being some 25 years since we last won it. He's not afraid to say what he sees (and feels) and viewers at home love him for it, as they did when it was the late, great Sir Terry Wogan on the mic.

But aside from his quips from inside his Eurovision commentary box, and the endless A-listers he has befriended on his self-titled chat show, just what makes Graham, Graham? And how has one near-death experience played a part, if any, in shaping him into the man we all know and love today?

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It could have been a very different story for Graham - and British telly for that matter - as, while in his last year at drama school, he was stabbed in London.

The Irish presenter was walking in Kilburn in London, in 1989, when he was stabbed by a group of attackers. He lost around half of his blood and spent two and a half weeks in hospital recovering.

Back in 2003, he spoke about his near-death experience, saying that it was "touch and go". He added: "It was very serious. It was a mugging, I didn't even realise I'd been stabbed in that classic way, because your adrenaline is pumping. I looked down and I saw all this blood."

Then, six years