George Harrison’s life was saved by Beatles legend’s lyrics during knife attack

Back in 1999, two years before his death from cancer, George Harrison and his wife Olivia Harrison were attacked by an intruder at their home in Henley-on-Thames. Michael Abram stabbed the Beatles legend dozens of times including in his chest, but luckily the star survived the attack. In a new BBC Radio 3 interview set to broadcast on Sunday, Olivia has shared how her late husband’s music lyrics literally saved his life. According to The Mirror , she told Private Passions: ‘He had notes in a pocket right over his heart and he had them folded. ‘You can only fold paper so many times.’ George and Olivia Harrison (Image: GETTY) Olivia continued: ‘He had them folded and stuck in the pocket and it’s what saved him… Gardening notes and lyrics were his passions and they saved his life.’ On attacking Abram with a lamp to defend Harrison, his 75-year-old pacifist widow said: ‘I had to react. I would not be talking to you now [if I hadn’t]. In the brutality of that knife attack was also the fact you have to renounce what you believe and fight back.’ George Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001 (Image: GETTY) Olivia added: ‘That is a moment you think, ‘Am I pacifist? Could I harm someone?’. You think ‘Never’ and suddenly you have to lay down that mantle. You have to put it aside. That is brutal.’ Abram was cleared of attempted murder on grounds of insanity and was detained at a secure hospital. Harrison died of lung cancer on November 29, 2001 aged 58.