Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography

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There are also plenty of laugh-out-loud moments such as the hilarious “murdered my wife” joke he told on an appearance on the Michael Parkinson show in the 1970s (You can find it on YouTube). It is a lovely book and as I was brought up in Aberdeenshire, Scotland a lot that was written rang true for me too. They don’t like his movies where he doesn’t make it to the closing credits and there have been a few of them. And that’s presumably why the book unfolds in the conversational, digressive style of his live shows.

I was fascinated reading about the making of the man and learning of his background and experiences.He is the recipient of a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award and is regularly voted the nation's favourite stand-up comedian. The Big Yin's childhood combined abuse, neglect and poverty, a story told with page-turning compassion by his wife, who goes on to chronicle his rise to fame and fortune until 2002. His effortlessly wicked whimsy has entranced, enthralled - and split the sides of - thousands upon thousands of adoring audiences. 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. We know all about Connolly’s comic timing from his long psychedelic rambles but how about this sentence for tragic timing: “My father sexually abused me for years.

Of course, there were the usual hilarious moments and I found myself laughing out loud, much to the fright of the cat who wondered what the crazy human was doing curled up on the floor. One minute you are reading how he was taken in by his aunts after his mother left, the next you are reading about giant spiders and baby rhinoceros.I read his wife's book many years ago, so I knew of some of the elements he spoke of but it was a totally different experience hearing it from his own point of view. You don’t know where you’re going but your path is laden with gems and rose petals of funny stuff that makes people scream and clap.

Sometimes, before reading a book, I will look through a few reviews, mainly to get an overall opinion. It’s a moniker Connolly revels in and believes is an accurate description of a type of person he identifies with: someone with their own individual style and who doesn’t give a fuck (excuse my language, but I am paraphrasing Billy) what anyone else thinks. And that was the hippie thing as well, just choosing your clothes, wearing policemen’s capes and big hats with snakeskin bands. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal. Through books like those I found proof that you can think for yourself, that you don’t need to fit into ‘the system’ like a piece of Lego.

I got myself a leather chair because I thought it would squeak by itself and cover the farting … but nothing covers these thunderclaps. In a 1999 interview with “The Sunday Herald” Connolly condemned the SNP as “racist” and the new Scottish parliament as a “joke”. Like Billy, I really only need one book that I can read every month and it will be like reading a new book each time as my information retention is pretty useless. I grew up and was aware of this comedian and over the years I have then watched his travelogue shows.