how do you solve a problem like maria?

King of outrageous chat

On British shores, Graham is best known for his string of on-going self-titled chat shows, which garnered three consecutive BAFTA ‘Best Entertainment Performance’ awards in 2000, 2001 and 2002. His cheeky chat show personae has afforded him the licence to be exceedingly rude without being offensive, and has charmed many celebrity guests to frivolously share naughty secrets and partake in absurd antics. Highlights include Cybill Shepherd talking frankly about 'where' Elvis kissed her, Elton John gamely telephoning a spacesuit fetishist called Rocketman and the late government minister Mo Mowlam willingly joining two dogs in matrimony.

The real Graham

Norton’s loyal army of TV viewers has earned him such nicknames as “Mr light-entertainment’, “BBC's Saturday-night superstar” and “the rating giant”. To his nearest and dearest, he is known as something very different - Graham William Walker to be exact, which is the birth name bestowed on him in the maternity ward of a Country Cork hospital on the 4th April 1963. He was forced to concoct a showbiz name because the British acting union, Equity, already had a Graham Walker on its books. He decided to stay true to his family roots by forfeiting Walker for Norton – it was his great-grandmother's maiden name.

School of hard knocks

In 1988, while training at London’s Central School of Speech and Drama, Graham’s showbiz career came close to being cut short before it had begun when he was mugged, stabbed and left for dead by thugs on his way home from a party. He lost half of his body’s blood in the attack, and is thankful to the old lady that came to comfort him as he laid dying on her doorstep: “God love her… instinctively I asked to hold her hand – which I think is a kind of human thing… you don't want to die alone,” Norton poignantly recalled about his near-death ordeal.

Mrs Norton

In his 2005 autobiography, ‘So me’, Graham jovially recalled how he took a fancy to wearing his sister’s dresses as a wee lad – and he has turned occasional stints of gender bending into career defining moments ever since. Norton’s first steps to stardom were as his stand-up drag alter ego – the tea-towel-clad Mother Teresa of Calcutta in the early 90s. In January 2009, he returned to frocks to play Albin (and his drag alter ego, Zaza) in the London stage revival of Jerry Herman’s 1983 Broadway musical ‘La Cage Aux Folles’. Graham’s three-month run in a low-cut red-sequined dress, inch-thick make-up and a big blonde wig received critical acclaim, and left him feeling very content: “Personally, it’s one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done as a job.”

Couture car crash

Any talk of Norton being an upstanding man of the cloth will invariably be a reference to his role as Craggy Island’s hyperactive Father Noel Furlong in the 90s hit sitcom ‘Father Ted’ – not his nose for well-appointed fashion. In fact, Graham’s gregarious mix-and-mismatch of fabrics, shades and ostentatious designer clobber has made a lasting impression – in 2003 he was crowned ‘Britain’s Worst Dressed Man’ by ‘GQ’ magazine, and he tends to be a high-ranker on many celebrity what-not-to-wear lists. “There was one premiere where I had on Versace trousers, a Gaultier chiffon shirt and silver Dolce & Gabbana rosary beads. A classic example of less is more,” jested good-humoured Graham about one of his finest fashion faux pas.

Michael Jackson connection

The curious but charming white patches in Graham’s hair are not, as many believe, signs of aging. They are in fact a result of the rare skin disorder called vitiligo. Fortunately for Norton, his loss of natural pigment is mild, and it is not a condition that haunts him like it did the late Michael Jackson, whose vitiligo-induced change of skin tone sparked malicious rumours that he was bleaching his skin because he hated being black.

Showtune favourite

Graham may be Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s right-hand man in the search for the pitch-perfect Maria for London’s new production of ‘The Sound of Music’, but a Webber-penned composition is not top of Graham’s favourite musical numbers list. Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Rose’s Turn’, the Broadway recording by Patti LuPone to be precise, is Norton’s most cherished showtune of all time.

More problems

Having cracked the dilemma of ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?’, Graham turned his hand to a different kind of troubleshooting – as a tongue-in-cheek agony uncle for the ‘Telegraph’ newspaper. In his latest round of light-hearted counselling, Graham entertained readers with a hefty dose of the trademark acerbic wit that shot him to stardom. In response to Sally from Basingstoke moaning about being the only female failing to attract advances from a lecherous instructor at her gym, Norton ranted: “What other terrible things have happened to you? Did the drunk guy on the Tube vomit on someone else when you were actually sitting closer to him? Getting upset about this man ignoring you at the gym is like a singer getting upset about a bad review written by a deaf person.”

Eurovision victory (and commotion)

In 2009, Graham succeeded fellow Irishman, Terry Wogan, as the commentator on the BBC's ‘Eurovision Song Contest’. Many believed that Wogan’s much-loved wisecracks – on the show he had fronted for 30 years – would make it difficult for any seasoned entertainer to fill the broadcasting veteran’s shoes. But Norton headed to Moscow with a suitcase of witty sarcasm and proved he was the right man for the job. “The bad news is you’re about to watch Albania. She’s only 17 so please bear that in mind. Where was her mother? Why didn’t she step in and say no?” quipped Graham. While his blithe comment raised a smile in many, it backfired with the Albanian community, which called for a formal apology.

Gay royalty

As an out-and-proud celebrity, gay Graham’s various prime-time slots on the TV airwaves have made him a fixture on the ‘Pink List’, a roll call of Britain’s 101 most prominent gay and lesbian movers and shakers compiled annually by the ‘Independent’ newspaper. After his #37 pegging in 2005, Graham’s continuously propelled up the list to peak at #10 in 2008. His nine-position downward slide to #19 in 2009 is considered by many to reflect Mr Norton’s temporary broadcasting blip as the host of the slow-burning BBC weekend show ‘Totally Saturday’.