As part of the London Literary Festival this Q&A with Graham Norton hosted by Jack Guinness(The Queer Bible) is just one of many that has brought academic giants to the Southbank Centre as well as those from the culture of celebrity(Rylan), which is the perfect mix for the capital’s greatest community centre, writes Michael Holland.
Norton came on and immediately revealed that he had recently got married before talking us through his life in Ireland and London and where that journey has taken him.
I was surprised at how little I actually knew about our best chat show host. Yes, I knew he’d been in the legendary Father Ted sitcom a couple of times, but was fascinated to hear how that transformed into having his own talk show and attracting the world’s top stars to his couch.
Without a doubt Norton’s own character, sense of humour and attitude to life have been crucial to his rise in TV, but I do not think I am alone in not knowing that he has written two autobiographies and four novels.
His latest, Forever Home, casts a light on the relationship between mothers and daughters, and truth and self-preservation, and tonight was one stop on his UK book tour.
The book was inspired by his father’s Parkinson’s Disease and he says that some of the characters were based on real people. The host worked out that the Colin character was an amalgam of all the former partners from Graham’s ‘string of failed relationships’ and one lady was suspiciously like his 91-year-old mother.
The second half had Norton telling anecdotes from his career: the company that offered to provide wine for his show’s green room, which was accepted, but who then put in their advertising, ‘… as drunk by Gwyneth Paltrow, Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise – all the guests I’d have on my show!’ The company became very big on the back of this legerdemain and eventually asked Graham to put his name to the brand. He did.
There were hilarious tales of Judy Dench turning up at gay club Heaven, Liza Minnelli’s wedding, Michael Jackson eating alone behind a wall of security men, Miriam Margolyes passing wind for fun in public, and Dolly Parton putting on her show at Dollywood on the day of 9/11: ‘Her president is hiding in a bunker and she’s singing Islands In The Stream to her fans!’
He was very ‘diplomatic’ when talking about Madonna…
It was an excellent night that made me love and appreciate Graham Norton even more.
And I bought the book.
More festival info: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/festivals-series/london-literature-festival?
