The one lesson I’ve learned from life

Graham Norton

GRAHAM NORTON, 59, has hosted a chat show since 1998, first on Channel 4 and, since 2007, on the BBC. he has homes in London, West Cork and New York, and this year married his partner, film-maker Jonothan McLeod.

YOU HAVE MORE TIME THAN YOU THINK

When I hear of young people panicking over their exam results or not getting a job they wanted and thinking their lives are over, I want to tell them they have more time than they realise. For most of us, life is long and there’s time to reinvent yourself.

I was an out-of-work actor for many years before anything happened in my career. Then I took a bet on myself: in 1992 I stuck a tea towel on my head and went to the edinburgh Fringe with a stand-up comedy show in which I played Mother Teresa of Calcutta. It paid off and I decided to stick with trying to get a career in entertainment.

It took another four years before I was cast in a high-profile acting job, playing Father noel Furlong on Father Ted. Then I segued into chat shows and light entertainment gigs.

But it wasn’t all plain sailing. In 2004, after six years at Channel 4, I went to the U.S. to launch a chat show, The Graham norton effect. It didn’t succeed and it was a big challenge returning to the UK.

Luckily, I co-own a production company, So Television, and it was in all our interests to get my career back on track. eventually, I got into the BBC, hosting variety shows and then the chat show. It’s now on its 30th series and I still really enjoy it.

I became a writer in my 50s, when my first novel, holding, was published [in 2016]. I’d been saying for years that I wanted to write a novel, and eventually it dawned on me that there was only one way to make that happen: to sit down and write. I was nervous about the reception it might get, but it’s gone pretty well.

Who knows what I’ll do next? I’ll be 60 next year and my mother is 90, so I may have 30 years left to try something new. That’s a serious chunk of time.

The Graham Norton Show, Fridays, 10.40pm, BBC One. Graham’s fourth novel, Forever home, is out now (£20, Coronet).