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The inside story of the one of the most successful British stand-up comedians, as told by the person best qualified to reveal all about the man behind the comic, his wife of 10 years – Pamela Stephenson.
Once in a lifetime, there strides upon the stage someone who can truly be called a legend. Such a one is the inimitable, timeless genius who is Billy Connolly. His effortlessly wicked whimsy has entranced, enthralled – and split the sides of – thousands upon thousands of adoring audiences.
And when he isn't doing that...he's turning in award-winning performances on film and television.
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.
How did this happen, who is the real Billy Connolly? Only one person can answer that question; his wife, Pamela Stephenson, knows the truth about life on the comedy circuit, how Billy works – and plays – and what it's like to live with him.
In this extraordinary book, she combines the very personal with a frank objectivity that makes for a compellingly moving – yet hugely entertaining – biography. This is the real Billy Connolly.
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Review:
Billy Connolly is loud, hilarious and contradictory. His biography, written by his wife, former comedian and practising psychotherapist Pamela Stephenson, is pretty much the same. Over the years Connolly has grown from Glasgow shipyard welder to folk-singing beardy hard man (yes there is such a thing) to darling of the good and great (or at least famous) around the world. That he is so many things to so many people while in no way compromising his core self can only be good. It would be no mean feat for Stephenson, then, to pen a history to that would satisfy Connolly audiences of fans and contemporaries from all periods of his life's journey. In most places, but in truth, not all, the author manages to do this well.
Review:
The first half of the biography is somewhat anthropological in tone. Not surprisingly, a post-war Glasgow upbringing is somewhat alien to the antipodean author and Stephenson errs towards Angela's Ashes intonation as she describes her husband's tenement childhood (Scots readers may also find her regular translation of seemingly self-explanatory Scots phrases--which Connolly would use--obtuse). In contrast her examination of her experience of living with the comedian and his life from that point on is much better. Anecdotes which Connolly uses in his live shows pepper the text and laughs are raised as he tells of the time he was mistaken as a drug dealer on Speyside, of his cheeky friendships with cinema's elite and even through the more difficult times; the difficulty of balancing an almost manic humour with a troubled life. Pages turn quickly as we grow to understand more of what makes the man tick.
Certainly fans of Billy Connolly will enjoy this book. It is not perfect but it is certainly entertaining and should fill a gap in the market until Billy--with his half-remembered stories and off-centre view of the world--decides to let us into his head as well as his history. There's surely one ideal way to do this and that's by writing his story himself. --Helen Lamont
‘Searingly honest, it’s an engrossing story told with all the winning warmth and insight we have come to expect from clinical psychologist and former comedian, Pamela.’ Woman’s Weekly
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- PublisherHarper Collins
- Publication date2002
- ISBN 10 0007659725
- ISBN 13 9780007659722
- BindingPaperback
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