Eurovision's Graham Norton was once stabbed and left for dead in horror attack

Graham Norton, the renowned comedian and Eurovision commentator, experienced a harrowing near-death encounter prior to his rise to fame. During the 1980s, Norton, who provided commentary for the Eurovision Song Contest on BBC One, was stabbed and mugged in a London street, left for dead.

Recalling the traumatic incident on a podcast last year, Norton revealed: "I didn't know I was dying, I didn't figure it out until later, and 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."

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Norton continued: "I think so many decisions in our lives like having a partner and having children are about not being alone when you die. It's about having someone to hold your hand.It gave me a really good attitude to risk and to failure because if you think of the worst-case scenario, no failure compares to dying. I'm not recommending anyone do it but for me it was a very useful and powerful life lesson.", reports the Mirror.

Born in Dublin in 1963 as Graham William Walker, the 61 year old always had dreams of becoming an actor. However, it was during the early 90s that he found his true calling in stand-up comedy, with a standout performance at the 1992 Edinburgh Fringe Festival dressed as Mother Teresa, as noted by Wales Online.

Intriguingly, his acting was so riveting that many were convinced they were seeing a performance by the real Mother Teresa. He made appearances on numerous TV shows during the 90s, such as the Irish sitcom Father Ted and The Jack Docherty Show, a talk show.

Thanks to his undeniable talent, Norton bagged his own gig on Channel 4. By 2007, he was bestowed with the chance to host The Graham Norton Show. This turned out to be a roaring success, attracting millions of viewers over the past fifteen years.

Interestingly enough, the show originally aired on BBC2 before transitioning to BBC1 in 2009. Norton has been the face of the Eurovision Song Contest for UK viewers since 2008, taking over from Sir Terry Wogan. Openly gay, Norton revealed to The Mirror in 2015 that juggling love and work is a challenge given "work comes first".

He also confessed that finding love might have been easier had he been straight. The TV personality weighed in on the matter: "But because I've worked so hard to get where I am, I continue to prioritise my job over other bits of my life. That's probably very foolish, something I'll live to regret. When I look back at my romantic history, I have to say it's taken second place to my job. Perhaps I don't expect my love affairs to last. Or it could just be that I have a low attention span."

He also hypothesised about his experiences stating: "I have a theory. I think there's something about having a male partner that makes it more difficult. This will sound sexist but that doesn't mean it's any less true. If I were a straight man, my female partner would have a role in the eyes of society."

"She would be the mother of my children, my hostess, the person on my arm at red carpet events. She would have a defined function. But that's not the case if your partner is male. Every man no matter how young or fey has something of the alpha in him. So all the things they thought they'd enjoy about going out with me become loathsome in the end because they haven't earned it for themselves. Increasingly, that puts a strain on the relationship."