George Michael's accent inexplicably changed when he was battling pneumonia

The 'White Light' singer - who was born in London - was in a coma for three weeks after falling ill with the potentially life-threatening condition last November and revealed doctors feared he had sustained brain damage after his inflections changed to echo those of a person from Bristol, South West England.

20 July 2012
He said: "My doctors were genuinely worried that I had this condition, it's a genuine thing where people wake from comas speaking French or some other language they learned at school.

"Mine was two days of this vaguely Bristolian accent, and they were worried I could have spoken like that for the rest of my life. They were saying, 'Oh my god, he's got brain damage.'

"Not that there's anything wrong with the West Country accent - but it's a bit weird when you come from north London."

However, George believes his accent changed because before falling ill he had become obsessed with sitcom 'Nighty Night', which is set in Bristol.

He explained to radio station LBC: "The first question the doctors asked me was, 'Do you know who you are?' And apparently the first thing I said was, 'Oi'm the King of the World!' Apparently that's true, though I didn't know it for months afterwards.

"During the tour, I was hanging out with a friend from Australia, and our most bonding experience was watching episodes of 'Nighty Night' over and over. It's the funniest thing I have ever seen.

"We spent a lot of time doing funny impressions of the main character. And - I swear this is true - I came out of my coma talking in her West Country accent.

"I scared everyone when I woke up because I basically did two days' worth of stand-up comedy based on 'Nighty Night' in this bizarre West Country accent."

© 2013 Bang Showbiz, NZCity