AT the age of seven or eight, Billy Connolly made a fateful decision: he sat in a puddle in the playground of his school in Partick. He found this made people laugh, and thought that rather pleasant. He went on to make life more lightsome for millions around the world.
Now, at 74, he has been awarded a knighthood. Honours for comedians are few and far between, and it is an even rarer knight of the realm whose footwear has been made of bananas.
But this will be a popular decision, particularly since of late Connolly has become an inspirational figure, admirable in the way he has dealt with debilitating illness.
From the start, the former shipyard boilermaker knew the secret of making it big in comedy was to go a bit over the top and, while his ribaldry and unorthodox interpretation of the crucifixion made some enemies, his gift largely left the nation giggling.
Not just a comedian, but a movie actor and fine fingerpicker of the banjo, his services to entertainment are well worthy of recognition in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, in which author JK Rowling is also recognised.
Connolly has come a long way since that fateful day in a Partick puddle when he was first drawn to comedy, to today when – as he himself might put it – “the knights are fair drawin’ in”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel