Editing Graham Norton (section)

==Early life and education==
Norton was born Graham William Walker on 4 April 1963, at 48 St Brigid's Road, in [[Clondalkin]], County Dublin, Ireland,<ref>{{cite news |date=3 September 2004 |title=A Corkman? Not so Graham Norton |url=https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/yourview/arid-10033582.html |access-date=1 January 2022 |work=[[Irish Examiner]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=27 February 1999 |title=Our Graham |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/our-graham-1.157731 |access-date=1 January 2022 |newspaper=The Irish Times}}</ref> to William "Billy" (died 2000), a sales representative for [[Guinness]], and Rhoda Walker. He has an older sister, Paula (born 1959). Because of his father's job, he and his family moved around Ireland throughout his early childhood; they lived in [[Tramore]], then [[Waterford]], then [[Kilkenny]], before settling in the town of [[Bandon, County Cork]], where he grew up. He was raised in a [[Church of Ireland]] family, and has said that he felt somewhat isolated growing up as a [[Protestantism in the Republic of Ireland|Protestant]] in the [[Catholic Church in Ireland|predominantly Catholic]] south of Ireland. His father's family were from [[County Wicklow]], while his mother is a native of [[Belfast]].<ref name="WDYTYA">[http://www.bbc.co.uk/whodoyouthinkyouare/past-stories/graham-norton.shtml "Graham Norton"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100727061148/http://www.bbc.co.uk/whodoyouthinkyouare/past-stories/graham-norton.shtml|date=27 July 2010}}. ''Who Do You Think You Are?''</ref> He discovered during a 2007 episode of the genealogy series [[Who Do You Think You Are? (British TV series)|''Who Do You Think You Are?'']] that his father's direct ancestors were English, having originated in [[Yorkshire]] before emigrating to Ireland in 1713.<ref name="WDYTYA" />

Norton was educated at [[Bandon Grammar School]] in County Cork and then [[University College Cork]], where he spent two years studying English and French in the 1980s. He did not complete his studies after having a breakdown and refusing to leave his flat.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Rainey |first=Sarah |date=10 May 2013 |title=Graham Norton: the making of a national treasure |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/baftas/10049417/Graham-Norton-the-making-of-a-national-treasure.html |access-date=9 December 2019 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref> He later received an honorary doctorate from the university in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 June 2013 |title=That's Dr Norton to you – comic gets honorary degree |url=http://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/thats-dr-norton-to-you-comic-gets-honorary-degree-29329630.html |access-date=11 June 2013 |website=[[Irish Independent]]}}</ref>

In 1981, Norton featured in an episode of [[RTÉ]]'s ''Youngline'', participating in an audience debate about underage teens attending discos.<ref name="[[The Guardian]]">{{cite news |last=O'Keeffe |first=Chloe |date=18 July 2022 |title='Always a bit of a dish' -- Fans react to resurfaced clip of Graham Norton from 1981 |url=https://extra.ie/2022/07/18/entertainment/celebrity/graham-norton-throwback-rte |accessdate=15 October 2023 |work=[[DMG Media|Extra.ie]]}}</ref> In 1983, Norton travelled to San Francisco where he lived for one year, in the "Stardance" hippie commune house,<ref name="theguardian/2007/11/18/bbc.television">{{cite news |last1=Ellen |first1=Barbara |date=18 November 2007 |title=The name's Norton. Graham Norton. |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2007/nov/18/bbc.television |access-date=26 August 2023 |work=The Observer}}</ref><ref name="bbcamerica/1013084">{{cite news |date=2 October 2019 |title=10 Things You Never Knew About Graham Norton |url=https://www.bbcamerica.com/blogs/10-things-you-never-knew-about-graham-norton--1013084 |access-date=26 August 2023 |work=bbcamerica.com}}</ref><ref name="mamamia/graham-norton">{{cite news |last1=Vnuk |first1=Helen |date=13 June 2021 |title="Borderline" alcoholism and a near-fatal stabbing. The fascinating life of Graham Norton. |url=https://www.mamamia.com.au/graham-norton/ |access-date=26 August 2023 |work=[[Mamamia (website)|Mamamia]]}}</ref><ref name="ebar/222970">{{cite news |last1=Julian |first1=Robert |date=5 January 2010 |title=Good to be bad |url=https://www.ebar.com/story.php?222970 |access-date=26 August 2023 |work=Bay Area Reporter |location=San Francisco, CA}}</ref> on Fulton Street and worked as a waiter.<ref name="tv.apple/graham-norton">{{cite web |title=Graham Norton Movies and Shows |url=https://tv.apple.com/us/person/graham-norton/umc.cpc.12yylqk3c9jspw3yeo0c6jeqx |access-date=26 August 2023 |publisher=Apple TV |quote=He studied English and French at University College, Cork in the 1980s but dropped out after two years to travel the world. Norton landed in San Francisco, where he shared a communal house with other free spirits. While there, he also explored his sexual identity, taking both male and female companions, but eventually declared himself gay, due in part to the fact that most of the people in his life already assumed that he was openly gay. Norton returned to the United Kingdom in the late 1980s and studied at the University of London's Central School of Speech and Drama, where he struggled with playing heterosexual roles.}}</ref> In the late 1980s he moved to London to attend the [[Central School of Speech and Drama]].<ref name="eveningstandard">{{Cite news |last=Jones |first=Liz |date=3 September 2004 |title=Graham's growing pains |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/grahams-growing-pains-7232416.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121002234500/http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/grahams-growing-pains-7232416.html |archive-date=2 October 2012 |access-date=28 November 2011 |work=[[Evening Standard]]}}</ref> He again found work as a waiter during that period.<ref>''The F Word'', Season 4 Episode 12</ref> Upon joining the actors' union [[Equity (trade union)|Equity]], he chose Norton (his great-grandmother's maiden name) as his new surname, as there was already a comic-actor called [[Graham Walker (actor)|Graham Walker]], represented by the union.<ref name="WDYTYA" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Norton |first=Graham |title=So Me |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |year=2004 |isbn=0-340-83348-3 |page=4}}</ref>