Billy Connolly Popular Books
Billy Connolly Biography & Facts
Sir William Connolly (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish retired comedian, actor, artist, musician, and television presenter. He is sometimes known by the Scots nickname the Big Yin ("the Big One"). Known for his idiosyncratic and often improvised observational comedy, frequently including strong language, Connolly has topped many UK polls as the greatest stand-up comedian of all time. In 2022 he received the BAFTA Fellowship for lifetime achievement from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. Connolly's trade, in the early 1960s, was that of a welder (specifically a boilermaker) in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue a career as a folk singer. He first sang in the folk rock band The Humblebums with Gerry Rafferty and Tam Harvey, with whom he stayed until 1974, before beginning singing as a solo artist. In the early 1970s, Connolly made the transition from folk singer with a comedic persona to fully-fledged comedian, for which he is now best known. In 1972, he made his theatrical debut, at the Cottage Theatre in Cumbernauld, with a revue called Connolly's Glasgow Flourish. He also played the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In 1972, Connolly's first solo album, Billy Connolly Live!, was produced, with a mixture of comedic songs and short monologues. In 1975 he topped the UK Singles Chart with "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." As an actor, Connolly has appeared in various films, including Water (1985), Indecent Proposal (1993), Pocahontas (1995), Muppet Treasure Island (1996), Mrs Brown (1997) (for which he was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role), The Boondock Saints (1999), The Last Samurai (2003), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008), Brave (2012), and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). On his 75th birthday in 2017, three portraits of Connolly were made by leading artists Jack Vettriano, John Byrne, and Rachel Maclean. These were later turned into part of Glasgow's official mural trail. In October that year, he was knighted at Buckingham Palace by Prince William, for services to entertainment and charity. Connolly announced his retirement from comedy in 2018, and in recent years he has established himself as an artist. In 2020, he unveiled the fifth release from his Born on a Rainy Day collection in London, followed by another instalment later that year and has subsequently issued another five collections. During the filming of the ITV documentary Billy Connolly: It's Been a Pleasure, he described how art had given him "a new lease of life". Early life Connolly was born on 24 November 1942 at 69 Dover Street, "on the linoleum, three floors up", in Anderston, Glasgow. This section of Dover Street, between Breadalbane and Claremont streets, was demolished in the 1970s. Connolly refers to this in his 1983 song "I Wish I Was in Glasgow" with the lines "I would take you there and show you but they've pulled the building down" and "they bulldozed it all to make a road". The flat had only two rooms: a kitchen-living room, with a recess where the children slept, and another room for their parents. The family bathed in the kitchen sink, and there was no hot water. Connolly was born to Catholic parents, William Connolly and Mary McLean, both of whom were of partly Irish descent. In 1946, when he was four years old, Connolly's mother left her children while their father was serving as an engineer in the Royal Air Force in Burma. "I've never felt abandoned by her," Connolly explained in 2009. "My mother was a teenager. My father was in Burma, fighting a bloody war. The Germans were dropping all sorts of crap on the town. We lived at the docks, so that's where all the bombs were happening. She was a teenager with two kids in a slum. A guy comes along and says, 'I love you. Come with me.' Given the choice, I think I'd have gone with him. It looks as though it might all end next Wednesday, from where you're standing. I don't have an ounce of feelings that she abandoned me. She tried to survive." Connolly and his older sister, Florence (named after their maternal grandmother, and eighteen months his senior), were cared for by his father's two sisters, Margaret and Mona Connolly, in their cramped tenement in Stewartville Street, Partick. "My aunts constantly told me I was stupid, which still affects me today pretty badly. It's just a belief that I'm not quite as good as anyone else. It gets worse as you get older. I'm a happy man now but I still have the scars of that." Regarding his sister, Connolly has called her his "great defender". "To this day," he explained in 2009, "Guys say, 'God, your sister... We didn't dare beat you up – your sister was a nightmare'. She used to get after them." In the mid-1960s, Flo was on holiday in Dunoon with her husband and two children. "My mother said, 'I saw Florence walking along, and I followed her.'" "I said, 'Did you speak to her?' 'Oh, no, I didn't,' she said. I thought, 'Oh, my god. It's like being a ghost while you're still alive.' Walking behind your own child. Having a look. I couldn't bear that." The aunts resented the children for the fact that they had to sacrifice their young lives to look after them. It was Mona who was troubled the most by having to care for her niece and nephew. "It was very big of her to take on the responsibility, but having said that, I wish people wouldn't do that. I wish people wouldn't be very big for five minutes and rotten for twenty years. Just keep your 'big' and keep your 'rotten' and get out of my life, because, quite frankly, I would rather have gone to a children's home and be with a lot of other kids being treated the same. To this day, I'm still working on the things she did to me." Connolly credits one of John Bradshaw's publications with helping him deal with his past demons. "He reckons that if this trauma happened to you when you were five or six then, emotionally, that part of you remains five or six. And what you have to do is carry that five- or six-year-old around with you and try and emotionally help that other part of you. It sounds a bit airy-fairy, but I think he's something of a genius, Mr Bradshaw." His father returned from the war a stranger to his children shortly after the move to Partick. He never spoke to them about their mother's departure. Connolly's biography, Billy, written by wife Pamela Stephenson, documented years of physical and sexual abuse by his father, which began when he was ten and lasted until he was about 15. "Sometimes, when father hit me, I flew over the settee backwards in a sitting position. It was fabulous. Just like real flying, except you didn't get a cup of tea or a safety belt or anything." In 1949, Mona gave birth to a son, Michael, by a "local man". He was presented as a brother to Billy and Flo, and nobody questioned it. Connolly's bedroom had double windows, which directly faced St Peter's Primary School across.... Discover the Billy Connolly popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Billy Connolly books.
Best Seller Billy Connolly Books of 2024
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Thanks For Nothing
Jack DeeComedian Jack Dee's hilarious account of how he became quite such a miserable git and a stand up comedian.'A brilliant book. So funny. It's my bible' Paul O'GradyIn this hilariousl...
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Shared Notes
Martin HayesMartin Hayes spent his childhood on a farm in County Clare, in a household steeped in musical tradition. After a freespirited youth, he headed to the United States where he built a...
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Military Blunders
Saul DavidRetelling the most spectacular cockups in military history, this graphic account has a great deal to say about the psychology of military incompetence and the reasons even the most...
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As Good As It Gets
Romesh Ranganathan'One of the funniest people in the world. Annoyingly talented at everything he does which includes writing books. As Good As it Gets is hilarious.' Rob BeckettConfronted by the re...
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Straight Outta Crawley
Romesh RanganathanTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERStraight Outta Crawley is the hilarious and irreverent autobiography from comedian Romesh Ranganathan.'Very, very funny. I can't recommend it highly enou...
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A Different Stage
Gary BarlowTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERJoin national treasure Gary Barlow as he opens the curtains on his remarkable life in this stunning autobiography, from his fascinating early life to his...
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Puckoon
Spike MilliganDISCOVER PUCKOON, SPIKE MILLIGAN'S CLASSIC SLAPSTICK NOVEL 'Pops with the erratic brilliance of a careless match in a box of fireworks' Daily MailIn 1924 the Boundary Commission is...
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Made In Scotland
Billy ConnollyTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Where do you come from? It's one of the most basic human questions of all. But there is another question, which might sound a wee bit similar but is act...
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Behind the Lens
David SuchetDaily Mail Showbiz Memoir of the Year'A beautiful book' Chris Evans'Terrifically entertaining' Mail on Sunday'An arresting photographic voyage through the life and loves of this en...
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Truth Be Told
Linda RobsonTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING HILARIOUS AND HEARTFELT MEMOIR FROM LINDA ROBSONLinda Robson’s nickname is Baggy Mouth for good reason.She may be one of the nation’s favourite TV pers...
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Son of a Silverback
Russell Kane'Brilliantly written. Very funny and heartbreaking.' Davina McCallFrom one of Britain's most popular and prolific comedians comes a hilarious and deeply moving memoir of life lived...
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What We Did On Our Holiday
John HardingThirtysomethings Nick and Laura have been married for 10 years and things aren't going well. She senses her biological clock ticking away and wants children while he doesn't. Not b...
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The Best of Matt 2021
Matt Pritchett'Matt is an Adorable Genius' Jilly CooperThe last twelve months seen through the eyes of the brilliantly funny cartoonist Matt the perfect Christmas gift.'No one can be funny ever...
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Tall Tales and Wee Stories
Billy ConnollyTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Connolly's raucous run through his life is as furious, funny and foulmouthed as you'd expect' Sunday TimesIn December 2018, after fifty years of bellyla...
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Crap CVs
Jenny CromptonA HILARIOUS COMPILATION OF THE WORST JOB APPLICATIONS IMAGINABLE A PERFECT STOCKING FILLER OR OFFICE SECRET SANTA GIFT THIS CHRISTMAS. Ever read a truly terrible job application? ...
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The Mammoth Book of Great British Humour
Michael PowellA doorstopper of a collection of the very best of both contemporary and classic British wit and humour. From Monty Python's 'Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more . . .' to Dan An...
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Golf on the Rocks
Gary SutherlandGary Sutherland was a lapsed golfer, until he acquired his late dad's putter. After studying a crumpled golf map of Scotland, Gary decided to embark on a voyage. His target was to ...
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Cold Comfort Farm
Stella GibbonsOne of the BBC's '100 Novels That Shaped Our World''Brilliant ... very probably the funniest book ever written' Sunday TimesWhen sensible, sophisticated Flora Poste is orphaned at...
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Bonkers
Jennifer SaundersTHE HILARIOUS, TOUCHING LIFE STORY OF THE ICONIC COMEDIAN AND NATIONAL TREASURE 'Fabulous? Yes. Funny? Absolutely' Mail on SundayJennifer Saunders' comic creations have brought joy...
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My Animals, and Other Animals
Bill Bailey'I'm always wary of llamas. They're mischievous and smart. I get a sense, when I approach them, that they are conferring . . . as if to say, 'That's that bloke off the telly.'Bill ...
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Nothing Significant To Report
Dario NustriniLaughoutloud yarns from a soldier in the New Zealand ArmyWhen new recruit Dario Nustrini's head was freshly shaved in preparation for the army, he knew nothing about what training ...
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Dear Fatty
Dawn FrenchA SUNDAY TIMES NUMBER ONE BESTSELLERThe hilarious and heartwarming memoir from one of Britain's bestloved comedians and Women's Prize longlisted author, Dawn French.Dawn French is ...
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Castaway
Lucy IrvineTHE SHOCKING STORY OF A DESERT ISLAND DREAM THAT WENT SOUR'Writer seeks "wife" for a year on tropical island.' The opportunity to escape from it all was irresistible. Lucy Irvine ...
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I Left My Tent in San Francisco
Emma KennedyIt's 1989, and Emma and her best friend Dee head to the USA to make their fortune. But completely inept and virtually unemployable, they discover that they can't even get a job in ...
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Leeds United
Gary EdwardsHe made you cry with laughter with Paint It White, now the celebrated Leedssupporting, cartoondrawing, paintinganddecorating eccentric Gary Edwards is back. It turns out that his f...
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Australia According To Hoges
Paul HoganStories and yarns about my favourite bits of Down UnderPaul Hogan's ancestors were a couple of Irish blowins who arrived in the colony of New South Wales by boat, with a little ass...
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That Moment When
Mo GilliganCome on my journey. Look at where man's come from. I was working in retail in 2017.You might know Mo as the critically acclaimed standup comedian, BAFTAwinning presenter, Masked Si...
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The Tent, the Bucket and Me
Emma KennedyEmma Kennedy's hilarious memoir of wet and windy family trips, NOW ADAPTED FOR THE MAJOR BBC ONE SERIES THE KENNEDYS. For the 70s child, summer holidays didn't mean the joy of Cen...
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Odd Boy Out
Gyles BrandrethThe compelling, witty and remarkably honest autobiography from beloved star of Just a Minute, QI, Have I Got News For You and Celebrity GoggleboxTHE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER'Hilario...
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How to Grow Old
John BishopSUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERWhether he likes it or not, John is getting older. His hair is greying, it’s getting that much harder to stay fit, and the potential to become something of a...
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The Life of Dai
Dai HenwoodA deeply moving and profoundly uplifting story about living with joy, even in the face of adversity.'Part memoir and part masterclass in finding hope and joy in the face of unthink...
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On The Slow Train
Michael Williams'A trip back in time' DAILY TELEGRAPHA love of railways, a love of history, a love of nostalgia.Get ready to board the slow train to another era, to a time when travel meant more t...