Doctors were stunned when an Englishman awoke from a brain operation in the UK and started speaking with a thick Irish accent.

Chris Gregory was born and bred in Sheffield, Yorkshire, and has no family ties with Ireland.

But when he came round after three days on a life support machine in the intensive care unit, he spoke in a Dublin accent for almost half an hour.

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Seeing his wife Mary standing at his bedside, the 30-year-old landscape gardener said: "You're the fabbest girl I know", and sung her a version of 'Danny Boy'.

But his accent had disappeared by the time relatives arrived at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital the following day.

Now totally recovered, Chris and his new wife are planning to take a trip across the Irish Sea for the first time.

Mary, 36, said: "I just couldn't take it in at first, it seemed so comical, but it didn't matter at all because I'd been so worried about losing him altogether.

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

Specialists have linked the phenomenon to a little-known condition called Foreign Accent Syndrome which can affect the control of the lips, tongue and vocal cords in extremely-rare neurological cases.

Mr Gregory said: "I just don't a remember a thing about it - I wish I'd been able to listen to it all, but I don't have any recollection of what happened when I came round.

"I've never had any connection with Ireland or the Irish people, that's what makes it so odd, but I'm looking forward to going over there for the first time."

The syndrome was first discovered and named in Norway in 1941 when a young woman injured in a bombing raid woke up speaking with a German accent.

This article is from The Belfast Telegraph