Yorkshireman 'turns Irish after surgery'

A man who was born-and-bred in Yorkshire woke up after brain surgery speaking in a Dublin accent and singing Irish favourite 'Danny Boy', it has emerged.

Chris Gregory surprised his then-fiancé Mary by exclaiming "It's da broid" in an Irish tone when he regained conciousness after the procedure at Royal Hallamshire Hospital in December 2007, the Daily Mail reports.

Mary said: "I couldn't believe it when I walked into the ward and heard someone singing 'Danny Boy' really loud.

"It sounded like a drunken Irishman, and all the racket seemed to be coming from the direction of Chris's bed."

She added: "Chris's Yorkshire accent had vanished completely, and he was talking like an Irishman all the time.

"At one point he looked at me adoringly and said, 'You're da fabbest gal oi know!' with a perfect Irish lilt in his voice."

Gregory, who has no family or work connections to Ireland, soon recovered from the rare neurological condition dubbed Foreign Accent Syndrome and had no memory of the incident.