Guess which king of chat was right up Mary’s street

THEY’RE two of Ireland’s most famous broadcasters, and now it turns out they were once neighbours. Both Mary Kennedy and Graham Norton lived at St Bridget’s Road in Clondalkin, Dublin, in the 1960s.

Though nine years apart in age, the pair were on waving terms for 10 years until Graham left for Cork.

Mary, pictured, who has retired from RTÉ, remembers the BBC host’s family: ‘I didn’t know him really. I remember his mother. We always used to say hello to her.’

Both went on to host their own chat shows. Coincidentally, Mary also hosted the 1995 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin and Graham has been covering it for the BBC since 2009.

Former Nationwide presenter Mary shares details of her life with Brendan Courtney on RTÉ’s Keys to My Life tonight at 8.30pm.

She reveals she is downsizing from her home of 20 years in Dublin’s Knocklyon and moving a kilometre down the road. She says: ‘I don’t move far. I love where I live. I love my neighbours and also, my children grew up there.’

They also visit the house she moved to after her marriage broke down. ‘When sad things happen, it’s about moving forward, relying on support and not expecting too much from yourself,’ Mary says.

She also reveals her regret that her father, who died of a heart attack at 59, did not live to see her TV career: ‘He would’ve absolutely loved it.’