George Michael woke from his three week coma with a strong West Country accent, the singer has revealed on Radio 2.
The former Wham! frontman revealed to Chris Evans on his breakfast show that he had told nurses, "I'm the king of the world!" in a Bristolian accent. "They were worried I had this condition where people wake from comas speaking French or some other language", he says. "Mine was two days of this vague Bristolian accent and they were afraid I'd have it for life". The condition is referred to as Foreign Accent Syndrome where sufferers acquire a speech impediment as the result of brain damage (such as a stroke or head trauma) which causes their accent and/or language to dramatically change. Michael, 48, quickly said there was 'nothing wrong' with the accent but that it was rather strange as he was from London. Whilst no medical explanation has been put forward, Michael puts it down to previously watching a lot of the Bbc sitcom 'Nighty Night' featuring Julia Davis from Somerset.
The 'Faith' hitmaker fell into the coma following an attack of pneumonia; symptoms of which he had displayed for weeks having had to cancel a gig at the Royal Albert Hall due to a soaring temperature and heart rate, but which he chose to ignore and continue with his European tour. "One afternoon I was having lunch and suddenly felt really odd and said to everyone that I need to go and lay down for half an hour on my own. And that's the last thing I remember for five weeks", he explains. He also revealed that, waking from the coma left his life hanging in the balance, he had to learn to walk again and felt like he had 'just dodged a bullet.'