Graham Norton was 'left for dead' after BBC Eurovision host was ...

Graham Norton claimed “no failure compares to dying” after being stabbed and “left for dead” in a 1980s stabbing. The incident, which took place in London, saw the Eurovision Song Contest commentator being admitted to hospital in a near-fatal incident.

Earlier this year, the Irish TV host opened up about being involved in a knife attack in 1989 which saw him losing “lost half [his] blood”. Speaking to The Telegraph, the 61-year-old said it was the worst moment of his life.

“Getting stabbed in 1989. I lost half my blood,” he began. “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? Do you want us to contact your parents?’.

Graham, who grew up in Cork, didn’t realise the severity of the situation at the time. Nor did he realise he was apparently on the brink of death.

"I didn't know I was dying, I didn't figure it out until later,” he revealed on a podcast last year, as per The Mirror. “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.”

The BBC presenter also said that the horrific ordeal gave him a “really good attitude to risk and to failure”.

Graham claimed that while he doesn’t recommend anybody go through the ordeal he added that it had “changed [his] life for the better".

On Saturday (May 12) returned to the helm of BBC to provide coverage of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest.

He has been the voice of the competition since taking over from the late Sir Terry Wogan in 2009.

The 2024 edition singing competition, held in the Swedish city of Malmo, was won by Switzerland’s Nemo.

The evening saw also UK entrant Olly Alexander placing 18th place with his hit ‘Dizzy’.

You can watch the Eurovision Song Contest Grand Finale on BBC iPlayer.