Graham Norton nearly died after presenter was stabbed in street and left for dead
When we think of Eurovision, we usually think of extravagant performances, the UK doing terribly and Graham Norton, or to be fair, Terry Wogan if you're of a certain age.
It was another disaster show for this once proud country last night as Remember Monday were left asking What The Hell Just Happened as they received absolutely no votes from the public, which prompted a cheeky response from group member Holly-Anne Hull.
Thankfully for those fans watching along, we had the entertaining quips of Graham Norton to keep spirits up, with the TV presenter also providing plenty of expert knowledge and predictions, such as correctly betting that we'd all be singing Estonia's catchy entry this morning.
But, not many people realise that we very nearly might not have had the Irish comedian on our tellies, if he hadn't survived a potentially deadly knife attack in London back in 1989.
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Just 26 at the time, the presenter has opened up about getting stabbed and being left for dead, having lost a huge amount of blood.
In a conversation with The Telegraph, Graham revealed: "Getting stabbed in 1989. I lost half my blood. The bad moment I remember – because when it's happening, is all just trauma – but then the morning after, I was in the hospital ward and I remember a nurse came up to me and said, 'Do you want us to contact anyone?'"
During a podcast interview, he also said: "I didn't know I was dying, I didn't figure it out until later. This is so not me but I remember saying to this little old lady 'Will you hold my hand'?
"And it was a flicker on her face of 'oh do I want to hold his hand' but she did and she held out her hand. I held her hand and I think that's something so deep within us and it motivates so much of our life that we don't want to die alone."
Fortunately, thanks to the experts at the NHS, he was soon back on his feet and went on to secure a role in Father Ted, which helped to kick-start his career on British television.
And we can be thankful that he survived, not just because of the iconic interviews he conducts on his now iconic The Graham Norton Show, but for making our yearly Eurovision disasters just a bit easier to cope with.
Graham told the BBC: "To be honest I love everything about Eurovision. It's scale and sincerity are unmatched.
"The extreme range of musical styles and talents in the contest combined with the coming together of countries and fans makes it a contest like no other."
Topics: Eurovision, Graham Norton, NHS, UK News
James Moorhouse