Billy Connolly's early brushes with law before fame to be highlighted in new book
Comedy legend Billy Connolly's early brushes with the law before he found fame are set to be highlighted in a new book.
Bestselling author Colin MacFarlane has written a take on the celebrities Billy has befriended over the years. Sean Connery, Andy Murray, Michael Parkinson, Judi Dench, Steve Martin, Rod Stewart and Michael Caine are among the 200 names who feature in Sir Billy Connolly: King of Comedy and his Famous Pals.
But during his 18 months of research Colin discovered Billy had racked up a number of criminal convictions and even spent a night in the cells in his pyjamas before he became an international superstar. Colin has given Billy's brushes with the law its own chapter and says underworld figures – including safecracker Johnny Ramensky and Glasgow hardman Colin Beattie – had an impact on the comic.
The author discovered Billy's criminal past in a series of interviews the comic gave journalist Duncan Campbell almost 50 years ago for a forgotten 1976 biography titled Billy Connolly – the Authorised Version. It came out out a year after Billy had made his big breakthrough with his first appearance on the Michael Parkinson show.
Colin said: ' Billy's criminal record appeared to have started when he was caught playing football and was fined half a crown (25p) at the Marine Police Court in Partick. After that he got done for siphoning petrol. Billy ran out of petrol for his bike but had no money on him.
'Local garages would not give him credit and he was faced having to push his bike back to his home in Drumchapel in Glasgow. So he was left with no alternative. He siphoned it off using a hose and can and was fined £15 in court.'
Colin added: 'He then assaulted a guy in Bearsden and spent a night in jail at a police station in Milngavie. He thought it was very funny as the police came to arrest him at his house and he was already in pyjamas.
'He looked out of the window and saw the police coming so he put on his shirt and jeans over the pyjamas. When he was taken away and put in a police cell he took off his clothes and lay on the bed getting ready to sleep when a policeman came and looked through a spy hole in the door. The police officer then said: 'Well I've seen them come and go but never in pyjamas'.'
In the same 1976 book Billy described how he was fined £15 and given a year's suspended sentence when he was 18 after another fight when he came to the rescue of a young woman who was being assaulted.
Colin added: 'As a young man Billy was also amazed at how the judicial system treated the working classes compared to the middle classes. The working classes seemed to get done for everything but the middle classes seemed to get off with it.'
In 1976 interviews Billy also admits being in court for several breaches of the peace for 'shouting and bawling' and getting various £2 fines. But the Big Yin was soon one of the country's most recognisable people. Another big name in Glasgow at this time was Arthur Thompson Snr, who ruled the city's underworld.
Colin said: 'There was a story that Arthur Thompson had met Billy in a pub and had said, 'They call you the Big Yin, do you know I am the Big Yin?' No one knows if the story is actually true but it was a measure of Billy's growing fame that these kinds of stories were beginning to circulate.'
Billy has previously spoken of his admiration for Ramensky, who escaped five times from prison in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire. In the Second World War Ramensky parachuted behind enemy lines to steal documents.
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Colin said: 'Billy sees Ramensky as a loveable rogue and a working-class hero. Despite being a notorious thief, Ramensky had a strict code of personal ethics, which included never resorting to violence when caught, earning him the nickname 'Gentle Johnny.''
Another underworld figure who appears to have impressed Billy was hardman Beattie. Billy once said good-looking Beattie – who was said to run Partick, where Billy once lived – was like an 'escapee from Hollywood'.
Colin said: 'To Billy he was a legendary figure in Partick.' The 62-year-old author is a lifelong fan of Billy and has met him several times.
● Sir Billy Connolly: King of Comedy and his Famous Pals is available in paperback from Amazon at £10.95.
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