Never turn down an opportunity to shout ‘F*ck them all!’ at the top of your voice. (Billy - Pamela Stephenson)

Member Name: kenjohn

Product:	Billy - Pamela Stephenson
Date:	29/11/01 (228 review reads)
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~ ~ This is an autobiography of arguably the greatest comedy talent to emerge from Scotland in the last 40 years. Billy Connolly, or as he is more affectionately known the world over, “The Big Yin”.
It’s written by his second wife, Pamela Stephenson, herself a comedienne in her own right, and probably best known for her part in the comedy spoof show from the late 1970’s period, “Not The Nine O’clock News”. These days though she is a Doctor of Psychology, having got tired of life on the boards, and going on at a late stage of life to obtain her doctorate.
You might be forgiven for thinking that the book is therefore going to be very heavy going, and full of all the psychiatric “why’s and wherefores” of her husband’s life, but nothing could be further from the truth. Certainly she uses her expertise to expertly analyse some of the contradictions and strange behaviour that go to make up this incredibly funny man, but more than this, it is so obviously a labour of love, written about a husband she totally adores, and the humour of both the author and of her subject shine through in almost every page.

~ ~ I awaited delivery of this book from Amazon with great anticipation, as Billy Connolly has been a favourite singer/comedian/actor of mine from my teenage years in the late 1960’s.
I first came across him when he was playing in a folk group called the “Humblebums” with the musician Gerry Rafferty. (of ‘Baker Street’ fame, and yet another of my long time favourites)
They used to play the pub and club ‘circuit’ in Scotland, and I had one very memorable boozing “session” with the two of them after a gig one evening. It was somebody’s or another’s birthday, (isn’t it always?) and many crates of Newcastle Brown Ale were sank in a hotel suite at some hotel in Corstorphine in Edinburgh, (the Post House?) and the R
20;crack” was only mighty.
Strange looking back now that all three of us became committed non-drinkers, Billy having taken his last drink of alcohol on the 30th December, 1985. (I didn’t even last that long!)

~ ~ This early part of Billy’s show business career is well chronicled in the book, as are his childhood years.
Brought up in a Glasgow tenement by his two maiden aunts, Billy suffered tremendous abuse and deprivation as a child. Mental, physical, and sexual.
His mother walked out on himself and his sister Florence when they were practically babies, to take up with her lover who she had met while his father was overseas in the R.A.F.
On his return, his father William derogated nearly all responsibility for the children to his sisters, but still found the time to homosexually abuse young Billy almost right throughout his most formative years.
As well as this, he was battered from pillar to post both at home (by his Aunt Mona) and at the Catholic boy’s school that he attended.
Much of the evils that were perpetuated in these schools in days gone by were revealed here in the book. A chapter entitled ‘Jesus Is Dead, And It’s Your Fault!’ is dedicated to this. His new teacher Miss Wilson made this horrific revelation to a very frightened and vulnerable young six-year-old Billy on the very first day in his new school.
He spent most of his school years being belted with the “tawse”, a three pronged leather strap used by schoolteachers in Scotland before the banning of corporal punishment, and from which I received many stripes myself.
That Connolly managed to rise above all this social disadvantage, and in fact use much of it in his stage act to provide humour for his audience, is a mind-boggling achievement.
Stephenson suggests though that while he may have come to terms with his upbringing, he has never truly got over it, and to this day still carries the emotional
scars.

~ ~ His early working life as a welder in the Clydebank shipyards is also well covered, and it was here that Billy first truly learned his many varied comedy routines, learning quickly from the rough and ready humour of the Scottish working class.
His love of strange and exotic attire is explored, and in his early showbiz days, his ambitions were no greater than to be the best dressed denim clad figure in Scotland, in order to help him gain the affections of the ladies.
His friendships are explored, with people like Phil Coulter, Gerry Rafferty, (who was also best man at his wedding to his first wife Iris) and Christy Moore. His heroes are revealed. Two of his life long ambitions are to have his picture on the fridge door of Eric Clapton, and to wake up one morning as Keith Richards. (the wrinkly Rolling Stone)
Stephenson writes about his long and abiding friendship with the journalist and broadcaster Michael Parkinson, who gave Billy his ‘big break’ when he appeared on his show in the 1970’s. The chemistry between this two was immediate, and they were boozing buddies of gargantuan proportions. That their friendship has survived into Billy’s sober years says much for the strength of their bond.
Here’s just a little quote from the book from Parkinson.
“Billy was the genuine article,” says Parkinson. “We have a shared background and aspirations……It was like he was talking about my own life. I saw him as a class warrior. There was a political edge to his humour: it was as if he was saying to working class people, ‘Look at me…..If I can do it, you can.’”
For me, this sums up much of the raw appeal of Billy Connolly. His stories are about everyday people and everyday events, that ordinary people can relate to and see the humour in.
That his particular brand of Scottish humour (and VERY broad Scottish/Glasgow accent) have been such a success in
ternationally was a major surprise to the man himself, but maybe this shouldn’t have been so, because people are people the world over, and can relate to his basic humour just as well in places like Australia and the USA as they can in his native Scotland.

~ ~ At the very end of the book is a chapter (after the Epilogue) called Billy’s Desiderata. Here, in a few short sentences, the author sums up many of Billy’s somewhat eccentric (but very funny) views on life in general.
I wont spoil it for you by giving you them all, but here’s a little taster.
“If you must lie about your age, do it in the other direction: tell people you’re ninety-seven and they’ll think you look fuc*ing great.”
“Boo joggers”
“Never turn down an opportunity to shout ‘F*ck them all!’ at the top of your voice.”
“If you haven’t heard a good rumour by 11 AM, start one.”
Oh. Did I forget to mention it? Needless to say, this book is dotted with some fairly choice and descriptive language, of the “fart” and “f*ck” variety. But don’t let this put you off reading it, as it is all very fitting given the nature of the subject.
You’re not getting any more. If you want the rest then your going to have to buy this marvellous read, that comes close to the top of the “mad cabbies best read of 2001” list.

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Billy - Pamela Stephenson
Published by Harper Collins
ISBN 0 00 711091X
List Price: £17.99
Amazon Price: £8.99

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