- published: 18 Jun 2016
- views: 89106
Graham William Walker (born 4 April 1963), better known by the stage name Graham Norton, is an Irish television and radio presenter, comedian, and actor based in the United Kingdom. He is a five-time BAFTA TV Award winner for his comedy chat show The Graham Norton Show. Previously shown on BBC Two, it took the prestigious Friday night slot on BBC One from Jonathan Ross in 2010. He also presents on BBC Radio 2 and is the BBC television commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest, which led Hot Press to describe him as "the 21st century's answer to Terry Wogan". Norton is known for his innuendo-laden dialogue and flamboyant presentation style. In 2012, he sold his production company, So Television, to ITV for around £17 million.
Norton was born in Clondalkin, a suburb of Dublin, but grew up in Bandon, County Cork, Ireland. His family are Protestant. His father's family were from County Wicklow, while his mother was from Belfast. He was educated at Bandon Grammar School, in West Cork, and then University College, Cork (U.C.C.), where he spent two years studying English and French in the 1980s but did not complete his studies. In June 2013 he received an honorary doctorate from University College Cork; he occasionally mentions this in order to win on-air arguments on his BBC Radio 2 show.