Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography

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on their first day of work and are advised never to tell their sandwich maker that they liked their cheeses sandwich as they will be "chained to cheese for the rest of their life. In the reader’s diet, books like this can sit well when they find their place in the wider rhythm of reading. I expect the audio book would do this one far greater justice, since the physical book is essentially a transcription, as opposed to a work of prose.

He has outraged certain sectors of audiences, critics and the media with his free use of the word “fuck”. They don’t like his movies where he doesn’t make it to the closing credits and there have been a few of them. Dad was only 5 years older, they were both from the Glasgow area of Scotland (my dad was born near Hamilton, about 16 miles from Glasgow), and they both started their careers as welders.Not entirely unaided, though, for he acknowledges the camaraderie of camping mates and biker gangs where he discovered three things: he could make others laugh, be funny without jokes and the west of Scotland cultural experience was valid subject matter. Billy Connolly has, over the last six decades, unloaded an avalanche of intimate details about his private life.

His upbringing was not ideal, but his willingness to grew in understanding of those who mistreated him shows him to be compassionate. They need to endlessly talk on the phone with others, rather than take the time to reflect and explore their own minds. Naturally I needed a copy in every format I could find but the audiobook is going to be an absolute treat; I can’t wait to hear his laughter. I'm not sure I've ever wanted more happiness for a near-stranger than I wanted for Billy when I'd finished this book. Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA; The Boondock Saints (1999); The Last Samurai (2003); Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004); and The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008).You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. Billy’s whistled out this pastiche of routines, recollections and ricochets (remember, he says the first thing that comes into his head.

I hope I’ve shown a few disbelievers that they should never discount those they think are different, disorganised or distractible. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal. We also meet his first wife and children from that marriage and learn of the heartache and problems of alcohol abuse that had such a telling affect on that relationship. For the very first time, Billy Connolly shares intimate details of his life, in his very own words in a full-length autobiography. This book had it all for me, several pages were just heart-breaking, some were really uplifting and some inspired you to take a walk down memory lane.

The rise of Billy from welder on the Clyde to a folk singing banjo player to a stand-up comedian and film star is the stuff of dreams. I met him twice and have the photos to prove it, including the one where my camera unexpectedly decided it needed a flash. I mentioned listening to this book to my mum, and the first thing she said was “could you understand him”, yes she still remembers trying to decipher the LPs, not easy especially when Billy starts laughing! Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of four, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy’s life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds.

Billy starts at the beginning of his life, yes, but as is the way of a great storyteller, he weaves his way back and forth, the same way in which people do when they’re simply having a yarn. It’s heart stopping to go onstage without having much of a clue what you're going to say, but that’s what I’ve always done. His effortlessly wicked whimsy has entranced, enthralled - and split the sides of - thousands upon thousands of adoring audiences. However, and at the risk of sounding morbid, this is essentially Connolly’s final written testament: the ultimate account of his extraordinary life, recorded for posterity. The structure of the book is interesting, with a vignette from the present introducing a segment of the past.Pamela Stephenson, Billy's wife and biographer, tells the story of the 'Big Yin' (Scottish for the 'Big One'), from his childhood up to 2001, when the book was published. He does so in a self-deprecating, warm way, that only sometimes veers off course into somewhat uninteresting (for me anyway) banalities and trivia, such as his favourite TV programs. And the Parachute Regiment and working as a welder in the shipyards - after school, the church and family had all failed him - made him feel “like I belonged in the world, that I was no longer prey … I felt like a successful human, a man”. There are laughs in the book as Connolly riffs on various likes (biscuits, getting his bum out, fishing, babies, snow globes, cowboy boots, Chic Murray, the hairy-nosed wombat) and dislikes (musicals, wholemeal bread, religious piety, board games).