Graham Norton is a Irish comedian, actor and writer, but he’s most famous for hosting his celebrity interview program The Graham Norton Show. Norton also provides commentary for other popular British programming such as the Eurovision Song Contest, Totally Saturday and When Will I Be Famous?. Graham got his start in comedy back in 1992 by appearing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He then moved into guest appearances on UK quiz shows and rapidly gained a following for his cheeky innuendo humor. In 2007 he launched The Graham Norton Show which became a ratings hit for BBC One.
Born on April 4, 1963 in Dublin, Ireland, Norton is a Aries. His birth name is Graham Walker, with his middle name William.
Norton was raised in a Protestant family living in Dublin. He recalls feeling a very great feeling of separation between the two biggest religious groups in his hometown, Catholics and Protestants.
“If you married outside of the faith there was real pressure for the kids to be brought up Catholic and priests would make people convert,” Graham explained. “There was a real sense of being shepherded together. You had to go to these special Protestant hops and Protestant socials and the idea was you met a nice Protestant girl and had Protestant babies.” (1)
In 2014 Norton raised the ire of some Catholics when he said that Irish Catholics against same-sex marriage were like “rats trapped in the corner in a barn.”
“This tiny minority can yell all they want, but it’s over. It’s all done. The Iona Institute, and people like that, are like rats trapped in the corner of a barn. They know the jig is up. That’s why they’re screaming so loud,” Graham was quoted as saying about the debate. (2)
Norton appears to lean left in his politics. He doesn’t enjoy being open about endorsing a candidate, preferring to keep who he voted for to himself.
“Other people who work for the BBC are very political, but I don’t feel comfortable doing that,” Norton explained. “I think when you work for the BBC you’re in a slightly different position. Having said that, I do vote and have opinions. I’m not on marches. You wouldn’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out who I vote for, but I don’t say who I vote for.” (3)
And another example of Graham wanting to downplay his public opinion of politics:
I try to keep out of politics but this does seem like a very reasonable, civilised approach to a campaign, that at times, has been anything but. https://t.co/wOrTTC1iDv
— graham norton (@grahnort) May 20, 2018
But in 2019 Graphan Norton made a rare statement about his personal politics. Norton had written a relationships advice column for The Daily Telegraph for 12 years but then abruptly resigned. He was asked why and gave this answer:
“When I signed up to be their agony aunt, I was aware that it was a right-wing paper, and that didn’t bother me, but about a year before I left it took a turn, and there were some things in that paper about which I thought, ‘I cannot be contained within the same pages as this.’” (3)
Norton has been open about being gay throughout his career. He’s commented on the difficulties he’s had in keeping a longterm relationship with a man, saying that his love life would be easier if he were attracted to women.
“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,” Norton once said.
“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.” (4)
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