Latest news with #TheBigYin
Glasgow Times
03-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow event Hoolie in the Hydro to honour Billy Connolly
This year's Hoolie in the Hydro, titled The Big Yin, will take place on Saturday, December 13. A cast of musicians will pay tribute to Sir Billy, his humour, and his love for folk music at the OVO Hydro. Read more: Glasgow charity revives veteran football project with Rangers FC The tribute to the Glasgow icon will form the finale of the night, with artists performing some of Billy's most popular songs, such as I Wish I Was in Glasgow and Glasgow Central. Sir Billy was a key figure in the Glasgow folk scene in the 1960s, regularly playing sessions in the Scotia Bar and releasing music as one half of the Humblebums. His renowned banjo and folk roots have played an important role throughout his career. (Image: Gary Innes) Gary Innes, broadcaster, and musician, and organiser of Hoolie in the Hydro, said: "Billy Connolly is a true Glasgow and Scottish hero and his big personality, love for folk music and the joy of people coming together to have a great time, really made him the perfect inspiration for this year's Hoolie in the Hydro. "It's 60 years since Billy formed the Humblebums and 2025 is Glasgow's 850th birthday – as one of the city's great success stories and most famous sons, we just had to tip our hat to the Big Yin." Aly Bain, a famous Scottish fiddler who played alongside Sir Billy for years, will take part in the tribute. He said: "Billy and I started our careers on a motorbike with a sidecar, and things only got better from there. "Since then, Billy and I have shared over 50 years of friendship and countless great memories. "He's a very special man and friend, and I'm really looking forward to celebrating the incredible life and times of my old pal at the Hydro." Read more: Ambitious plan revealed for former Glasgow banking hall Now in its fourth year, Hoolie in the Hydro has gained a reputation as the world's biggest ceilidh and is once again set to feature a line-up from across Scotland's vibrant folk and traditional music scene. The event will feature performances from the Elephant Sessions, Trail West, Mànran, and Beluga Lagoon. More information about this year's Hoolie in the Hydro can be found on the Ovo Hydro website.
The National
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Glasgow event Hoolie in the Hydro to honour Billy Connolly
This year's Hoolie in the Hydro, titled "The Big Yin", will take place on Saturday, December 13. A cast of musicians will pay tribute to Connolly, his humour, and his love for folk music at the OVO Hydro. The tribute to the Glasgow icon will form the finale of the night, with artists performing some of Billy's most popular songs, such as 'I Wish I Was in Glasgow' and 'Glasgow Central.' Sir Billy was a key figure in the Glasgow folk scene in the 1960s, regularly playing sessions in the Scotia Bar and releasing music as one half of the Humblebums. His renowned banjo and folk roots have played an important role throughout his career. Gary Innes, broadcaster, and musician, and organiser of Hoolie in the Hydro, said: "Billy Connolly is a true Glasgow and Scottish hero and his big personality, love for folk music and the joy of people coming together to have a great time, really made him the perfect inspiration for this year's Hoolie in the Hydro. "It's 60 years since Billy formed the Humblebums and 2025 is Glasgow's 850th birthday – as one of the city's great success stories and most famous sons, we just had to tip our hat to the Big Yin." Aly Bain, a famous Scottish fiddler who played alongside Sir Billy for years, will take part in the tribute. He said: "Billy and I started our careers on a motorbike with a sidecar, and things only got better from there. "Since then, Billy and I have shared over 50 years of friendship and countless great memories. "He's a very special man and friend, and I'm really looking forward to celebrating the incredible life and times of my old pal at the Hydro." Now in its fourth year, Hoolie in the Hydro has gained a reputation as the world's biggest ceilidh and is once again set to feature a line-up from across Scotland's vibrant folk and traditional music scene. The event will feature performances from the Elephant Sessions, Trail West, Mànran, and Beluga Lagoon. More information about this year's Hoolie in the Hydro can be found on the Ovo Hydro website.
Daily Record
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Record
Billy Connolly to be honoured at Glasgow Hydro in all-star concert
Billy Connolly's life is to be celebrated with an all-star concert at Glasgow's OVO Hydro. The show is being staged with the comedian's backing to mark 60 years since he first performed with folk act The Humblebums. December's Hoolie in The Hydro: The Big Yin concert will pay tribute to the 82-year old who was forced to retire in 2018 after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. Organiser Gary Innes, 44, said: 'When I approached Billy and his family last year about the idea, they were over the moon. 'It's been 60 years since Billy started The Humblebums and I'm absolutely delighted Billy himself and the family have given me the green light to honour and celebrate his life. 'The show will be full of special guests. There will be a big house band and lots of people who have played with Billy Connolly over the years and lots of people who have been inspired by Billy as well. 'Each year I try to do something special with the Hoolie to celebrate a band or achievement or somebody. We're talking to the biggest stars on the planet and people closer to home.' The Humblebums, who also featured Gerry 'Baker Street' Rafferty, were a key part of the Glasgow folk scene in the 1960s, regularly playing in the Scotia Bar. Billy's folk roots and beloved banjo remain close to his heart to this day. Award-winning fiddler Aly Bain, who performed briefly with the band, is taking part. He told the Record: 'Billy and I started our careers on a motorbike with a sidecar, and things only got better from there. 'Since then, Billy and I have shared over 50 years of friendship and countless great memories. 'He's a very special man and friend.' Billy worked as a welder in shipyards in Glasgow, before quitting to pursue his career in entertainment.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Archive of newspaper artist Malky McCormick saved
It was an appearance on the Parkinson show in 1975 that is widely seen as starting Billy Connolly on the path from Scottish sensation to international comedy his appearance he explained, "in Scotland they call me Big Yin, and I'm not very big, but everyone up there is awful wee, you know".For his iconic nickname he could thank Scottish cartoonist and fellow banjo player Malky performed with his band The Vindscreen Vipers in the same Scottish folk clubs as Connolly, and together they created The Big Yin cartoon strip for Scotland's Sunday Mail newspaper - taking the name from a famous Connolly routine at the time which reimagined the Last Supper as taking place in Glasgow. Original artwork for the strip, which ran until 1977, is part of a huge personal archive which has just been given to East Ayrshire Leisure Trust."Malky settled in Ayrshire and adopted Kilmarnock as his home," says Lyndsay Jess, the trust's museums development officer."He was a very creative individual, and we want to celebrate that and introduce our community and especially our young people to the comic art of Malky McCormick." Born in Glasgow in 1943, Donald Malcolm McCormick grew up in the shadow of Hampden Park. His love of football and cartooning began at an early age and continued all his was just six years old when his grandmother sent one of his cartoons to a newspaper, and 13 when the first one was published in the Glasgow Mercury and trained as a commercial artist and worked for DC Thomson, the Dundee publisher of comics like the Dandy and the Beano where he was required to "ghost" established cartoon strips, mimicking the style of the original worked for a number of newspapers north of the border but it was his time at the Scottish Daily News, a short-lived workers' co-operative which planted the seed for his most famous cartoon strip The Big Yin. "I had known Billy for a few years through the folk clubs and we promised each other we would do this strip together," he told BBC Radio Scotland in collaboration sparked interest from other newspapers including the Glasgow-based Sunday Mail."It was a colour tabloid with a much bigger audience so a much better vehicle for the Big Yin strip," he recalled."It was the big break for me, no question about it."The first strip was published in 1975 and Malky and Billy began to map out a future for their meet on a Monday, either at Billy's home in Drymen or Malky's home in Ayrshire, as Billy Connolly recalled."It was a strange affair to explain to people, doing a strip cartoon in two different towns," he says."He used to turn up at my house on his motorbike. He would be flabbergasted that I hadn't done anything. I was supposed to be writing the Big Yin."I never sat in when it was being drawn. I loved being part of it, but he did his bit and I did my bit – him in Ayrshire and me in Drymen. "He would turn up on his motorbike fed-up and I would say 'come on we'll go for a pint', so we would go for a pint and talk about stuff, roaring and laughing and I would say 'that's this week – yeah, we'll do that'." The sessions more than often ended up in a pub, as Malky remembered."There was a drawing in Dick's bar in Kilmarnock of us, one of the many places we were thrown out of celebrating the success of the I mostly did it myself. He saw it occasionally and would chip in an idea but he was away so much."Connolly's career eventually took him hundreds of miles away from Malky and their Monday sessions. The Big Yin's run ended in 1977 and Malky moved onto other characters and made caricatures of every Scottish football manager from the 1970s onwards, which are all on display at the Scottish Football helped set up a cartoon festival in also spent three years at Scottish Television as a graphic artist and designer and later returned to the TV studios as the resident artist on the ITV show Win Lose or Draw. Legacy remembered Since his death in 2019, his family have been considering what to do with his substantial archive."It was something which kept me and my brothers up at night," says his daughter Jane McCormick."The media of newspaper is not there anymore and it would have been a shame for it to drift away and him and his legacy not to be remembered."Archivists Ruby Davidson and Jestein Gibson have already started work on the Malky McCormick Project at the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock."My dad had pictures and postcards on his wall so I knew who Malky McCormick was," says Ruby."And everyone knows Billy Connolly, so it was lovely to see all those Big Yin cartoons." Malky acknowledged the influence of other Scottish cartoonists - including Bud Neil and Ewan Bain - but it seems he too encouraged a new generation."We've spoken to a lot of people in our local area who were inspired by his work and went on to become comic book artists themselves," says the plan now is to use Malky's work to encourage even more young people to take up their pencils. Jane says she's delighted that a public engagement project is planned around the archive."He loved young people to be drawing," she says."He judged art competitions in schools and took any opportunity to get young people into art." 'We were always in trouble' Fragile newspaper strips and early drawings will be digitised as part of the project and the public can view the process at the Dick Institute as well as the final exhibition."My dad loved his work to be seen, more than anything, so I'm over the moon to know that other people are going to be able to value it and appreciate it," says old friend and collaborator Billy Connolly is also to the archive from his home in Florida he said: "We were always getting in trouble and we did (the Big Yin) to get away with stuff – we could blame this non-existent person, who looked like me and behaved like me, but wisnae me… we could say wild, wild things… we broke a lot of ground."We pushed art. People don't look at cartoons as art. But it is art – and it's very important."
