Windswept & Interesting: My Autobiography

Product Information

Reading this book gave me so many more insights into his life and work and made me respect him all the more. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end.

In the book Billy, and in a December 2008 online interview, Connolly states he was sexually abused by his father between the ages of 10 and 15. Like many of Connolly's live performances, there's a few chaotic tangents in this autobiography, but it remains entertaining throughout. Unlike other celeb books, this book doesn’t come across as a vanity project although it is indeed Billy’s story, but he intercepts it with jokes and anecdotes, much the way he does on stage.I certainly learnt a bit about the man, his childhood, his trade, his military experience and the genesis of his career from folk music to comedy. He started working at an early age, became a welder in the shipyards, served in the military, and eventually become a musician, actor, and comedian. Otherwise, the dustjacket is clean The binding is very tight, and the interior is unmarked and in fine condition.

They say the best comedians have a background of sadness and perhaps this is true - it certainly appears to be in Billy's case, something his psychologist wife and biographer states herself more than once in the book. This book is filled with jokes and humerous anecdotes that soften the darker aspects but a true biography is never all smiles and laughter. Barnum was not only one of the founders of modern day circus performance, he was also the author of the second most printed book of the 19th century. Despite adversity, Connolly holds a consistent sense of optimism with him that can be appreciated and admired by all. I was aware of Billy’s difficult childhood, having read Billy by (his wife) Pamela Stephenson, many years ago.Golden for diehard fans, I’m sure, but for those of us a little less likely to fall under his spell, the looseness becomes something of a distraction. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, 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.