We all know Billy Connolly from his years at the top of the comedy
food chain and his legendary TV appearances on the likes of
Parkinson. Few, however, can claim to know him as well as Pamela
Stephenson, Connolly's wife, the erstwhile Antipodean comedienne
and practising clinical psychologist who puts it all down on paper
in this enjoyable although often harrowing biography. Conditions
ranged from bleak to brutal in the reeking Glaswegian tenements
where Connolly spent his childhood; his father was away at war when
his mother left him and his sister Florence to be looked after by
his two aunts. School memories are peppered with examples of the
cruel corporal punishment that anyone educated in less liberal
times can remember with a wince, and home life fared little better
for the 'Big Yin'. The mental and physical violence meted out by
his unhinged aunt was eventually replaced by his father's sexual
abuse which he endured for five years from the age of ten.
Salvation came at the hands of rock 'n' roll, and he went to work
in the shipyards of the River Clyde. The merciless ribbing of his
fellow shipyard workers was the perfect place for Connolly to
sharpen his legendary wit, and coincided with the developing social
conscience that would inform his comedy over the years. A gallery
of great photographs enhance the text in this award-winning
biography, ranging from the fuzzy images of the 1940s through some
unfortunate '70s sartorial errors to a clearly delighted Connolly
opening the new Glasgow Celtic grandstand in 1999. A bit wearing on
the occasions when Stephenson forgets to remove her psychologist's
hat, it's nonetheless the compelling story of a survivor, a true
hero for many, who went from welder to world-renowned entertainer
without ever forgetting where he came from. (Kirkus UK)
'Who is the real Billy Connolly?'
He's the man who needs no introduction, and yet he is the ultimate enigma. From a troubled and desperately poor childhood in the docklands of Glasgow he is now the intimate of household names the world over. But who is the man behind the myth?
'If anyone knows Billy Connolly better than himself, it's his wife, Pamela Stephenson.'
In this extraordinary book, she combines the very personal with the very frank objectivity that makes for a compellingly moving – yet hugely entertaining – biography.
''This' is the real Billy Connolly'
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