Billy Connolly

Friday, 14 December 2012

Billy Connolly talks about suicide bombers = funny

Parkinson Billy Connolly Tom Cruise part1.flv

Billy Connolly - Terrorist Attack At Glasgow Airport, Must Watch!

Billy Connolly - Erect for 30 years (08 of 11)

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A939 road
The A939 'Lecht Road' connects the A96 at Nairn on the Moray Coast with the A95 Grantown on Spey, then it continues to the A93 at Ballater by way of the Grampian Mountains, passing Tomintoul and the Lecht Ski Centre.
This road passes over four summits:
On the old A939, now redesignated the B976 between Gairnshiel Bridge and Crathie, the road reaches 1568 ft (478m). The A939 is regularly the first road in Great Britain closed due to snowfall between Cock Bridge and Tomintoul.
Coordinates: 57°15′46″N 3°30′41″W / 57.2628°N 3.51134°W / 57.2628; -3.51134

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Ballater
Coordinates: 57°02′41″N 3°02′58″W / 57.0448°N 3.04942°W / 57.0448; -3.04942
Ballater (Scottish Gaelic: Bealadair) is a burgh in Aberdeenshire, Scotland on the River Dee, immediately east of the Cairngorm Mountains. Situated at a height of 123m (700ft) in elevation, Ballater is a centre for hikers and known for its spring water, once said to cure scrofula.
The medieval pattern of development along this reach of the River Dee was influenced by the ancient trackways across the Grampian Mounth, which determined strategic locations of castles and other Deeside settlements of the Middle Ages.
In the early 14th century, the area was part of the estates of the Knights of St John, but the settlement did not develop until around 1770; first as a spa resort to accommodate visitors to the Pananich Mineral Well, then later upon the arrival of the railway in 1866 (since closed). Ballater railway station was closed in 1966. Many buildings date from the Victorian era and the centre of the village is a conservation area.

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Cambodia
Cambodia (ⁱ/kæmˈboʊdiə/;Khmer: ព្រះរាជាណាចក្រកម្ពុជា, Kampuchea, IPA: [kɑmˈpuˈciə]), officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. With a total landmass of 181,035 square kilometres (69,898 sq mi), it is bordered by Thailand to the northwest, Laos to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, and the Gulf of Thailand to the southwest.
With a population of over 14.8 million, Cambodia is the 68th most populous country in the world. The official religion is Theravada Buddhism, which is practiced by around 95% of the Cambodian population. The country minority groups include Vietnamese, Chinese, Chams and 30 various hill tribes. The capital and largest city is Phnom Penh; the political, economic, and cultural center of Cambodia. The kingdom is a constitutional monarchy with Norodom Sihamoni, a monarch chosen by the Royal Throne Council, as head of state. The head of government is Hun Sen, who is currently the longest serving leader in South East Asia and has ruled Cambodia for over 25 years.

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Celtic Park
Coordinates: 55°50′58.96″N 4°12′20.12″W / 55.8497111°N 4.2055889°W / 55.8497111; -4.2055889
Celtic Park is a football stadium in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, and is the home ground of Celtic Football Club. Celtic Park, an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 60,832, is the largest football stadium in Scotland and the sixth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom, after Murrayfield, Old Trafford, Twickenham, Wembley and the Millennium Stadium. It is commonly known by Celtic fans as either Parkhead or Paradise.
Celtic was formed in November 1887 and first laid out a ground in the Parkhead area in 1888. The club moved to a different site in 1892, however, when the rental charge was greatly increased. The new site was developed into an oval shaped stadium, with vast terracing sections. The record attendance of 83,500 was set by an Old Firm derby on 1 January 1938. The terraces were covered and floodlights were installed between 1957 and 1971. The Taylor Report mandated that all major clubs should have an all-seated stadium by August 1994. Celtic was in a bad financial position in the early 1990s and no major work was carried out until Fergus McCann took control of the club in March 1994. He carried out a plan to demolish the old terraces and develop a new stadium in a phased rebuild, which was completed in August 1998.

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Cork Opera House
Cork Opera House is a theatre and opera house in Cork in the Republic of Ireland. It was originally built in 1855, and was built on a template that the architect had used for the exhibition buildings at the Irish Industiral Exhibition. But since then its existence has not been discontinuous; having survived the burning of much of Cork by British forces in reprisal for an ambush of a military convoy in 1920 by Irish rebels, the Opera House nevertheless was burned down in its centenary year by a combination of old wiring and wooden materials. Although Cork had until then boasted the presence of a proper theatre in some form for over 250 years, it was not until 1963 that the Opera House was rebuilt fully and opened.
More recently, in 2003, large scale renovation works were completed on both the facade of the building and the surrounding Emmet Square. Built, according to its original architect Sir John Benson, for the "promotion of science, literature and the fine arts, and the diffusion of architectural knowledge," the Opera House has always housed far more than just Opera. Performances of all types are a part of its history and current repertoire, and locals find both its range and lack of affiliation with multinationals such as Ticketmaster make a refreshing change.

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Dublin
Dublin ( /ˈdʌblɨn/; locally /ˈdʊbᵊlən/; Irish: Baile Átha Cliath, meaning "town of the hurdled ford", pronounced [blʲaˈklʲiə] or Áth Cliath, [aː klʲiə], occasionally Duibhlinn) is the capital and most populous city of Ireland. The English name for the city is derived from the Irish name Dubhlinn, meaning "black pool". Dublin is situated near the midpoint of Ireland's east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey and the centre of the Dublin Region.
Originally founded as a Viking settlement, it evolved into the Kingdom of Dublin and became the island's principal city following the Norman invasion. The city expanded rapidly from the 17th century; it was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire and the fifth largest in Europe. Dublin entered a period of stagnation following the Act of Union of 1800, but it remained the economic centre for most of the island. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, the new parliament, the Oireachtas, was located in Leinster House. Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State and later the Republic of Ireland.

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Dunoon
Coordinates: 55°56′48″N 4°55′23″W / 55.946730°N 4.923000°W / 55.946730; -4.923000
Dunoon (Dùn Obhainn in Gaelic) is a resort town situated on the Cowal Peninsula in Argyll, Scotland. It sits on the Firth of Clyde to the south of Holy Loch and to the west of Gourock.
Dunoon Pier originated in 1835 however, the current structure was built in 1895 Prior to the late 1960s fleets of paddle steamers brought holidaymakers doon the watter from Glasgow to it and numerous other piers on the Clyde. Until June 2011, the pier was used daily by Caledonian MacBrayne who ran a regular car-ferry service to Gourock and by the PS Waverley, the last surviving sea-going paddle steamer .
Overlooking the pier is a large statue to Robert Burns' love Highland Mary, also known as Bonny Mary O' Argyll, which is located on Castle Hill, just below the remains of the 12th century Dunoon Castle. Very little remains of the castle, which would originally have belonged to the Lamont family but became a royal castle with the Earls of Argyll (Campbells) as hereditary keepers, paying a nominal rent of a single red rose to the sovereign, presently Queen Elizabeth. In earlier times, Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed at the castle circa 1563 and granted several charters during her visit. The castle was destroyed during the rebellion in 1685.

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Fiji
Fiji ⁱ/ˈfiːdʒiː/ (Fijian: Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी), officially the Republic of Fiji (Fijian: Matanitu ko Viti; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी गणराज्यFijī Gaṇarājya), is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km; 1,300 mi) northeast of New Zealand's North Island. Its closest neighbours are Vanuatu to the west, France's New Caledonia to the southwest, New Zealand's Kermadec to the southeast, Tonga to the east, the Samoas, France's Wallis and Futuna to the northeast and Tuvalu to the north.
The majority of Fiji's islands were formed through volcanic activity started around 150 million years ago. Today, some geothermal activity still occurs on the islands of Vanua Levu and Taveuni. Fiji has been inhabited since the second millennium BC. The country comprises an archipelago of more than 332 islands, of which 110 are permanently inhabited, and more than 500 islets, amounting to a total land area of circa 18,300 square kilometres (7,100 sq mi). The two major islands, Viti Levu and Vanua Levu, account for 87% of the population of almost 850,000. The former contains Suva, the capital and largest city. Most of Fijians live on Viti Levu's coasts, either in Suva or in smaller urban centres. Viti Levu's interior is sparsely inhabited due to its terrain.

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Glasgow
Coordinates: 55°51′29″N 4°15′32″W / 55.858°N 4.259°W / 55.858; -4.259
Glasgow (ⁱ/ˈɡlɑːzɡəʊ/, locally /ˈɡlazɡo/, GLAZ-goh; Scots: Glesga listen (help·info); Scottish Gaelic: Glaschu ([ˈkɫ̪as̪əxu] listen (help·info))) is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's West Central Lowlands.
Glasgow grew from a small rural settlement on the River Clyde to become one of the largest seaports in Britain. Expanding from the medieval bishopric of Glasgow and the later establishment of the University of Glasgow in the 15th century, it became a major centre of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. From the 18th century the city also grew as one of Britain's main hubs of transatlantic trade with British North America and the British West Indies. With the Industrial Revolution, the city and surrounding region shifted to become one of the world's pre-eminent centres of heavy engineering, most notably in shipbuilding and marine engineering industry, which produced many innovative and famous vessels. Glasgow was known as the "Second City of the British Empire" for much of the Victorian era and Edwardian period. Today it is one of Europe's top ten financial centres and is home to many of Scotland's leading businesses. Glasgow is also ranked as the 57th most liveable city in the world.

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Govan
Coordinates: 55°51′41″N 4°18′30″W / 55.861485°N 4.308304°W / 55.861485; -4.308304
Govan (/ˈɡʌvən/ GUV-ən; Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Ghobhainn) is a district and former burgh now part of southwest City of Glasgow, Scotland. It is situated 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Glasgow city centre, on the south bank of the River Clyde, opposite the mouth of the River Kelvin and the district of Partick.
According to medieval legend, Constantine, a 7th-century King of Strathclyde, founded a monastery under the rule of Columbanus in Govan. During the Middle Ages, Govan was the site of a ferry which linked the area with Partick for seasonal cattle drovers. In the 18th and 19th centuries, textile mills and coal mining were important; in the early 19th century shipbuilding emerged as Govan's principal industry. In 1864, Govan gained burgh status, and was Scotland's fifth largest burgh. It was incorporated into the city of Glasgow in 1912. However, the people of Govan often proclaim to be Govanites first and Glaswegians second and when asked "are you from Glesga?", still reply with "na, Acumfaegovan" (No, I come from Govan).

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Gozo
Gozo (Maltese: Għawdex) is a small island of the Maltese archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. The island is part of the Southern European country of Malta; after the island of Malta itself, it is the second-largest island in the archipelago. Compared to its southeastern neighbour, Gozo is more rural and known for its scenic hills, which are featured on its coat of arms.
The island of Gozo has long been identified as Ogygia, the domain of the nymph Calypso in Homer's Odyssey. Calypso, possessed of great supernatural powers, holds Odysseus captive for a number of years because of her love for him before releasing him to continue his journey home.
The island itself has a population of around 31,000 people (all of Malta combined has 402,000), and its inhabitants are known as Gozitans (Maltese: Għawdxin). It is rich in historical locations such as the Ġgantija temples which, along with the Megalithic Temples of Malta, are the world's oldest free-standing structures and also among the world's oldest religious structures.

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John Brown & Company
John Brown and Company of Clydebank was a pre-eminent Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding firm, responsible for building many notable and world-famous ships, such as the RMS Lusitania, the HMS Hood, the HMS Repulse, the RMS Queen Mary, the RMS Queen Elizabeth, and the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. At their height, from 1900 to the 1950s, they were one of the most highly regarded, and internationally famous, shipbuilding companies in the world. However after that time, along with other UK shipbuilders, they found it increasingly difficult to compete with the emerging shipyards in Eastern Europe and the far East.
In 1968, they merged with other Clydeside shipyards to form the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders consortium, but that collapsed in 1971. John Brown and Company ceased its involvement with shipbuilding. The engineering wing of the company continued successfully and was eventually bought out by Trafalgar House in 1986. It continued to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of Trafalgar House until 1996, when Trafalgar House was acquired by Kvaerner, which later closed the Clydebank engineering works in 2000. The Clydebank shipyard was purchased from UCS initially by Marathon Oil, and subsequently taken over in 1980 by UiE Scotland (part of the French Bouygues group), and was used for the construction of oil rig platforms for the North Sea oil industry, until finally being closed down in 2001.

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Linthouse
Coordinates: 55°51′48″N 4°19′47″W / 55.863292°N 4.329671°W / 55.863292; -4.329671
Linthouse is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated south of the River Clyde. It is immediately west of Govan, and although it is often referred to locally as 'Govan', it was in fact a distinct area separate from Govan until 1901 when it willfully became part of Govan Burgh until 1912 when the Burgh was annexed to Glasgow.
Linthouse was home to the shipbuilder Alexander Stephens and Sons Limited who built many famous vessels for the Royal Navy in the 20th Century.
Linthouse was a separate Church of Scotland parish (Linthouse St. Kenneth) until November 2007 when it merged with the neighbouring parishes of Govan Old and New Govan to become part of the new Govan and Linthouse parish.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was a Scottish Football League club in the area, Linthouse F.C..
The Linthouse Urban Village is an organisation promoting the Linthouse area, as part of the larger Govan Initiative organisation. They run the LUV cafe on Govan Road and a gallery on the other side of the road. The Luma Tower is a famous landmark in the area; originally an Art Deco light bulb factory - it was restored and converted to private housing in the mid-1990s.

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Malta
Malta ⁱ/ˈmɒltə/, officially known as the Republic of Malta (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta), is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 80 km (50 mi) south of Sicily, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya, with Gibraltar 1,755 km (1,091 mi) to the west and Alexandria 1,508 km (937 mi) to the east. Malta covers just over 316 km² (122 sq mi) in land area, making it one of the world's smallest states. It is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. The de facto capital city of Malta is Valletta; the largest town, Birkirkara. The main island comprises many towns, which together form one Larger Urban Zone (LUZ) with a population of 368,250 according to Eurostat. The country has two official languages, Maltese (constitutionally the national language) and English.
Throughout history, Malta's location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Aragonese, Habsburg Spain, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 it became part of the eurozone.

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Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique (Portuguese: Moçambique or República de Moçambique, pronounced: [ʁɛˈpublikɐ di musɐ̃ˈbiki]), is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest. The capital city is Maputo, formerly known as Lourenço Marques.
Between the 1st and 5th centuries AD, Bantu-speaking peoples migrated from farther north and west. Swahili, and later also Arab, commercial ports existed along the coasts until the arrival of Europeans. The area was explored by Vasco da Gama in 1498 and colonized by Portugal in 1505. Mozambique became independent in 1975, and became the People's Republic of Mozambique shortly thereafter. It was the scene of an intense civil war lasting from 1977 to 1992.
Mozambique is endowed with rich and extensive natural resources. The country's economy is based largely on agriculture, but with industry, mainly food and beverages, chemical manufacturing, aluminium and petroleum production, is growing fast. The country's tourism sector is also growing. South Africa is Mozambique's main trading partner and source of foreign direct investment. Portugal, Spain, and Belgium are also among the country's most important partners. Since 2001 Mozambique is one of the world's top ten for annual average GDP growth. However, Mozambique still has one of the lowest GDP per capita, one of the worst human development index and one of the highest inequality in the world, as well as having the world's lowest life expectancy.

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Nigeria
Nigeria ⁱ/naɪˈdʒɪəriə/, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea on the Atlantic Ocean. The three largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria are the Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba.
In terms of religion Nigeria is roughly split half and half between Muslims in the North and Christians in the South; a very small minority practice traditional religion. Since 2002 there have been a spate of clashes, particularly in the North of the country, between government forces and the Islamists Boko Haram, militant jihadists who seek to establish sharia law.
The people of Nigeria have an extensive history. Archaeological evidence shows that human habitation of the area dates back to at least 9000 BCE. The area around the Benue and Cross River is thought to be the original homeland of the Bantu migrants who spread across most of central and southern Africa in waves between the 1st millennium BC and the 2nd millennium.

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Partick
Coordinates: 55°52′12″N 4°18′45″W / 55.869908°N 4.312484°W / 55.869908; -4.312484
Partick (Scots: Pairtick, Scottish Gaelic: Pàrtaig/Pearraig) is an area of Glasgow on the north bank of the River Clyde, just across from Govan. To the west lies Whiteinch and to the east, Hillhead and other areas which make up the west end of Glasgow. Partick was a Police burgh from 1852 until 1912 when it was incorporated into the city. Partick is the area of the city most connected with the Highlands, and several Gaelic agencies, such as the Gaelic Books Council are based in the area. Some ATMs in the area display Gaelic.
Although Partick remained a village until the middle of the 18th century, it is an ancient place. The Kings of Strathclyde had a residence there, and in 1136 David I (1124–53) granted the lands of Perdyc to the see of Glasgow. The Bishops of Glasgow had a country seat in Partick. It was later the site of Partick Castle, a country home of George Hutcheson (demolished 1836).
It is thought the name comes from the Brythonic Peartoc (cf. Welsh perth, "bush or thicket"). This was adopted into Scottish Gaelic as Peart(h)aig, giving modern Gaelic Pearraig or Pàrtaig (the latter is used on signs at Partick railway station). Older anglicized forms include Perdyc and Perthick. Partick, of old Perdyec, from the Gaelic aper dhu ec, meaning the place at the confluence or mouth of the dark river.

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People's Palace
The People's Palace and Winter Gardens in Glasgow, Scotland is a museum and glasshouse situated in Glasgow Green, and was opened on 22 January, 1898 by the Earl of Rosebery.
At the time, the East End of Glasgow was one of the most unhealthy and overcrowded parts of the city, and the People's Palace was intended to provide a cultural centre for the people. It was designed by the City Engineer, Alexander B. McDonald. At the opening ceremony Lord Rosebery stated: "A palace of pleasure and imagination around which the people may place their affections and which may give them a home on which their memory may rest". He declared the building "Open to the people for ever and ever".
Originally, the ground floor of the building provided reading and recreation rooms, with a museum on the first floor, and a picture gallery on the top floor. Since the 1940s, it has been the museum of social history for the city of Glasgow, and tells the story of the people and the city from 1750 to the present day. The collections and displays reflect the changing face of the city and the different experiences of Glaswegians at home, work and leisure. Current displays (as of March 2009) include glimpses of typical Glasgow history such as life in a 'single end' (a one-room tenement home), going to 'The Steamie' (the communal laundry), nights out at 'The Dancing' in the famous Barrowland Ballroom and trips 'Doon The Watter' (down the firth of Clyde) on steamers such as the Waverly.The palace is also home to renowned Scottish Socialist John MacLeans’ campaign desk, which can be found on the first floor.

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Plymouth
Plymouth ⁱ/ˈplɪməθ/ is a city and unitary authority area on the south coast of Devon, England, about 190 miles (310 km) south-west of London. It is situated between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound. Since 1967, the City of Plymouth has included the suburbs of Plympton and Plymstock, which are on the east side of the River Plym.
Plymouth's history goes back to the Bronze Age, when its first settlement grew at Mount Batten. This settlement continued to grow as a trading post for the Roman Empire, until the more prosperous village of Sutton, the current Plymouth, surpassed it. In 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers left Plymouth for the New World and established Plymouth Colony – the second English settlement in what is now the United States of America. During the English Civil War the town was held by the Parliamentarians and was besieged between 1642 and 1646.
Throughout the Industrial Revolution, Plymouth grew as a major commercial shipping port, handling imports and passengers from the Americas, while the neighbouring town of Devonport grew as an important Royal Naval shipbuilding and dockyard town. In 1914 the three neighbouring and independent towns, viz., the county borough of Plymouth, the county borough of Devonport, and the urban district of East Stonehouse were merged to form a single County Borough. The new, merged town took the name of Plymouth which, in 1928, achieved city status. The city's naval importance later led to its targeting and partial destruction during World War II, an act known as the Plymouth Blitz. After the war the city centre was completely rebuilt.

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Scotland
Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Alba ([ˈalˠ̪apə] listen (help·info))) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the southwest. In addition to the mainland, Scotland constitutes over 790 islands including the Northern Isles and the Hebrides.
Edinburgh, the country's capital and second largest city, is one of Europe's largest financial centres. Edinburgh was the hub of the Scottish Enlightenment of the 18th century, which transformed Scotland into one of the commercial, intellectual and industrial powerhouses of Europe. Glasgow, Scotland's largest city, was once one of the world's leading industrial cities and now lies at the centre of the Greater Glasgow conurbation. Scottish waters consist of a large sector of the North Atlantic and the North Sea, containing the largest oil reserves in the European Union. This has given Aberdeen, the third largest city in Scotland, the title of Europe's oil capital.

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The London Studios
The London Studios (also known as The London Television Centre, LWT Studios or later as ITV Studios) is a television studio complex which is owned by London Weekend Television and has been home to the London Weekend ITV provider since 1972. It is in the heart of London and is situated on the South Bank next to the Royal National Theatre.
The studios are the main studios for ITV, with most in-house programming split between The London Studios and Granada Studios in Manchester as of 2012.
When LWT succeeded ATV for the London weekend ITV franchise in 1968, it bought Associated-Rediffusion's old studios at Wembley (now known as The Fountain Studios). These studios were originally film studios and dated back from the 1920s. Although successfully converted for TV in the 1950s, the new LWT wanted its own, new, modern studios and so designs were soon drawn up.
The site for the development was chosen beside the new Royal National Theatre on the South Bank of the River Thames. It was purchased in 1969 and construction work, awarded to Higgs and Hill, commenced in 1970 with the centre opening for transmission in 1972, although it was not fully operational until 1974. It was originally called The South Bank Television Centre (a name that lasted until the early 1990s) and at the time was the most advanced television centre in Europe.

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Waterfront Hall
The Waterfront Hall is a multi-purpose facility, in Belfast, Northern Ireland, designed by local architects' firm Robinson McIlwaine. Practice partner Peter McGukin was the project architect.
The hall is located in Lanyon Place, the flagship development of the Laganside Corporation. The development is named after the architect Charles Lanyon. Planning for the building began 1989, with the hall being completed in 1997 for the sum of £32 million. The main circular Auditorium seats 2,241 and is based on the Berlin Philharmonic Hall designed by Hans Scharoun. However the flexible design of the Auditorium allows the stalls seating to be moved to create a larger arena. The smaller adjoining Studio seats 380. The dome of the building is coated in copper. This is so the exterior will eventually turn green and reflect the dome of Belfast City Hall and other Victorian buildings in the city centre. The building also contains bars and a restaurant.
In 2002, the hall was voted the second best conference centre in the world in the Apex Awards.^{[citation needed]} A 2006 socio-economic impact study commissioned by Belfast City Council found that the hall had generated £10 for the city for every £1 spent on operational costs.^{[citation needed]}

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Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire (Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Obar Dheathain, Scots: Aiberdeenshire) is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.
The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic Aberdeenshire - one of the counties of Scotland formerly used for local government purposes. Within these borders, the County of Aberdeen remains in existence as a registration county.
Aberdeenshire Council is headquartered at Woodhill House, in Aberdeen; the only Scottish council whose headquarters are based outwith its area's border. Aberdeenshire borders Angus and Perth and Kinross to the south, and Highland and Moray to the west.
Aberdeenshire has a rich prehistoric and historic heritage. It is the locus of a large number of Neolithic and Bronze Age archaeological sites, including Longman Hill, Kempstone Hill, Catto Long Barrow and Cairn Lee. Since medieval times there have been a number of crossings of the Mounth (a spur of mountainous land that extends from the higher inland range to the North Sea slightly north of Stonehaven) through present day Aberdeenshire from the Scottish Lowlands to the Highlands. Some of the most well known and historically important trackways are the Causey Mounth and Elsick Mounth.

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Bill Bailey
Bill Bailey (born Mark Bailey; 13 January 1964) is an English comedian, musician and actor. As well as his extensive stand-up work, Bailey is well known for his role in Black Books and his appearances on Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Have I Got News for You, and QI.
Bailey was listed by the Observer as one of the 50 funniest acts in British comedy in 2003. In 2007 and again in 2010, he was voted the 7th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.
Bailey was born in Bath, Somerset and spent most of his childhood in Keynsham, a town situated between Bath and Bristol in the West of England. His father was a medical practitioner and his mother was a hospital ward sister. His maternal grandparents lived in an annexe, built on the side of the house by his maternal grandfather who was a stonemason and builder. Two rooms at the front of the family house were for his father's surgery.
Bailey was educated at King Edward's School, an independent school in Bath where he was initially a highly academic pupil winning most of the prizes. However, at about the age of 15 years, he started to become distracted from school work when he realised the thrill of performance as a member of a school band called Behind Closed Doors, which played mostly original work. He was the only pupil at his school to study A-level music and he passed with an A grade. He also claims to have been good at sport (captain of KES 2nd XI cricket team 1982), which often surprised his teachers. He would often combine music and sport by leading the singing on the long coach trip back from away rugby fixtures. It was here that he was given his nickname Bill by his music teacher, Ian Phipps, for being able to play the song "Won't You Come Home Bill Bailey" so well on the guitar.

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Billy Connolly
William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname 'The Big Yin' ('The Big One'). His first trade, in the early 1960s, was as a welder (specifically a boilermaker) in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue a career as a folk singer in the Humblebums and subsequently as a soloist. In the early 1970s, he made the transition from folk-singer with a comedic persona to full-fledged comedian.
Connolly is also an actor, and has appeared in such films as Indecent Proposal (1993); Muppet Treasure Island (1996); Mrs. Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA; The Boondock Saints (1999); The Man Who Sued God (2001); Water (1985); The Last Samurai (2003); Timeline (2003); Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004); Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006); Open Season (2006); The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008); and Open Season 2 (2008). Connolly reprised his role as Noah "Il Duce" MacManus in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Connolly appears as the King of Lilliput in the 2010 remake of Gulliver′s Travels.

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Brett Whiteley
Brett Whiteley, AO (7 April 1939 – 15 June 1992) was an Australian artist. He is represented in the collections of all the large Australian galleries, and was twice winner of the Archibald Prize. He had many shows in his career, and lived and painted extensively in Italy, England, Fiji and the United States.
Brett went to school at The Scots School, Bathurst and The Scots College, Bellevue Hill, Brett Whiteley started drawing at a very early age. While he was a teenager, he painted on weekends at Thurstan and Canberra with such works as The Soup Kitchen (1958). Throughout 1956-1959 at the National Art School in East Sydney, Whiteley attended drawing classes. After meeting the director of the Whitechapel Gallery, he was included in the group show 'Survey of Recent Australian Painting' where his Untitled Red painting was bought by the Tate Gallery.
In 1962, he married Wendy Julius and their only child, daughter Arkie Whiteley, was born in London in 1964. While in London, Whiteley painted works in several different series: bathing, the zoo and the Christies. His paintings during these years were influenced by the modernist British art of the sixties - particularly the works of William Scott and Roger Hilton - and were of brownish abstract forms. It was these abstracted works which lead to him being recognized him as an artist, right at the time when many other Australian artists were exhibiting in London. He painted Woman in Bath as part of a series of works he was doing of bathroom pictures. It has primarily black on one side and an image of his wife Wendy in a bathtub from behind. Another in the series was a more abstracted Woman in the Bath II, which owed a debt to his yellow and red abstract paintings of the early sixties. During this years he worked with the American painter George Sheridan, sharing for some months his studio in the Haute Pyrenees.

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Bruce Morrison
Bruce Andrew Morrison (b. October 8, 1944 in New York City) is a former Congressman from Connecticut and candidate for Governor of Connecticut. He is a lobbyist and immigration lawyer. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and an officer of the National Democratic Ethnic Coordinating Committee.
At a young age, he was adopted by George and Dorothea Morrison who lived in Northport, Long Island. As a child, he attended public schools and graduated from Northport High School in 1962.
Morrison attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and graduated in three years in 1965 with a degree in chemistry.
He received a master's degree in organic chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1970. At Illinois, he founded the Graduate Student Association as an advocacy organization for the over 8000 graduate students on campus. He was elected and re-elected as the first Chairman of the group. In 1970, he worked as a Special Assistant to the Dean of Students.
Morrison received a J.D. from Yale Law School in 1973. Among his classmates were future President Bill Clinton, future First Lady, Senator, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, future Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and future U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal. While at Yale Law School, he worked for Greater Boston Legal Services, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and New Haven Legal Assistance Association.

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Chic Murray
Charles Thomas McKinnon "Chic" Murray (6 November 1919 – 29 January 1985), was a Scottish comedian and actor. He appeared in various roles on British television and film – most notably in the 1967 version of Casino Royale – and portrayed Liverpool Football Club manager Bill Shankly in a musical. In 2005, he was named in The Comedian's Comedian.
Murray was born in Greenock, Inverclyde. He began his career as a musician in amateur groups such as "The Whinhillbillies" and "Chic and His Chicks" while an apprentice at the Kincaid shipyard, Inverclyde, in 1934. Maidie already a seasoned star in her own right (having worked since she was 3 with many of the great stars of the time) was playing the Greenock Empire. Chics mother was the welfare officer & put Maidie up in her home. Subsequently, Maidie gave chic parts within her own act & he formed a double-act with her, Maidie Dickson. Billed as "The Tall Droll with the Small Doll" (he was 6'3" tall, she was 4'11") and also as "Maidie and Murray", their combination of jokes and songs made them popular on television and in theatres throughout the country. Their success peaked in 1956 when they were selected to appear in the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, but, due to the Suez Crisis, the show was cancelled. Maidie & Chic had had much success at the Prince of Wales theatre in London.

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Chris Addison
Chris Addison (born 5 November 1971) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actor from Manchester. He is known for his lecture-style comedy shows, two of which he later adapted for BBC Radio 4. In addition to stand-up, in television he plays Ollie in the BBC Two television satire The Thick of It and Toby in its spin-off film In the Loop, and he co-created and starred in the BBC Two sitcom Lab Rats. On radio, he previously hosted the weekly comedy news satire show 7 Day Sunday on BBC Radio 5 Live from 2009 to 2010.
Addison was educated at Manchester Grammar School, an independent school for boys in Manchester, followed by the University of Birmingham, where he studied English Literature.
Chris Addison has been performing stand-up comedy since 2005. In that year, he won the City Life Comedian of the Year Award, a stand-up competition in the North West of England.
Addison's first solo show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in 2003, for which he was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Perrier Awards. He continued to bring shows to the Fringe for several years, garnering two Perrier Award nominations — for his 2004 show Civilisation and 2005's Atomicity.

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Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist. With his backing group The Shadows, Richard, originally positioned as a rebellious rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard and Elvis Presley, dominated the British popular music scene in the pre-Beatles period of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His 1958 hit single "Move It" is often described as Britain's first authentic rock and roll song, and John Lennon once claimed that "before Cliff and the Shadows, there had been nothing worth listening to in British music." A conversion to Christianity and subsequent softening of his music later led to a more middle of the road pop image, sometimes venturing into gospel music.
Over a 53-year career, Richard has become a fixture of the British entertainment world, amassing many gold and platinum discs and awards, including three Brit awards and two Ivor Novello awards. He has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the UK Top 20, more than any other artist and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades (1950s–2000s). He has achieved 14 UK No. 1 singles (or 18, depending on the counting methodology) and is the only singer to have had a No. 1 single in the UK in six consecutive decades: the 1950s through to the 2000s (discounting digital downloads and counting only CDs, he had a UK No. 1 single in the 2000s). Richard is the biggest selling singles artist of all time in the UK, with total sales of over 21 million and has reportedly sold an estimated 250 million records worldwide.

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Craig Ferguson
Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-American television host, stand-up comedian, writer, actor, director, author, and producer. He is the host of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, an Emmy Award-nominated, Peabody Award-winning late-night talk show that airs on CBS. In addition to hosting that program and performing stand-up comedy, Ferguson has written two books: Between the Bridge and the River, a novel, and American on Purpose, a memoir. He became a citizen of the United States in 2008.
Before his career as a late-night television host, Ferguson was best known in the United States for his role as the office boss, Nigel Wick, on The Drew Carey Show from 1996 to 2003. He also wrote and starred in three films, directing one of them.
Ferguson was born in the Stobhill Hospital in the Springburn district of Glasgow, Scotland to Robert and Janet Ferguson, and raised in nearby Cumbernauld, growing up "chubby and bullied". When he was six months old, he and his family moved from their Springburn apartment to a council house in Cumbernauld. They lived there as Glasgow was re-housing many people following damage to the city from World War II. Ferguson attended Muirfield Primary School and Cumbernauld High School. At age sixteen, Ferguson dropped out of Cumbernauld High School and began an apprenticeship to be an electronics technician at a local factory of American company Burroughs Corporation.

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Dawn French
Dawn Roma French (born 11 October 1957) is a Welsh-born British actress, writer and comedienne. She is best known for starring in and writing for the comedy sketch show French and Saunders with comedy partner Jennifer Saunders and also for playing the lead role of Geraldine Granger in the sitcom The Vicar of Dibley. She has been nominated for seven BAFTA Awards and also won a Fellowship BAFTA along with Saunders.
French was born in Holyhead, Anglesey, Wales to English parents Denys Vernon French and Felicity "Roma" O'Brien of Irish origin from Plymouth. She was educated at the independent St Dunstan's Abbey School (now absorbed by Plymouth College) boarding school on North Road West in Plymouth, Devon, England. She has a brother, Gary French, who was born in 1955. Her father, Denys (5 August 1932 – 11 September 1977), was a member of the Royal Air Force, being stationed at RAF Valley. The RAF partly funded her private education. When her father was stationed at the former RAF Faldingworth, she attended Caistor Grammar School in Lincolnshire, boarding in the school's Lindsey house. She later won a debating scholarship that brought her to study at the Spence School in New York.

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Deacon Brodie
William Brodie (28 September 1741 – 1 October 1788), more commonly known by his prestigious title of Deacon Brodie, was a Scottish cabinet-maker, deacon of the trades guild and Edinburgh city councillor, who maintained a secret life as a burglar, partly for the thrill, and partly to fund his gambling.
By day, Brodie was a respectable businessman, member of the burgh council and deacon (or president) of the Incorporation of Wrights and Masons. Part of his job in building cabinets was to install and repair their locks and other security mechanisms and repair door locks. He also served on a jury. He socialised with the gentry of Edinburgh, and met the poet Robert Burns and the painter Sir Henry Raeburn. He was also a member of The Edinburgh Cape Club.[1]
At night, however, Brodie became a burglar and thief. He used his daytime job as a way to gain knowledge about the security mechanisms of his clients and to copy their keys using wax impressions. As the foremost wright of the city, Brodie was asked to work in the homes of many of the richest members of Edinburgh society. He used the illicit money to maintain his second life, including five children, two mistresses who did not know of each other, and a gambling habit. He reputedly began his criminal career around 1768 when he copied keys to a bank door and stole £800. In 1786 he recruited a gang of three thieves, Brown, Smith, and Ainslie.

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Derroll Adams
Derroll Adams (November 27, 1925 – February 6, 2000) was an American folk musician.
Adams was born Derroll Lewis Thompson in Portland, Oregon. At 16, he served in the Army and later in the Coast Guard. He was a tall, lanky banjo player with a deep voice. He was busking around the West Coast music scene in the 1950s when he met Ramblin' Jack Elliott in the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles, California. The two traveled around and recorded albums, among them Cowboys and The Rambling Boys.
According to legend, Adams and Elliott would go in the studio with whatever they had, which may have included whiskey and marijuana, and they recorded whatever they felt like recording on the spur of the moment. This style of recording was probably more prevalent in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s—the result is that the recording is loose around the edges but preserves some of the spontaneity and vigor of a live performance. It is a performative, rather than a compositional, style (see Paul Williams's Bob Dylan: Performing Artist series, particularly vol. 1, for a more in-depth discussion of the tension between the performative and the compositional).

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Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. As a songwriter, she has composed over 3,000 songs, the best known of which include "I Will Always Love You" (a two-time U.S. country chart-topper for Parton, as well an international pop hit for Whitney Houston), "Jolene", "Coat of Many Colors", "9 to 5" and "My Tennessee Mountain Home". As an actress, she starred in the movies 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias, Straight Talk, Unlikely Angel and Joyful Noise. She is one of the most successful female country artists of all time; with an estimated 100 million in album sales, Dolly Parton is also one of the best selling artists of all time. She is known as "The Queen of Country Music".
She was born in Sevierville, Tennessee, the fourth of twelve children of Avie Lee Parton (née Owens; October 5, 1923 – December 5, 2003) and Robert Lee Parton (March 22, 1921 – November 12, 2000), a tobacco farmer. Her siblings are: Willadeene Parton (born March 24, 1940), David Wilburn Parton (born March 30, 1942), Coy Denver "Denver" Parton (born August 16, 1943), Bobby Lee Parton (born February 18, 1948), Stella Mae Parton (born May 4, 1949), Cassie Nan Parton (February 12, 1951), Randel Huston "Randy" Parton (born December 15, 1953), Larry Gerald Parton (born and died July 6, 1955), Floyd and Frieda Estelle Parton (born June 1, 1957), and Rachel Ann Parton (born August 31, 1959). Her family was, as she has described them, "dirt poor". She outlined her family's lack of money in a number of her early songs, notably "Coat of Many Colors" and "In the Good Old Days (When Times Were Bad)". They lived in a rustic, dilapidated one-room cabin in Locust Ridge, Tennessee, a hamlet just north of the Greenbrier Valley, in the Locust Ridge area of the Great Smoky Mountains in Sevier County, a predominantly Pentecostal area.

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Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor with a career in film, television, and theatre since 1960. He has been known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and vulnerable characters.
He first drew critical praise for the play Eh?, for which he won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. This was soon followed by his breakthrough movie role as the good-looking but troubled Benjamin Braddock in The Graduate (1967). Since then Hoffman's career has largely been focused on cinema, with only sporadic returns to television and the stage. Some of his most notable films are Papillon, Marathon Man, Midnight Cowboy, Little Big Man, Lenny, All the President's Men, Kramer vs. Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag the Dog, and Meet the Fockers.
Hoffman has won two Academy Awards (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), five Golden Globes, four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Dustin Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999.

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Eddie Izzard
Edward John "Eddie" Izzard (born 7 February 1962) is an English stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. His comedy style takes the form of rambling, whimsical monologue and self-referential pantomime. He had a starring role in the television series The Riches as Wayne Malloy and has appeared in many motion pictures such as Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen, Mystery Men, Shadow of the Vampire, The Cat's Meow, Across the Universe, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and Valkyrie. He is also the voice of Nigel in the 2006 animated film The Wild and Miles Axlerod in the 2011 Disney/Pixar animated film Cars 2.
He has cited his main comedy role model as Monty Python, and John Cleese once referred to him as the "Lost Python". In 2009, he completed 43 marathons in 51 days for Sport Relief in spite of having no prior history of long distance running. He is also known for his transvestism. He has won numerous awards including a Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his comedy special Dress to Kill, in 2000. Izzard's web site won the Yahoo People's Choice Award and earned the Webby Award.

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Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor. He has worked with lyricist Bernie Taupin as his songwriter partner since 1967; they have collaborated on more than 30 albums to date.
In his four-decade career John has sold more than 250 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. His single "Candle in the Wind 1997" has sold over 33 million copies worldwide, and is the best selling single in Billboard history. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits, including seven consecutive No. 1 US albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won six Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him Number 49 on its list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. Having been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996, John received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for "services to music and charitable services" in 1998.

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Frank Bruno
Franklin Roy "Frank" Bruno MBE (born 16 November 1961) is a British former boxer whose career highlight was winning the WBC heavyweight championship in 1995. Altogether, he won 40 of his 45 contests. Like Henry Cooper before him, Bruno has remained a popular celebrity with the British public since his ring career ended and still appears regularly in pantomime.
Bruno became a professional boxer in 1982, quickly racking up a streak of twenty-one consecutive wins by knockout. This streak caught the attention of international boxing magazines, such as The Ring, KO Magazine, Boxing Illustrated, Ring En Español. During this period Bruno defeated former world title contender Scott LeDoux, the dangerous fringe contender Floyd Cummings, former European Champion Rudy Gauwe, British contender Eddie Nielson and trial horses such as Bill Sharkey, Walter Santemore and Ken Lakusta. However, in May 1984 the up and coming future world heavyweight Champion, American James 'Bonecrusher' Smith, halted that streak when he defeated Bruno by knockout in the tenth and final round of their bout, with Bruno leading clearly on all three judges' cards. As a general view, Bruno was carefully managed, whereby he developed well to later give a strong account of himself in the big matches.

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George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE (born 3 January 1926) is an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he has described as "nonsense"—in reference to his extensive involvement on each of The Beatles' original albums. He is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time, with 30 number one hit singles in the UK and 23 number one hits in the USA.
Influenced by a range of musical styles, encompassing Cole Porter and Johnny Dankworth, he attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947 to 1950, studying piano and oboe. Following his graduation, he worked for the BBC's classical music department, then joined EMI in 1950. Martin produced comedy and novelty records in the early 1950s, working with the likes of Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan.
In a career spanning over six decades, Martin has worked in music, film, television and live performance. He has also held a number of senior executive roles at media companies and contributes to a wide range of charitable causes, including his work for the Prince's Trust and the Caribbean island of Montserrat.

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Gerry Rafferty
Gerald "Gerry" Rafferty (16 April 1947 – 4 January 2011) was a Scottish singer-songwriter best known for his solo hits "Baker Street", "Right Down the Line", "Days Gone Down", "Night Owl", "Get It Right Next Time", and with the band Stealers Wheel, "Stuck in the Middle with You". Rafferty was born into a working class family in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. His mother taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy; later, he was influenced by the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan. He joined the folk-pop group The Humblebums in 1969. After they disbanded in 1971, he recorded his first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back? Rafferty and Joe Egan formed the group Stealers Wheel in 1972, producing several hits, most notably "Stuck in the Middle with You". In 1978, he recorded his second solo album, City to City, which included "Baker Street", his most popular song.
Rafferty was born on 16 April 1947 into a working-class family in Paisley, a son and grandson of coal miners. He was a son of Mary Skeffington and Joseph Rafferty (died 1963); and had two brothers, Jim and Joe (died 1995). Rafferty grew up in a council house on the town’s Foxbar estate and was educated at St Mirin's Academy. His Irish-born father, a violent alcoholic, was a miner and lorry driver who died when Rafferty was 16. His mother was Irish/Scottish and taught him both Irish and Scottish folk songs as a boy: "My father was Irish so growing up in Paisley I was hearing all these songs when I was two or three. Songs like 'She Moves Through the Fair', which my mother sings beautifully. And a whole suite of Irish traditional songs and Scots traditional songs." Heavily influenced by folk music and the music of The Beatles and Bob Dylan, the young Rafferty started to write his own material.

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Hamish Imlach
Hamish Imlach (10 February 1940 - 1 January 1996) was a folksinger. He was born in Calcutta but claimed to have been conceived in Glasgow, Scotland. Although his commercial success was limited he influenced many other artists, including most notably John Martyn and Billy Connolly. In Central and Northern Europe Imlach enjoyed a strong reputation as a vivid live artist. Particularly in Scandinavia (Denmark) and Germany his live performances were much cherished.
He had his biggest hit in the late 1960s with "Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice," a scurrilous and hilarious take on the American gospel standard "Virgin Mary Had a Little Baby" written by Ron Clark and Carl MacDougall. The song was for a time banned by the BBC as it was assumed to be full of double meanings, but at one point became the most requested song on British Forces Radio.
He was described by Ewan McVicar, the Scottish storyteller and singer, as "a raconteur who taught Billy Connolly, a singer who taught Christy Moore, a blues guitarist who taught John Martyn". Imlach was invited to join the Irish trad and folk group The Dubliners. He was also an early anti-nuclear protestor and wrote and performed protest songs as well as comic ones. After recovering from a serious illness in the 1970s he regularly toured with Iain MacKintosh as well as doing solo tours. For the last 18 months of his professional life his stage partner was Kate Kramer, an American fiddle player and singer living in Scotland, with whom he recorded his last CD, More and Merrier (1996).

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Howard Hesseman
Howard Hesseman (born February 27, 1940) is an American actor best known for playing disc jockey Johnny Fever on WKRP in Cincinnati and schoolteacher Charlie Moore on Head of the Class.
Hesseman was born in Lebanon, Oregon, the son of Edna (née Forster) and George Henry Hesseman. His parents divorced when he was five, and he was raised by his mother and stepfather, a policeman. Hesseman attended the University of Oregon, and was later a founding member of the San Francisco-based improvisational comedy troupe The Committee with fellow actor David Ogden Stiers. Early in his acting career, he used the alias Don Sturdy, the name he also used as a radio DJ.
Hesseman is known for his role as anti-disco disc jockey John "Dr. Johnny Fever" Caravella on the television sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati from 1978–1982, a role Hesseman prepared for by working as a DJ in San Francisco at KMPX-FM for several months. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1980 and 1981 for his portrayal of Fever. Hesseman is also remembered for his role as teacher Charlie Moore on the ABC series Head of the Class from 1986 to 1990. He also played Sam Royer, the man who married Ann Romano (Bonnie Franklin) on One Day at a Time.

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In the Navy
"In the Navy" is a song recorded by American disco group Village People released in 1979. It was the last top 10 hit for the group in the United States.
After the enormous commercial success of their 1978 hit "Y.M.C.A." which unexpectedly became the unofficial hymn and powerful advertising tool for the YMCA, the United States Navy contacted group manager Henri Belolo for production of a similar song about the United States Navy, considering using the song in a recruiting advertising campaign on television and radio. Henri Belolo gave the rights for free on the condition that the Navy help them shoot the music video. Less than a month later, Village People arrived at the San Diego Naval base. The Navy provided them with a warship (USS Reasoner (FF-1063)), several aircraft, and the crew of the ship (with the stipulation that the crew wouldn't dance). The Navy later canceled the campaign after protests erupted over using taxpayer money for a music video of a controversial group.

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J. J. Barrie
J. J. Barrie (born Barry Authors, July 7, 1933,Oshawa, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian songwriter and singer, who is best known for his 1976 UK chart-topper, "No Charge".
A former Blue Mink and Ocean manager, and ex-comedian, Barrie turned to songwriting and in early 1976 co-wrote "Where's The Reason" with Terry Britten for Glen Campbell. They sent a demo to Campbell's producer, but he suggested Barrie record it. This he did, but it was unsuccessful. Undaunted, Barrie recorded a cover version of the country ballad "No Charge", penned by Harlan Howard, on Barrie's own label, Power Exchange. The track featured an uncredited vocal from Vicki Brown (wife of Joe Brown, and one-time member of both The Vernons Girls and The Breakaways), and was produced by Bill Amesbury. The single reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1976, where it remained for one week. The track spent eleven weeks in the chart.
The noted session musician, Clem Cattini, played the drums of "No Charge", one of his forty five UK number one hit appearances on record. Billy Connolly's 1976 Top 40 hit, "No Chance (No Charge)", was a spoof version of Barrie's chart-topper.

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Jason Manford
Jason John Manford (born 26 May 1981) is an English comedian, television presenter and actor.
Manford was born to an Irish family in Salford,Greater Manchester, a son of Sharon (née Ryan), who is a Catholic and Ian Manford. He grew up in a terraced house in what is known as the "Triangle of Death" area of Manchester notorious for its gang activity and high crime rate. He has three younger brothers: Stephen Sean, Colin Charles and Niall Christopher, and a younger sister, Danielle Leahnora.
When Manford was seventeen, he got a job as a glass collector at a local pub. While working there, he became interested in comedy after watching the likes of Peter Kay, Eddie Izzard and Johnny Vegas perform at the local comedy club. Kay recommended him to do the Higher National Diploma in media and performance at the University of Salford. Despite not having the required A Level grades, he was accepted into the programme and eventually upgraded to a full degree. His brother Colin has also followed him into comedy and is also a University of Salford graduate.

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Jimmy Carr
James Anthony Patrick "Jimmy" Carr (born 15 September 1972) is an Irish-born British comedian and humourist. He is known for his deadpan delivery, dark humour and his use of edgy one-liners. He is also a writer, actor and presenter of radio and television.
Carr moved to a career in comedy in 2000. After becoming established as a stand-up comedian, Carr began to appear in a number of Channel 4 television shows, most notably as the host of the panel show 8 out of 10 Cats. In Ireland he is known for appearances on The Panel and The Late Late Show.
Carr was born in Limerick, Ireland to parents Patrick James (born March 1945), a Roman Catholic and self-made millionaire who became treasurer for computer company Unisys, and Nora Mary (née Lawlor, 19 September 1943 – 7 September 2001), who died of pancreatitis in St Thomas' Hospital, London, aged 57. His parents married in 1970, separated in 1994, but never divorced. His father married Natasha in 2003. Carr has an older brother, Colin, and a younger brother, Patrick. Carr was educated at Royal Grammar School in High Wycombe. he also attended St Bernards's Catholic Grammar School also in Slough. Carr's father was not happy with the school so moved him to Burnham Grammar School

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John Brown (servant)
John Brown (December 8, 1826 – March 27, 1883) was a Scottish personal servant and favourite of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom for many years. He was appreciated by many (including the Queen) for his competence and companionship, and resented by others for his influence and informal manner. The exact nature of his relationship with Victoria was the subject of great speculation by contemporaries, and continues to be controversial today.
Brown was born in Crathie, Aberdeenshire, to John Brown and Margaret Leys, and went to work as an outdoor servant (in Scots ghillie or gillie) at Balmoral Castle, which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert purchased in 1853.
After Albert died in 1861, Brown became Victoria's personal servant. She was so grateful for his service (and his manner toward her, which was much less formal than that of her other servants, though extremely protective of her) that she awarded him medals and had portrait paintings and statues made of him.
Victoria's children and ministers resented the high regard she had for Brown, and, inevitably, stories circulated that there was something improper about their relationship. The Queen's daughters joked that Brown was "Mama's Lover," while Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby wrote in his diary that Brown and Victoria slept in adjoining rooms "contrary to etiquette and even decency".

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John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese (/ˈkliːz/; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, writer and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report. In the late 1960s he became a member of Monty Python, the comedy troupe responsible for the sketch show Monty Python's Flying Circus and the four Monty Python films: And Now for Something Completely Different, The Holy Grail, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life.
In the mid 1970s, Cleese and his first wife, Connie Booth, co-wrote and starred in the British sitcom Fawlty Towers. Later, he co-starred with Kevin Kline, Jamie Lee Curtis and former Python colleague Michael Palin in A Fish Called Wanda and Fierce Creatures. He also starred in Clockwise, and has appeared in many other films, including two James Bond films as R/Q, two Harry Potter films and three Shrek films.
With Yes Minister writer Antony Jay he co-founded Video Arts, a production company making entertaining training films.

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Judi Dench
Dame Judith Olivia “Judi” Dench, CH, DBE, FRSA (born 9 December 1934) is an English film, stage and television actress.
Dench made her professional debut in 1957 with the Old Vic Company. Over the following few years she played in several of William Shakespeare's plays in such roles as Ophelia in Hamlet, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth. She branched into film work, and won a BAFTA Award as Most Promising Newcomer; however, most of her work during this period was in theatre. Not generally known as a singer, she drew strong reviews for her leading role in the musical Cabaret in 1968.
During the next two decades, she established herself as one of the most significant British theatre performers, working for the National Theatre Company and the Royal Shakespeare Company. In television, she achieved success during this period, in the series A Fine Romance from 1981 until 1984 and in 1992 began a continuing role in the television romantic comedy series As Time Goes By.
Her film appearances were infrequent until she was cast as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she has played in each James Bond film since. She received several notable film awards for her role as Queen Victoria in Mrs. Brown (1997), and has since been acclaimed for her work in such films as Shakespeare in Love (1998), Chocolat (2000), Iris (2001), Mrs Henderson Presents (2005) and Notes on a Scandal (2006), and the television production The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2001).

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Kenneth Bigley
Kenneth John Bigley (22 April 1942 – 7 October 2004) was an English civil engineer who was kidnapped in the al-Mansour district of Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 September 2004, along with his colleagues Jack Hensley and Eugene Armstrong, both U.S. citizens. The three men were working for Gulf Supplies and Commercial Services, a Kuwaiti company working on reconstruction projects in Iraq. They knew their house was being watched and that they were in grave danger because their Iraqi house guard told them he was quitting because he had been threatened by militias that knew he was protecting Americans and British workers, but Bigley and the two Americans decided it was worth it to live with the danger. All were subsequently beheaded.
On 18 September, the Tawhid and Jihad ("Oneness of God and Jihad") Islamic extremist group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, released a video of the three men kneeling in front of a Tawhid and Jihad banner. The kidnappers said they would kill the men within 48 hours if their demands for the release of Iraqi women prisoners held by coalition forces were not met.

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Kevin Bridges
Kevin Bridges (born 13 November 1986) is a Scottish stand-up comedian.
Bridges began performing on the small stage when he left school shortly after his 17th birthday, doing stand-up comedy gigs at The Stand Comedy Club in Glasgow and then throughout the UK.Bridges said he was inspired to try stand up after reading Frank Skinner's autobiography. At 18 he reached the final of Channel 5's So You Think You're Funny competition at the Edinburgh Fringe. He performed at the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Bridges appeared on Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow on the BBC, where he performed at the Edinburgh Playhouse.
In 2010, he took part in Channel 4's Comedy Gala, a benefit show held in aid of Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital, filmed live at the O2 Arena in London.
His debut DVD, titled Kevin Bridges: The Story So Far... Live in Glasgow, was released on 22 November 2010.

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Malcolm McDowell
Malcolm McDowell (born 13 June 1943) is an English actor, whose career spans more than four decades.
McDowell is known for his early roles in the controversial films If...., O Lucky Man!, A Clockwork Orange, and Caligula. Since then, his versatility as an actor has led to varied roles in films and television series of different genres, including Tank Girl, Star Trek Generations, the TV serial Our Friends in the North, Entourage, Heroes, Metalocalypse, the animated movie Bolt, the 2007 remake of Halloween and its sequel, and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness. He is also well known for his narration of the seminal 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles.
McDowell was born Malcolm John Taylor in Horsforth, then in the West Riding of Yorkshire, now a part of the City of Leeds, the son of Edna (née McDowell), a hotelier, and Charles Taylor, a publican. His family later moved to Bridlington, since his father was in the Royal Air Force. McDowell trained as an actor at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).

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Mark Knopfler
Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977. After Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler went on to record and produce six solo albums, including Golden Heart (1996), Sailing to Philadelphia (2000), and Get Lucky (2009). He has composed and produced film scores for eight films, including Local Hero (1983), Cal (1984), and The Princess Bride (1987). In addition to his work with Dire Straits and as a solo artist and composer, Knopfler has recorded and performed with many prominent musical artists, including Phil Lynott, Chet Atkins, The Chieftains, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Jools Holland, Sonny Landreth, and Van Morrison. He has produced albums for Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, and Randy Newman.
Knopfler is one of the most respected fingerstyle guitarists of the modern rock era, and was ranked 27th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Knopfler and Dire Straits have sold in excess of 120 million albums to date. A four-time Grammy Award winner, Knopfler is the recipient of the Edison Award and the Steiger Award, and holds three honorary doctorate degrees in music from universities in the United Kingdom.

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Michael McIntyre
Michael Hazen James McIntyre (born 21 February 1976) is a British stand-up comedian. As well as his stand-up, he has performed on programmes such as Live at the Apollo and has his own programme, Michael McIntyre's Comedy Roadshow.
McIntyre has released two stand-up DVDs; Live and Laughing in 2008 featured material from his first nationwide tour, while Michael McIntyre: Hello Wembley was released in November 2009 following a set at Wembley Arena. The former was the fastest selling debut stand-up DVD ever, and Hello Wembley is the fastest selling stand-up DVD in UK chart history, selling over a million copies. In 2009 McIntyre performed live to half a million people and won Best Live Stand-up at the British Comedy Awards.
In 2010, McIntyre released his autobiography, Life and Laughing: My Story, and also became the youngest-ever host of the Royal Variety Performance. He started as a judge on the fifth series of Britain's Got Talent in April 2011. He is to embark on his second nationwide tour in 2012.

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Michael Parkinson
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE (born 28 March 1935) is an English broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007. He has been described in The Guardian as "the great British talkshow host".
Parkinson, or "Parky" as he is known, was born in the village of Cudworth, England. The son of a miner, he was educated at Barnsley Grammar School and passed two O-Levels: in Art and English Language.^{[citation needed]} He was a club cricketer, and both he and his opening partner at Barnsley Cricket Club, Dickie Bird, had trials for Yorkshire together with Geoffrey Boycott. He once kept Boycott out of the Barnsley Cricket team by scoring a century and 50 in two successive matches. Parkinson began as a journalist on local newspapers, and his Yorkshire background and accent remain part of his appeal. He worked as a features writer for the Manchester Guardian, working alongside Michael Frayn, and later on the Daily Express in London. He was also conscripted into National Service as Britain's youngest army captain and was involved in the Suez Operation in the summer of 1956.

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Mike Batt
Michael Philip "Mike" Batt (born 6 February 1949) is a British songwriter, musician, producer and Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. He is best known for creating The Wombles pop act, writing the chart-topping "Bright Eyes," and discovering Katie Melua.
Born in Southampton, Batt attended Peter Symonds School, Winchester. His blog refers to his role as cadet Company Sergeant Major at the school .
Batt began his career in pop music at the age of eighteen when he answered the same advertisement as Elton John and Bernie Taupin placed by Ray Williams in the New Musical Express on behalf of Liberty Records. Batt became part of Liberty's production team, and in 1969 he took over production duties from Noel Walker, on McKenna Mendelson Mainline's first release, Stink. Walker and Batt were credited on the album only as "Liberty Staff". Also in 1969, Batt released as producer/artist a Liberty single, his cover version of The Beatles' "Your Mother Should Know". Batt subsequently became Head of A&R for Liberty.

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Mike Oldfield
Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music, New Age, and more recently, dance. His music is often elaborate and complex in nature. He is best known for his hit 1973 album Tubular Bells, which launched Virgin Records, and for his 1983 hit single "Moonlight Shadow". He is also well known for his hit rendition of the Christmas piece, "In Dulci Jubilo".
Oldfield's parents are Raymond Oldfield, a general practitioner, and his wife Maureen Liston, a nurse. His sister Sally and brother Terry are successful musicians in their own right and have appeared on several of his albums. Mike Oldfield was born in the Battle Hospital, Reading, Berkshire, and he attended St Joseph's Convent School, Highlands Junior School in Tilehurst, St Edward's Preparatory School, and Presentation College in Reading. When he was 13 he moved with his parents to Harold Wood in northeast London, where he attended Hornchurch Grammar School. He only stayed there long enough to take one GCE examination, in English, as he had already begun his music career.

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Monty Python
Monty Python (sometimes known as The Pythons) was a British surreal comedy group who created Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series. The Python phenomenon developed from the television series into something larger in scope and impact, spawning touring stage shows, films, numerous albums, several books and a stage musical as well as launching the members to individual stardom. The group's influence on comedy has been compared to The Beatles' influence on music.
The television series, broadcast by the BBC from 1969 to 1974, was conceived, written and performed by members Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin. Loosely structured as a sketch show, but with an innovative stream-of-consciousness approach (aided by Gilliam's animation), it pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable in style and content. A self-contained comedy team responsible for both writing and performing their work, the Pythons' creative control allowed them to experiment with form and content, discarding rules of television comedy. Their influence on British comedy has been apparent for years, while in North America it has coloured the work of cult performers from the early editions of Saturday Night Live through to more recent absurdist trends in television comedy. "Pythonesque" has entered the English lexicon as a result.

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Nathan Joseph
Nathan "Nat" Joseph (23 July 1939 – 30 August 2005) was a noted force in the British music industry, a theatrical producer and talent agent. He was a pioneer in the development of independent record companies in the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Birmingham, England, Joseph is best known as the founder of Transatlantic Records - an independent British record company that flourished between 1961–1977. Joseph started his label by importing American folk and blues recordings that were hard to obtain in the UK in the early 1960s. These were licensed for the UK from American record companies such as Folkways Records. He also released a few offbeat spoken word recordings (including a series of audio sex instruction manuals). By 1963 Joseph had started to sign and record British artists - primarily in the folk and blues spheres. The label was initially modelled on the Folkways label - and then broadened out in musical scope. Artists signed by Joseph to Transatlantic included Billy Connolly (who after beginning his career as folk singer with the Humblebums released his first comedy recordings for Transatlantic in the early 1970s), Ralph McTell, Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Sheila Hancock and The Dubliners. He also released the first recordings by the Portsmouth Sinfonia the avant garde orchestra that included Brian Eno and Michael Nyman in its membership.

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Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English heavy metal vocalist and songwriter, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English band Black Sabbath, whose dark and hard sound helped spawn the heavy metal genre. Due to Sabbath's dark style, Osbourne became known as the "Prince of Darkness". Osbourne is also known as the "Godfather of Heavy Metal".
In the early 2000s, Osbourne's career expanded when he became a star in his own reality show The Osbournes, alongside wife/manager Sharon and two of their three children, Kelly and Jack. A documentary about his life and career, God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, premiered in April 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on DVD in November 2011. Osbourne has achieved multi-platinum status as a solo artist and with Black Sabbath and has sold over 100 million albums worldwide.
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne was born in Aston, Birmingham, England, on 3 December 1948. His father Jack worked shifts as a toolmaker at GEC. His mother Lillian worked for the car components firm Lucas. John was the fourth of six children. Ozzy had two brothers (Paul and Tony) and three sisters (Jean, Iris and Gillian); they lived in a small two bedroom home at 14 Lodge Road in Aston. The nickname "Ozzy" was first used when he was in primary school. Although called "John" by his first wife Thelma, Osbourne states that it has been a long time since he's recognised himself when called by his formal name.

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Pamela Stephenson
Pamela Helen Stephenson Connolly (born 4 December 1949) is a New Zealand-born Australian clinical psychologist and writer now resident in the United Kingdom. She is best known for her work as an actress and comedian during the 1980s. She has written several books, which include a biography of her husband Billy Connolly, and presents a psychology-based interview show called Shrink Rap on British television.
Stephenson was born in Takapuna, Auckland, New Zealand. She moved to Australia in 1964 and attended the University of New South Wales and then Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, from which she graduated in 1971. Stephenson was a regular cast member on television series Ryan. She moved to London in 1976, where she continued to perform.
Stephenson began acting on television by 1972. In 1973–74, she starred as Julie King on the Australian TV series Ryan. After numerous television and film appearances, she had another recurring role as Iris Reade in the UK series Funny Man (1981). Probably her most widely recognized television role was in the classic 1980s UK comedy television sketch show Not The Nine O'Clock News, alongside Rowan Atkinson, Mel Smith and Griff Rhys Jones (1979–82). Her parodies included Kate Bush in a song called "Oh England, My Leotard", and Olivia Newton-John in a song called "Typical bloody typical". She also had a small part in three episodes of the British TV police drama series The Professionals. Her personal contribution as a comedian added to the success of Not the Nine O'Clock News and led to a collaboration with comedy and satire writers Mike Lepine and Mark Leigh. This spawned a book, How To Be A Complete Bitch, and a board game. In 1982–83, she starred in the West End production of Joseph Papp's version of The Pirates of Penzance.

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Peter Cook
Peter Edward Cook (17 November 1937 – 9 January 1995) was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. Cook has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath", although his work was also controversial. Cook was closely associated with anti-establishment comedy which emerged in Britain and the United States in the late 1950s.
Cook was born at his parents' house "Shearbridge", in Middle Warberry Road, Torquay, Devon. He was the only son and eldest of the three children of Alexander Edward (Alec) Cook (1906–1984), a colonial civil servant, and his wife Ethel Catherine Margaret, née Mayo (1908–1994). He was educated at Radley College and Pembroke College, Cambridge, where he studied French and German. As a student, Cook initially intended to become a career diplomat like his father, but Britain "had run out of colonies", as he put it. Although politically largely apathetic, particularly in later life when he displayed a deep distrust of politicians of all hues, he did join the Cambridge University Liberal Club.

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Queen Victoria
Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India.
Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and the King died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at the age of 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died without surviving legitimate issue. The United Kingdom was already an established constitutional monarchy, in which the Sovereign held relatively few direct political powers. Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments. Publicly, she became a national icon, and was identified with strict standards of personal morality.
She married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children and 26 of their 34 grandchildren who survived childhood married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe". After Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.

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Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell (born Ralph May in Farnborough, Kent, England, 3 December 1944 and raised in Croydon) is an English singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar player who has been an influential figure on the UK folk music scene since the 1960s.
Ralph McTell is best known for the song "Streets of London", which has been covered by over two hundred artists around the world. In the 1980s he wrote and played songs for two TV children's programmes, Alphabet Zoo, which also featured Nerys Hughes, followed by Tickle On The Tum, featuring Jacqueline Reddin. Albums were also released from both series. He also recorded the theme song to Cosgrove Hall's adaptation of The Wind in the Willows with Keith Hopwood, and this was released as a single in 1984 after the series was aired on ITV.
McTell's guitar playing has been modelled on the style of the US's country blues guitar players of the early 20th century, including Blind Blake, Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. These influences led a friend to suggest that he change his professional name to McTell as his career was beginning to take shape.

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Rhea Perlman
Rhea Jo Perlman (born March 31, 1948) is an American actress, best known for her role as Carla Tortelli on the sitcom Cheers, for which she won four Emmy Awards.
Perlman was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Philip and Adele Perlman. Her father was an actor, and a doll-and toy-part salesman. Her sister Heide Perlman was a writer, story editor, and producer on the television shows Cheers and Frasier. Rhea Perlman attended Hunter College in New York and is an active Democrat.
She began her acting career in 1972 when she played a bit role in the film Hot Dogs for Gauguin. That same year she appeared in Westbeth Playwrights Feminist Collective's production of Up – An Uppity Revue, along with her future husband, Danny DeVito.^{[citation needed]}

Rhea Perlman began acting in the early 1970s with numerous appearances on TV films and short films. One of her first noticeable role was a recurring role on the television show Taxi as Zena, girlfriend of Louie DePalma (played by Danny DeVito).
In 1982 she landed a role as Carla Tortelli on the hit sitcom Cheers. She won the Emmy four times, in 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1989. She was also nominated for a Golden Globe 6 times. During her Cheers career, she was nominated for an Emmy every year but 1992, becoming the Cheers star to have the most wins and nominations.

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Richard Burton
Richard Burton, CBE (10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role (without ever winning), and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. He remains closely associated in the public consciousness with his second wife, actress Elizabeth Taylor; the couple's turbulent relationship was rarely out of the news.
Richard Burton was born Richard Walter Jenkins in the village of Pontrhydyfen, Neath Port Talbot, Wales. He grew up in a working class, Welsh-speaking household, the twelfth of thirteen children. His father, Richard Walter Jenkins, was a short, robust coal miner, a "twelve-pints-a-day man" who sometimes went off on drinking and gambling sprees for weeks. Burton later claimed, by family telling, that "He looked very much like me...That is, he was pockmarked, devious, and smiled a great deal when he was in trouble. He was, also, a man of extraordinary eloquence, tremendous passion, great violence."

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Robin Williams
Robin McLaurin Williams (born July 21, 1951) is an American actor and comedian. Rising to fame with his role as the alien Mork in the TV series Mork & Mindy, and later stand-up comedy work, Williams has performed in many feature films since 1980. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting. He has also won two Emmy Awards, four Golden Globes, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and five Grammy Awards.
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Laura McLaurin (née Smith, 1922–2001), was a former model from New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, Robert Fitzgerald Williams (September 10, 1906 – October 18, 1987), was a senior executive at Ford Motor Company in charge of the Midwest region. His maternal great-great-grandfather was senator and Mississippi governor Anselm J. McLaurin. Williams is of English, Welsh, Irish, and French ancestry. He was raised in the Episcopal Church (his mother practiced Christian Science). He grew up in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, where he was a student at the Detroit Country Day School, and later moved to Woodacre, Marin County, California, where he attended the public Redwood High School. Williams studied at Claremont McKenna College (then called Claremont Men's College) for four years. He has two half-brothers: Todd (who died August 14, 2007) and McLaurin.

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Rod Stewart
Roderick David "Rod" Stewart, CBE (born 10 January 1945) is a British singer-songwriter, born and raised in North London, England, and currently residing in Epping. He is of Scottish and English ancestry.
With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart came to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with The Jeff Beck Group and then Faces. He launched his solo career in 1969 with his debut album An Old Raincoat Won't Ever Let You Down (US: The Rod Stewart Album). His work with The Jeff Beck Group and Faces influenced heavy metal genres.
With his career in its fifth decade, Stewart has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best selling artists of all time. In the UK, he has had six consecutive number one albums, and his tally of 62 hit singles include 31 that reached the top 10, six of which gained the number one position. He has had 16 top ten singles in the U.S, with four of these reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the "The Billboard Hot 100 Top All-Time Artists". He was voted at #33 in Q Magazine's list of the top 100 Greatest Singers of all time, and #59 on Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Singers of all time. As a solo artist, Stewart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, and was inducted a second time, as a member of Faces, in April 2012.

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Rolf Harris
Rolf Harris, CBE, AM (born 30 March 1930) is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.
Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the characters. He also began a musical career initially with the piano accordion. He wrote the famous song "Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport", and when performing in Canada he introduced his popular routine around his song "Jake the Peg". He often uses unusual instruments in his performances: he plays the didgeridoo, has been credited with the invention of the wobble board, a rhythmic percussion instrument, and was associated with the Stylophone, a small electronic keyboard instrument.
From the 1960s he has become a popular television personality, presenting shows including Rolf's Cartoon Club, Animal Hospital and various programmes about serious art. In late 2005 he painted an official portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, which was the subject of a special episode of Rolf on Art.

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Ronnie Barker
Ronald William George "Ronnie" Barker, OBE (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian, writer, critic, broadcaster and businessman. He was known for his roles in various British comedy television series, such as The Frost Report, Porridge, The Two Ronnies and Open All Hours.
He began his acting career in repertory theatre and decided he was best suited to performing comic roles. Barker gained his first acting successes at the Oxford Playhouse and later in various roles in the West End including Tom Stoppard's The Real Inspector Hound. During this period, he became a cast member on BBC radio and television comedy programmes such as The Navy Lark. Barker got his television break with the satirical sketch series The Frost Report in 1966 where he met future collaborator Ronnie Corbett. He joined David Frost's production company and was to star in a number of ITV shows including a short film during this period.
After rejoining the BBC Barker found fame with the sketch show The Two Ronnies (1971—1987) with Ronnie Corbett. After the series of pilots called Seven of One, he gained starring roles in the sitcoms Porridge, its sequel Going Straight and Open All Hours. Apart from being a performer, he was noted as a comedy writer both under his own name and the pseudonym Gerald Wiley, which Barker adopted to avoid pre-judgements of his talent. Barker won the BAFTA for Best Light Entertainment Performance four times, amongst other awards, and received an OBE in 1978.

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Ronnie Golden
Ronnie Golden, born Tony De Meur, is a British singer, guitarist and comedian. He was the founder of the band The Fabulous Poodles. After the group broke up he worked as a stand up comedian as a member of The Comic Strip. From the early 1980s he made many appearances at The Comedy Store and on the London alternative comedy circuit. He appeared in an episode of the comedy series The Young Ones hanging upside-down in a wardrobe while impersonating Buddy Holly.
Golden now fronts an R&B and soul group, Ronnie and the Rex. He also writes songs and sketches for BBC Radio 4's The Right Time.
A long-time musical collaborator with Barry Cryer, Golden and Cryer performed at the Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People show at The Bloomsbury Theatre and Hammersmith Apollo in December 2009. Cryer and Golden's performance was broadcast on BBC4 on January 23rd 2010.

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Ross Noble
Ross Markham Noble (born 5 June 1976 in Newcastle upon Tyne) is an English stand-up comedian from Cramlington, Northumberland.
Noble rose to mainstream popularity through making appearances on British television, particularly interviews and on celebrity quiz shows such as Have I Got News for You. He has also released DVDs of several of his tours.
In 2007 he was voted the 10th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 11th greatest stand-up comic.
Noble's stand-up routine is a largely improvised and surreal performance with a stream of consciousness delivery. Often, a large percentage of his set becomes based around heckles and conversations with members of the audience. Although he does often have a few set topics which he performs throughout a tour, he describes the planning for the entire show as "about four words on a piece of scrap paper".
Noble often mimes actions on-stage to help the audience visualise his surreal ideas, for example, telling the audience to never put a blanket over an owl, and exactly what an owl neck detection device is ("just a stick with a pointy bit on it") or showing the audience how to serve double header ice creams properly after considering his own made-up plot of 24 in which Jack Bauer escapes a cell using a greasy goose.

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Russell Howard
Russell Joseph Howard^{[citation needed]} (born 23 March 1980) is an English comedian and presenter best known for his TV show Russell Howard's Good News and his appearances on the topical panel TV show Mock The Week. He won "Best Compère" at the 2006 Chortle Awards and was nominated for an if.comedy award for his 2006 Edinburgh Festival Fringe show.
Howard has two younger siblings, twins, Kerry, an actress, and Daniel, a systems analyst who suffers from epilepsy, a fact which Howard often references during his act. Indeed, in April 2010, Howard ran the Virgin London Marathon for the first time with both his brother and sister, to raise money for the National Society for Epilepsy. He completed the 26 mile course in 4 hours and 15 minutes, beating his target time of 5 hours. Sponsorship has raised over £7,000 to date.
Howard supports Liverpool Football Club and says that he is "deadly serious" about football. "I still go down the pub and play football with my mates", he commented in 2010.
In terms of political views, Howard appeared at Friends of the Earth's LIVEstock comedy and music event at the Hammersmith Apollo in support of the green campaign group's Food Chain Campaign for planet-friendly farming, on 12 November 2009.

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Sean Connery
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (born 25 August 1930) is a Scottish actor and producer who has won an Academy Award, two BAFTA Awards (one of them being a BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award) and three Golden Globes (including the Cecil B. DeMille Award and a Henrietta Award).
Connery is best known for portraying the character James Bond, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983 (six Eon Productions films and the non-canonical Thunderball remake, Never Say Never Again). In 1988, Connery won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Untouchables. His film career also includes such films as Marnie, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, The Hunt for Red October, Highlander, Murder on the Orient Express, Dragonheart, and The Rock. He was knighted in July 2000. Connery has been polled as "The Greatest Living Scot" and "Scotland's Greatest Living National Treasure". In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".

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Sharon Stone
Sharon Vonne Stone (born March 10, 1958) is an American actress, film producer, and former fashion model. She achieved international recognition for her role in the erotic thriller Basic Instinct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress and won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama for her performance in Casino.
Stone was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania. The second of four children, she is the daughter of Dorothy (née Lawson), an accountant and homemaker, and Joseph William Stone II, a tool and die manufacturer and factory worker. Stone graduated in 1975 from Saegertown High School in Saegertown, Pennsylvania.
Stone won the title of Miss Crawford County in Meadville, and was a candidate for Miss Pennsylvania. One of the pageant judges said she should quit school and move to New York City to become a fashion model. In 1977, Stone left Meadville, moving in with an aunt in New Jersey. Within four days of her arrival in New Jersey, she was signed by Ford Modeling Agency in New York.

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Sir Peter Jackson
Sir Peter Robert Jackson, KNZM (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, producer, actor, and screenwriter, who is well known for his The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001 to 2003), adapted from the novel by J. R. R. Tolkien.
He won international attention early in his career with his "splatstick" horror comedies beginning with Bad Taste (1987) before coming to mainstream prominence with Heavenly Creatures (1994), for which he shared an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay nomination with his wife, Fran Walsh. Jackson has been awarded three Academy Awards in his career, including the award for Best Director in 2003; he also won the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Saturn Award for Best Direction the same year.
His films also include Meet the Feebles (1989), Braindead (1992), Forgotten Silver (1995), The Frighteners (1996), King Kong (2005),The Lovely Bones (2009), and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings prequels The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) and The Hobbit: There and Back Again (2013). He is also the producer of District 9 (2009) and The Adventures of Tintin (2011).

wn.com/Sir_Peter_Jackson
Stewart Lee
Stewart Lee (born 5 April 1968) is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director. He made his name in the mid 1990s as one half of the radio duo Lee and Herring, a popular success followed through with extensive touring to built up a loyal live following. He gave up comedy in the early 2000s when he became disillusioned by the business and believed he was doomed to be a cult act with limited appeal who had reached the extent of any potential audience. Lee returned to stand up after co-writing and co-directing the surprise mock Broadway hit Jerry Springer - The Opera. Since then he has returned to the live circuit and though BBC and C4 specials and series, has rebuilt a niche audience and a reputation as an anti populist, anti "after the pub" comedian.
He remains a significant voice in UK stand up despite his refusal to appear on the panel shows that have seen many of his contemporaries eclipse him in ticket sales, if not critical acclaim. Although Lee's audience figures are comparatively low, he usually tours to 400-600 capacity venues and standing outside the comedy mainstream, he is well regarded by critics and has been a regular pundit on BBC political programming. In December 2011 he won the award for best male television comic for his series Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle which also won best comedy entertainment programme at the 2011 British Comedy Awards. A 2009 article in The Times referred to him as "the comedian's comedian, and for good reason" and named him "face of the decade". His stand-up features frequent use of "repetition, call-backs, nonchalant delivery and deconstruction", a device he jokingly ascribes to his tedious, exacting middle-class persona.

wn.com/Stewart_Lee
Tammy Wynette
Virginia Wynette Pugh, known professionally as Tammy Wynette, (May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of the genre's best-known artists and biggest-selling woman singers.
Wynette was sometimes called the "First Lady of Country Music", and her best-known song, Stand by Your Man, was one of the best-selling hit singles by a woman in the history of the country music genre. Many of Wynette's hits dealt with classic themes of loneliness, divorce, and the difficulties of man-woman relationships. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wynette ranked high in the country sales charts with 17 number-one songs. Along with Loretta Lynn, Lynn Anderson, and Dolly Parton, Wynette defined the role of women in country music during the 1970s.
Wynette's marriage to the country singer George Jones in 1969, which end in divorce in 1975, created a country music "couple", following the earlier success of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Jones and Wynette recorded a sequence of duet albums and single records that hit the charts throughout the 1970s.

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Tim Vine
Timothy "Tim" Mark Vine (born 4 March 1967 in Cheam, London)^{[citation needed]} is an English actor, writer and comedian.
He has released a number of DVDs of his stand-up comedy, as well as starring in the series Not Going Out with Lee Mack on the BBC. He won the award for best joke at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2010, and for the second best in August 2011.
He attended the public school Epsom College with his brother Jeremy Vine.
His stand-up act consists primarily of a series of quick-fire one-liners and puns. Vine has appeared regularly at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with shows such as The Tim Vine Shambles and The Tim Vine Fiasco which won him the Perrier newcomer award in 1995. In 2006, he had a large advertising hoarding erected featuring his name and image, with a small sub-heading "...is not appearing at this year's Edinburgh Festival" Vine appeared at the Pleasance Courtyard for the first two weeks of the 2008 Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing a show entitled Punslinger.

wn.com/Tim_Vine
Village People
Village People is a concept disco group that formed in the United States in 1977, well known for their on-stage costumes depicting American cultural stereotypes, as well as their catchy tunes and suggestive lyrics.
Originally created to target disco's gay audience by featuring popular gay fantasy personas, the band's popularity quickly brought them into the mainstream. Village People scored a number of disco and dance hits, including their trademark "Macho Man", "Go West", the classic club medley of "San Francisco (You've Got Me) / In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)", "In the Navy", "Can't Stop the Music", and their biggest hit, "Y.M.C.A.".
They have sold upwards of 100 million records world-wide.
The group was the creation of Jacques Morali, a French musical composer. He had written a few dance tunes when he was given a demo tape recorded by singer/actor Victor Willis. Morali approached Willis and told him, "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing on the first album, Village People.

wn.com/Village_People
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg ( /ˈhwʊpi/, born Caryn Elaine Johnson; November 13, 1955) is an American comedienne, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.
Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple (1985) playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in the film. In 1990, she starred as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic helping a slain man (Patrick Swayze) find his killer in the blockbuster film Ghost. This performance won her a second Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Notable later films include Sister Act and Sister Act 2, The Lion King, Made in America, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Girl, Interrupted and Rat Race. She is also acclaimed for her roles as the bartender Guinan in Star Trek: The Next Generation and as Terry Doolittle in Jumpin' Jack Flash. More recently, she had performed the voice of Stretch in Toy Story 3 and made an appearance in Glee as Carmen Tibideaux.

wn.com/Whoopi_Goldberg
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE (22 April 1916 – 12 March 1999) was an American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985. He is often considered to be one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century.
Yehudi Menuhin was born in New York City, United States, to Bielorussian Jewish parents from what is now Belarus. His sisters were the concert pianist and human rights worker Hephzibah Menuhin and the pianist, painter, and poet Yaltah Menuhin. Through his father Moshe Menuhin, a former rabbinical student and anti-Zionist writer, Menuhin was descended from a distinguished rabbinical dynasty.
Menuhin began violin instruction at age four under violinist Sigmund Anker; his parents had wanted Louis Persinger to be his teacher, but Persinger refused. Menuhin displayed extraordinary talents at an early age. His first solo violin performance was at the age of seven with the San Francisco Symphony in 1923. Persinger then agreed to take Menuhin as a student. When the Menuhins went to Paris, Persinger suggested Yehudi go to his own teacher, Eugène Ysaÿe. He did have one lesson with Ysaÿe, but did not like his method or the fact that he was very old. Instead, he went to the Romanian composer and violinist George Enescu, after which he made several recordings with his sister Hephzibah. He was also a student of Adolf Busch. In 1929 he played in Berlin, under Bruno Walter's baton, three concerti by Bach, Brahms and Beethoven. In 1932 he recorded Edward Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor for HMV in London, with the composer himself conducting, and between 1934 and 1936 he made the first integral recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin.

wn.com/Yehudi_Menuhin

Billy Connolly - Old Woman On Bus

Billy Connolly telling a hysterical story about an old woman he met on a bus in Clydebank....

published: 16 Aug 2007

author: MarkyThomp1981

Billy Connolly Live in New York Full

...

published: 31 Oct 2012

author: MrHypoGaming

An Audience With Billy Connolly

Billy Connolly in his prime! ;)...

published: 06 May 2012

author: ROBOTDECUZZY

Billy Connolly - Stand Up Comedy

Billy Connolly - "Whoopi Goldberg Presents Billy Connolly" (1990) - Stand Up Comedy - from...

published: 09 Nov 2011

author: IWJAF

Billy Connolly talks about suicide bombers = funny

Taken from his "Is it something I said" DVD - very funny...

published: 17 Mar 2008

author: jonnyfartypants08

Parkinson Billy Connolly Tom Cruise part1.flv

Parkinson's talkshow with Billy Connolly and Tom Cruise. Last Samuria...

published: 15 Mar 2012

author: abozoz1

Billy Connolly - Terrorist Attack At Glasgow Airport, Must Watch!

Billy Connolly, speaking about the islamic terrorist attack at Glasgow Airport. You must w...

published: 04 Mar 2011

author: bandsandgroupsdotcom

Billy Connolly Live in New York Part 1

...

published: 29 Apr 2012

author: weebarryboi

Billy Connolly - Algebra

Connolly funny as usual...

published: 14 Apr 2009

author: Mongey93

Billy Connolly - The Cook Book

One of my favourite pieces from Billy :)...

published: 19 Mar 2007

author: jayok2206

Billy Connolly - Erect for 30 years (08 of 11)

Commentary by several celebrities about the career of Connolly, plus standup from a recent...

published: 19 May 2008

author: ikross

Billy Connelly : National Anthem

Billy Connelly being his normal funny self talking about how boring the National Anthem is...

published: 01 Mar 2008

author: mkellar123

billy connolly.mov

...

published: 21 Feb 2012

author: 25sloan25

Billy Connolly - Comic Relief 1986

Billy's performance for the very first comic relief....

published: 25 Jul 2006

author: Climbatize

SoundWorks Collection - The Sound of Brave

In this exclusive SoundWorks Collection sound profile we talk with Director Mark Andrews, ...

published: 26 Jun 2012

author: Michael Coleman

billy connolly's business plan

published: 24 May 2010

author: Stephen Cooper

Billy Connolly - Colonoscopy

published: 27 May 2011

author: andy

Billy Connolly Mural Unveiling

Billy Connolly Mural Unveiling...

published: 10 Dec 2011

author: Gryffe Weddings

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photo: AP / Manu Brabo

A Free Syrian Army fighter takes position close to a military base, near Azaz, Syria, Monday, Dec. 10, 2012.

Syria Rebels Holding Reporter Threaten Attacks on Russians

Novosti

13 Dec 2012

MOSCOW, December 13 (RIA Novosti) – Syrian rebels behind the kidnapping of Ukrainian journalist Ankhar Kochneva have released a video threatening more attacks on Russians and Ukrainians, as a deadline for her execution approaches on Thursday. Kochneva, a 40-year-old Ukrainian citizen, was abducted in October by Syrian rebels as she traveled to the city of Homs, and has been held there by them since, they claim ... ....(size: 2.1Kb)

photo: AP / Bullit Marquez

Soldiers unload another victim of typhoon Bopha as retrieval operations continue at the hardest hit New Bataan township, Compostela Valley in southern Philippines Sunday Dec. 9, 2012. The number of missing in the wake of a typhoon that devastated parts of the southern Philippines has jumped to nearly 900 after families and fishing companies reported losing contact with more than 300 fishermen in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean, officials said Sunday.

Typhoon ‘Pablo’ toll: 714 confirmed dead, 890 missing

The Daily Tribune

11 Dec 2012

The death toll brought about by typhoon “Pablo” continued to rise with 714 persons confirmed dead by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) yesterday while those missing ballooned to 890 as massive search, retrieval and relief operations continue in the typhoon-ravaged areas in Mindanao ... 4 ... They were subsequently brought to Caraga Regional Hospital ... (NHMFC) (P100,000) ... With AFP ....(size: 5.4Kb)

photo: AP / Lee Jin-man

File - Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt speaks to students during a seminar at Yonsei University in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Sept. 28, 2012.

Google boss Eric Schmidt: I'm proud of our tax avoidance scheme...it's called capitalism

Belfast Telegraph

13 Dec 2012

The head of the internet giant Google has defiantly defended his company’s tax avoidance strategy claiming he was “proud” of the steps it had taken to cut its tax bill which were just “capitalism”. In an interview in New York Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chairman, confirmed the company had no intention of paying more to the UK exchequer ... “I am very proud of the structure that we set up ... ” ....(size: 3.7Kb)

photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office

Russian President Vladimir Putin gives an address to the Federal Assembly at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, 12 December, 2012.

Vladimir Putin warns against foreign meddling

The Times of India

12 Dec 2012

MOSCOW. Russia President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday denounced opponents who receive financial assistance from abroad and vowed that the country would not allow democracy to be imposed from the outside. Putin said in his first annual state-of-the-nation address since he returned to the Kremlin for a third term that it should be illegal for anyone who receives money from abroad to be a politician in Russia ... ....(size: 3.9Kb)

photo: AP / Manu Brabo

Kurdish members of the FSA are seen on a tank stolen from the Syrian Army in Fafeen village, north of Aleppo province, Syria, Wednesday, Dec 12, 2012.

Syria fires Scud missiles at rebels: Report

Zeenews

13 Dec 2012

Kabul. The Syrian government forces have fired Scud missiles at insurgents in recent days, escalating the two-year-old conflict against rebels seeking to overthrow the regime, US officials said on Wednesday. Speaking on condition of anonymity, two officials said forces of President Bashar Assad have fired the missiles from the Damascus area into northern Syria ... "Like saying, 'Oh, yeah? I'll show you!'". PTI ... First Published ... ....(size: 2.3Kb)

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Garrett Hedlund In 'Tron 3': Actor Confirms Involvement In 'Tron' Sequel

Huffington Post

14 Dec 2012

Actor Billy Connolly, left, and director Dustin Hoffman embrace on the red carpet at the Elgin Theatre for the film "Quartet" during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto on Sunday, Sept ... (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Vincent Elkaim)Billy Connolly; Maggie Smith; Dustin Hoffman;. Actor Billy Connolly, left to right, ......(size: 17.9Kb)

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Irish Times

14 Dec 2012

Directed by Peter Jackson. Starring Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Ian McKellen, Ian Holm, Aidan Turner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Connolly, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood, Evangeline Lilly, Hugo Weaving, James Nesbitt 12A cert, general release, 166 min. This bloated, overlong Hollywood product drains most of the life and good will out of a perfectly formed children’s fantasy, writes Donald Clarke ... Oh well ... ....(size: 4.8Kb)

'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' - visually spectacular fantasy (IANS Movie Review)

Newstrack India

14 Dec 2012

Tweet. Film. "The Hobbit. An Unexpected Journey"; Cast. Ian McKellen, Martin Freeman, Richard Armitage, Cate Blanchett, Ian Holm, Christopher Lee, Hugo Weaving, Elijah Wood, Andy Serkis, Aidan Turner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Billy Connolly, Evangeline Lilly, Ian McKellen, Lee Pace, Luke Evans, Orlando Bloom and Stephen Fry; Director. Peter Jackson;. Rating. ***1/2. There is something appealing about "The Hobbit. An Unexpected Journey" ... ) .. ). ... ....(size: 5.8Kb)

Billy Connolly and Tom Courtenay tackle opera in Quartet

BBC News

13 Dec 2012

Billy Connolly and Tom Courtenay star alongside Dame Maggie Smith and Pauline Collins in the story of a home for retired musicians. Connolly and Courtenay told BBC Breakfast that Hoffman was "moved" ......(size: 1.1Kb)

Billy Connolly defends controversial Frankie Boyle

Orange News

13 Dec 2012

Billy Connolly has spoken out to defend fellow funnyman Frankie Boyle, insisting critics should ignore the controversial comedian if they are offended by his jokes....(size: 0.9Kb)

Sheridan Smith to Star in MJ Delaney’s Debut 'Powder Room'

The Hollywood Reporter

13 Dec 2012

share ... LONDON --  Sheridan Smith, who recently turned out for Dustin Hoffman's Quartet alongside Maggie Smith and Billy Connolly, has signed up for a turn in MJ Delaney’s feature debut Powder Room.our editor recommends. Dustin Hoffman's 'Quartet' Cast Draws Laughs at London Appearance ... ....(size: 2.4Kb)

Billy Connolly vows to keep his mouth shut over Scottish independence

The Independent

12 Dec 2012

Billy Connolly has vowed to stay out of political discussions following a backlash to his opinions on Scottish independence ... Connolly has been vocal in his disapproval of Scottish independence in the past, but admitted that 2012 has been "a very interesting time for Scotland". He said ... Speaking about Dame Maggie, Connolly revealed that the 77-year-old Downton Abbey star has a secret talent ... PA ....(size: 1.9Kb)

New Featurette for Dustin Hoffman’s Quartet with Maggie Smith

IMDb

12 Dec 2012

“Lifelong friends Wilf (Billy Connolly) and Reggie (Tom Courtenay), together with former colleague Cissy (Pauline Collins), are residents of Beecham House, a home for retired opera singers ... But when Jean Horton » ... ....(size: 1.0Kb)

Movie guide alt: Independent, limited release and foreign-language films

Lexington Herald-Leader

12 Dec 2012

Ratings by the Motion Picture Association of America are ... "The Athlete" - A biopic about the Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila, who in 1960 became the first black African to win an Olympic medal. With Rasselas Lakew. Written and directed by Lakew and Davey Frankel. (1.33) NR ... With Zhang Guoli, Adrien Brody, Xu Fan and Tim Robbins. Written by Liu Zhenyun ... (2.26) NR ... With Maggie Smith, Tom Courtenay, Billy Connolly and Pauline Collins ... ....(size: 8.9Kb)

Movie guide alt: Independent, limited release and foreign-language films - Wire Lifestyle - The Sacramento ...

Sacramento Bee

12 Dec 2012

Billy Connolly cries over lifetime achievement award

Orange News

11 Dec 2012

Funnyman Billy Connolly wept as he received the Outstanding Contribution in Television and Film award at a special career retrospective ceremony in Scotland on Monday ... Connolly became visibly emotional after being ......(size: 1.1Kb)

Billy Connolly picks up Bafta for life's work

BBC News

11 Dec 2012

The event was staged to allow Connolly to pick up his Bafta Scotland award for Outstanding Contribution in person. So this was a romp through his best known screen roles, complete with Connolly's inimitable commentary ... I'm amazed they always want the Glasgow accent.” End Quote Billy Connolly ... It's a delightful thing, coming from Scotland” End Quote Billy Connolly....(size: 6.2Kb)

Billy Connolly Returns Home to Share his Best Bits for BAFTA: A Life in Pictures (BAFTA - British Academy of Film and Television Arts)

noodls

11 Dec 2012

One of Scotland's most successful talents of all time, Billy Connolly discussed his life and career at a very special public event last night (Monday 10th December) in Glasgow, entitled 'BAFTA A Life in Pictures', sponsored by Deutsche Bank ... Billy Connolly's career as a successful comedian, musician, television presenter and actor spans more than six decades....(size: 5.9Kb)

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This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2011)

Billy Connolly
Connolly in 2005
Birth name	William Connolly, Jr.
Born	(1942-11-24) 24 November 1942 (age 69) Anderston, Glasgow, Scotland
Medium	Stand-up, television, film
Nationality	Scottish^[1]
Years active	1965 – present
Genres	Observational comedy, Musical comedy
Influences	Chic Murray, Dave Turner^[2]
Influenced	Eddie Izzard, Ross Noble, Michael McIntyre, Jason Manford, Bill Bailey, Tim Vine, Jimmy Carr, Ronnie Golden, Russell Howard, Craig Ferguson, Stewart Lee, Chris Addison, Kevin Bridges.
Spouse	Iris Pressagh (1969–1985, divorced) Pamela Stephenson (1989–present)
Website	BillyConnolly.com

BAFTA Awards
Lifetime Achievement Award 2003

William "Billy" Connolly, Jr., CBE (born 24 November 1942) is a Scottish comedian, musician, presenter and actor. He is sometimes known, especially in his native Scotland, by the nickname 'The Big Yin' ('The Big One').^[3] His first trade, in the early 1960s, was as a welder (specifically a boilermaker) in the Glasgow shipyards, but he gave it up towards the end of the decade to pursue a career as a folk singer in the Humblebums and subsequently as a soloist. In the early 1970s, he made the transition from folk-singer with a comedic persona to full-fledged comedian.

Connolly is also an actor, and has appeared in such films as Indecent Proposal (1993); Muppet Treasure Island (1996); Mrs. Brown (1997), for which he was nominated for a BAFTA; The Boondock Saints (1999); The Man Who Sued God (2001); Water (1985); The Last Samurai (2003); Timeline (2003); Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004); Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006); Open Season (2006); The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008); and Open Season 2 (2008). Connolly reprised his role as Noah "Il Duce" MacManus in The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. Connolly appears as the King of Lilliput in the 2010 remake of Gulliver′s Travels.

Early life [link]

Connolly was born at 69 Dover Street^[4] ("on the linoleum, three floors up"^[5] "at six o'clock in the evening")^[4] in Anderston, Glasgow, to William Connolly and his wife Mary "Mamie" (McLean) Connolly, a hospital cafeteria worker. Connolly's grandfather was an Irish immigrant.^[6]^[7]^[8] In 1946, when he was barely four years old, Connolly's mother abandoned her children when his father was still away in the army. Connolly and his sister, Florence, were cared for by two aunts, Margaret and Mona Connolly, his father's sisters. His biography, written by wife Pamela Stephenson, documented years of physical and sexual abuse by his father, which began when he was ten and lasted until he was about fifteen.^[9]

"Twice in my life, little birds have flown in and made a huge difference," explained Connolly in 1996.^[10] When he was seven, the Connolly family went to Rothesay on holiday. He was sent to get some milk and bread rolls. On his way back with his hands full, a bird landed on his head. Connolly immediately thought God had called him and "nearly had a coronary".^[10] "It was a jackdaw, and I didn't know you could teach jackdaws to speak. But I was walking along, and this thing landed on my head and said hello. I nearly passed away. I learned subsequently that it was a tame bird, and we became friends and I got used to the idea: the bird would land on me and I was quite happy. My life had changed forever."^[10] Connolly said the second "bird" was Brett Whiteley, an Australian artist he met through Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits in the 1980s.

Between the ages of fourteen and twenty, Connolly was brought up in a tenement in the Anderston district of Glasgow.^[5] He later lived in Partick.

He attended St. Peter's Primary School in Glasgow and St. Gerard's Secondary School in Govan.^[8] At age 12, Connolly decided he wanted to become a comedian but did not think he fitted the mould, feeling he needed to become more "windswept and interesting". At 15, he left school with two engineering qualifications, one collected by mistake which belonged to a boy named Connell.^[11]

Connolly was a year too young to work in the shipyards. He became a delivery boy until he was sixteen, when he was deemed overqualified (due to his J1 and J2 certificates) to become an engineer.^[11] Instead, he worked as a boilermaker^[10] at Alexander Stephen and Sons Shipyard in Linthouse.^[11]

Connolly also joined the Territorial Army Reserve 15th (Scottish) Battalion, the Parachute Regiment (15 PARA). He later commemorated his experiences in the song "Weekend Soldier".^[11]

Career [link]

Origin of "The Big Yin"[link]

Connolly's The Big Yin nickname was first used during his adolescent years to differentiate between himself and his father.^[3] "My father was a very strong man. Broad and strong. He had an 18½-inch neck collar. Huge, like a bull. He was "Big Billy" and I was "Wee Billy". And then I got bigger than him, and the whole thing got out of control. And then I became The Big Yin in Scotland. So, we'd go into the pub and someone would say, 'Billy Connolly was in.' 'Oh? Big Billy or Wee Billy?' 'The Big Yin.' 'Oh, Wee Billy.' If you were a stranger, you'd think, 'What are these people talking about?'"^[10]

1960s [link]

In 1966, after he had completed a five-year apprenticeship as a boilermaker, Connolly accepted a ten-week job building an oil platform in Nigeria. Upon his return to Scotland, he worked at John Brown & Company, but focused increasingly on being a folk singer.

Connolly's career as a folk singer led to him forming a folk-pop duo called The Humblebums with Tam Harvey. After recording one album, Harvey left the partnership and was replaced by future rock star Gerry Rafferty. Connolly’s time with Rafferty possibly influenced his future comedy as years later he would recall how Rafferty’s expert prank telephone calls, made while waiting to go on stage, used to make him "scream" with laughter. The Connolly-Rafferty version of The Humblebums recorded two more albums for independent record label Transatlantic Records. The albums were not big commercial successes but enjoyed cult status and critical acclaim. Connolly's contributions were primarily straightforward pop-folk with quirky and whimsical lyrics, but he had not especially focused on comedy at this point.

In 1970, the Humblebums broke up, with Rafferty going on to record a solo album: Can I Have My Money Back (1971). Connolly returned to being a folk singer. His live performances featured folk songs with humorous introductions that became increasingly long in duration.

The head of Transatlantic Records, Nat Joseph, who had signed The Humblebums and had nurtured their career, was concerned that Connolly find a way to develop a distinctive solo career just as his former bandmate, Gerry Rafferty, was doing. Joseph saw several of Connolly's performances and noted his comedic skills. Joseph had successfully nurtured the recording career of another Scottish folk entertainer, Hamish Imlach, and saw potential in Connolly following a similar path. He suggested to Connolly that he drop the folk-singing and focus primarily on becoming a comedian. It was a life-changing suggestion.

1970s [link]

In 1972, Joseph produced Connolly's first solo album, Billy Connolly Live!, a mixture of comedic songs and short monologues that hinted at what was to follow. In late 1973, Joseph produced the breakthrough album that propelled Connolly to British stardom. Recorded at a small venue, The Tudor Hotel in Airdrie, the record was a double album titled Solo Concert. Releasing a live double-album by a comedian who was virtually unknown (except to a cult audience in Glasgow) was an unusual gambit by Joseph but his faith in Connolly's talent was justified. Joseph and his marketing team, which included publicist Martin Lewis, successfully promoted the album to chart success on its release in 1974. It featured one of Connolly's most famous comedy routines: "The Crucifixion", in which he likens Christ's Last Supper to a drunken night out in Glasgow. The recording was banned by many radio stations at the time. Building on his cult Scottish following, they broke Connolly throughout the UK – an unusual development for a regional comedian.

Two yellow bananas tailor-made in cloth with the tops peeled and the cloth skin hanging down.

Connolly's banana boots, a regular in his act during the 1970s, are now on display in the People's Palace in Glasgow.

In 1975, the rapidity and extent of Connolly's breakthrough was used to secure him a booking on Britain's premier TV talk show, the BBC's Parkinson. Connolly made the most of the opportunity and told a bawdy joke about a man who had murdered his wife and buried her bottom-up so he'd have somewhere to park his bike. This ribald humour was unusually forthright on a primetime Saturday night on British television in the mid-1970s, and his appearance made a great impact. He became a good friend of the host, Michael Parkinson, and now holds the record for appearances on the programme, having been a guest on fifteen occasions.^[12] Referring to that debut appearance, he later said: "That programme changed my entire life." Parkinson, in the documentary Billy Connolly: Erect for 30 Years, stated that people still remember Connolly telling the punchline to the 'bike joke' three decades after that TV appearance. When asked about the material, Connolly stated, "Yes, it was incredibly edgy for its time. My manager, on the way over, warned me not to do it, but it was a great joke and the interview was going so well, I thought, 'Oh, fuck that!!' I don't know where I got the courage in those days, but Michael did put confidence in me."^[12] Connolly's UK success spread to other English-speaking countries: Australia, New Zealand and Canada. However, his broad Scottish accent and British cultural references made success in the US improbable.

His increased profile led to contact with other individuals, including musicians such as Elton John. John at that time was trying to assist British performers whom he personally liked to achieve success in the US (he had released records in the US by veteran British pop singer Cliff Richard on his own Rocket Records label.) John tried to give Connolly a boost in America by using him as the opening act on his 1976 US tour. But the well-intentioned gesture was a failure. Elton John's American fans had no interest in being warmed-up by an unknown comedic performer – especially a Scotsman whose accent they found incomprehensible. "In Washington, some guy threw a pipe and it hit me right between my eyes", he told Michael Parkinson two years later. "It wasn't my audience. They made me feel about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit."

Connolly continued to grow in popularity in the UK. In 1975 he signed with Polydor Records. Connolly continued to release live albums and he also recorded several comedic songs that enjoyed commercial success as novelty singles including parodies of Tammy Wynette's song "D.I.V.O.R.C.E." (which he performed on Top of the Pops in December 1975) and the Village People's "In the Navy" (titled "In the Brownies").

In 1979, Connolly was invited by producer Martin Lewis to join the cast of The Secret Policeman's Ball, the third in the series of the Secret Policeman's Ball fundraising shows for Amnesty International. Connolly was the first comedic performer in the series who was not an alumnus of the Oxbridge school of middle-class university-educated entertainers and he made the most of his appearance. His performance was considered to be one of the highlights of the show's comedy album (released by Island Records in December 1979) and feature film (released by ITC Films in 1980). Appearing in the company of long-established talents such as John Cleese and Peter Cook helped elevate the perception of Connolly as one of Britain's leading comedic talents. Lewis also teamed Connolly with Cleese and Cook to appear in the television commercial for the album.

1980s [link]

In 1981, John Cleese and Martin Lewis invited Connolly to appear in that year's Amnesty show, The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Connolly's performance was again reported as one of the highlights of the show and he was prominently featured in the subsequent comedy album (Springtime!/Island Records 1981) and UK film (UIP 1982). The commercial success of the special US version of The Secret Policeman's Other Ball film (Miramax Films 1982) introduced Connolly to a wider American audience, who were attracted to the film because of the presence of Monty Python members. His on-screen presence alongside these performers – who were already familiar to Anglophile comedy buffs – helped lay down a marker for Connolly's eventual return to the US in his own right eight years later.

In 1985, he divorced Iris Pressagh, his wife of sixteen years (they had separated four years earlier after living together in Drymen).^[13] He was awarded custody of their two children. That same year, he performed An Audience with..., which was videotaped at the South Bank Television Centre in front of a celebrity audience for ITV. The uncut, uncensored version was subsequently released on video. In July 1985 he performed at the Wembley leg of Live Aid, immediately preceding Elton John.

In 1986, he visited Mozambique to appear in a documentary for Comic Relief. He also featured in the charity's inaugural live stage show, both as a stand-up and portraying a willing 'victim' in his partner Pamela Stephenson's act of sawing a man in half to create two dwarves.

Connolly completed his first world tour in 1987, including six nights at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which was documented in the Billy and Albert video.

When the Fox Network aired Freedomfest: Nelson Mandela's 70th Birthday Celebration in 1988, Connolly was still virtually unknown in the States, but his performance drew attention, particularly from producers, and interest in him grew.

In 1988, Connolly's father died after a stroke, the eighth of his life.^[5] His mother died five years later of motor neurone disease. She was living in Dunoon at that point.^[14]

On 20 December 1989, in Fiji, Connolly married Pamela Stephenson, the New Zealand-born comedy actress he had met when making a cameo appearance on the BBC sketch show Not the Nine O'Clock News, in which she was one of four regular performers. He had been living with her since 1981. "Marriage to Pam didn't change me, it saved me," he later said. "I was going to die. I was on a downwards spiral and enjoying every second of it. Not only was I dying, but I was looking forward to it."

In October 1989, Connolly shaved off his trademark shaggy beard for a film role and he remained clean-shaven for several years.

1990s [link]

Although Connolly had performed in North America as early as the 1970s, and had appeared in several movies that played in American theatres, he nonetheless remained relatively unknown until 1990 when he was featured in the HBO special Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Connolly in Performance, produced by New York's Brooklyn Academy of Music. Goldberg introduced Connolly, and his performance has been cited as the moment that officially launched his career in the States. Soon after, Connolly succeeded Howard Hesseman as the star of the sitcom Head of the Class for the 1990–1991 season, but the series was cancelled during his tenure.

Connolly joined Frank Bruno and Ozzy Osbourne when singing 'The War Song of the Urpneys' in The Dreamstone.

The following year, Connolly and Stephenson moved to Los Angeles, and the family won green cards in the Morrison Visa Lottery. In 1991, Connolly received his first (and, to date, only) leading television role as the star of Billy, another sitcom and a spin-off of Head of the Class. It lasted only a half-season.

On 4 June 1992, Connolly performed his 25th-anniversary concert in Glasgow. Parts of the show, and its build-up, were documented in The South Bank Show, which aired later in the year.^[15]

Connolly was dealt a blow in 1993 when his close friend and fishing partner, Jimmy Kent, died.^[16] This year also saw him contribute vocals to Mike Oldfield's single The Bell as the "Master of Ceremonies".

In early January 1994, Connolly began a 40-date World Tour of Scotland, which would be broadcast by the BBC later in the year as a six-part series. It was so well received that the BBC signed him up to do a similar tour two years later, this time in Australia. The eight-part series followed Connolly on his custom-made Harley Davidson trike.

Also in 1995, Connolly recorded a BBC special, entitled A Scot in the Arctic, in which he spends a week by himself in the Arctic Circle. He voiced Captain John Smith's shipmate, Ben, in Disney's animated film, Pocahontas.

A year later, he appeared in Muppet Treasure Island as Billy Bones.

In 1997, Connolly starred with Judi Dench in Mrs. Brown, in which he played John Brown, the favoured Scottish servant of Queen Victoria. He was nominated for a BAFTA Award and a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Actor, as well as a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.

In 1998, Connolly's best friend, Danny Kyle, died. "He was me dearest, dearest, oldest friend," Connolly explained to an Australian audience on his Greatest Hits compilation, released in 2001.

He performed a cover version of the Beatles' song, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite", on George Martin's 1998 album, In My Life.

In November 1998, Connolly was the subject of a two-hour retrospective entitled Billy Connolly: Erect for 30 Years, which included tributes from Judi Dench, Sean Connery, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams, Dustin Hoffman, and Eddie Izzard. The special was released on DVD in North America in 2004.

The following year, Connolly undertook a four-month, 59-date sellout tour of Australia and New Zealand. Later in the year, he completed a five-week, 25-date sellout run at London's Hammersmith Apollo. In 2000 he travelled to Canada for two weeks on a 13-date tour.

2000s [link]

In 2000 Connolly starred in Beautiful Joe alongside Sharon Stone. The following year he completed the third in his "World Tour" BBC series, this time of England, Ireland and Wales, which began in Dublin and ended in Plymouth. It was broadcast the following year.

Also in 2001, Pamela Stephenson's first biography of her husband, Billy, was published. It outlines his career and life, including the sexual abuse by his father that lasted from his tenth to his fourteenth years. Much of the book is about Connolly the celebrity but the account of his early years provides a context for his humour and point of view. A follow-up, Bravemouth, was published in 2003.

Connolly has also written several books, including Billy Connolly (late 1970s) and Gullible's Travels (early 1980s), both based upon his stage act, as well as books based upon some of his "World Tour" television series. He has stated that his comedy does not work on the printed page.

A fourth BBC series, World Tour of New Zealand, was filmed in 2004 and aired that winter. Also in his 63rd year, Connolly performed two sold-out benefit concerts at the Oxford New Theatre in memory of Malcolm Kingsnorth, who for twenty-five years was Connolly's tour manager and sound engineer.

He has continued to be a much in demand character actor, appearing in several films such as White Oleander (2002), The Last Samurai (2003) and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004). He has also played an eclectic collection of leading roles in recent years, including a lawyer who undertakes a legal case of Biblical proportions in The Man Who Sued God (2001), and a young boy's pet zombie in Fido (2006).

In January 2005, Connolly came 8th in The Comedian's Comedian, a poll voted for by fellow comedians and comedy insider and embarked on a major UK tour with 15 sold-out nights in Glasgow.

Also in 2005, Connolly and Stephenson announced, after fourteen years of living in Hollywood, they were returning to live in the former's native land. They purchased a 120-foot (37 m) yacht with the profits from their house-sale, and split the year between Malta and Candacraig House in Aberdeenshire.^[17]

Later in the year, Connolly topped an unscientific poll of "Britain's Favourite Comedian" conducted by TV network Five, placing him ahead of performers such as John Cleese, Ronnie Barker, Dawn French, and Peter Cook.

In 2006, Connolly revealed that he also has a house on the island of Gozo.^[18] He and his wife also have an apartment in New York City, near Union Square.^[19]

On 30 December 2007, Connolly escaped uninjured from a single-car accident on the A939 near the Scottish town of Ballater, Aberdeenshire.^[20]

In late February it was announced that Connolly would play ten shows in early April at the Post Street Theatre in San Francisco.

On 10 March 2008, tickets went on sale for Connolly's Irish tour, set to take place in May, June and July. He performed three shows in University Concert Hall, Limerick, ten shows at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, five shows at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast and three shows at the Cork Opera House. They all sold out in a matter of hours. The tour also travelled to Kerry (two shows) and Mayo (two shows).

In October 2009 he played a tour of his homeland, and sold out everywhere, despite adding extra dates. He stated he was proud to have broken the computer system for Glasgow and Edinburgh, as they could not handle the rush for tickets. In Glasgow he was playing at SECC. The SECC was built near the site where his family had lived when he was a child.

2010s [link]

In 2010, Connolly revealed that he and his wife were now living full-time in New York City.^[21]

In May 2011 Connolly suffered a broken rib and a gashed knee when his motor trike rolled on top of him while filming for the ITV travel documentary Billy Connolly's Route 66. He returned to filming a week later.^[22]

In February 2012 it was released in the media that Connolly would star in The Hobbit (2012/13 film) movies as Dain Ironfoot, a great dwarf warrior and cousin of Thorin Oakenshield. Sir Peter Jackson stated that "We could not think of a more fitting actor to play Dain Ironfoot, the staunchest and toughest of dwarves, than Billy Connolly, the Big Yin himself. With Billy stepping into this role, the cast of The Hobbit is now complete. We can't wait to see him on the battlefield."^[23]

Personal life [link]

Connolly has been married to his second wife, comedian and psychologist Pamela Stephenson, since 1989. 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. He believes this was a result of the Catholic Church not allowing his father to divorce after his mother left the family. Due to this, Connolly has a "deep distrust and dislike of the Catholic church and any other organization that brainwashes people".^[24] In a 1999 interview with The Sunday Herald Connolly labelled the SNP as "racist" and the new Scottish parliament as a "joke".^[25]^[26]

Connolly has one sibling: an older sister, Florence, who is a retired school-teacher. He is also the father to five children: two from his first marriage and three from his second.

Connolly is a fan of Glasgow-based Celtic F.C. and has a seat for life at their stadium, Celtic Park, along with singer Rod Stewart.^[27]

Controversy [link]

In October 2004, during an 18-night stint at London's Hammersmith Apollo, Connolly was criticised for making jokes about the hostage Kenneth Bigley.^[28] Shortly after Connolly joked about the future killing of the hostage and touched on the subject of Bigley’s young Thai wife, Bigley was beheaded in Iraq. Connolly claims he was misquoted. He has declined to clarify what he actually said, claiming that the context was as important as the precise words used.^[29]

Support for charity [link]

Connolly is a patron of the National Association for Bikers with a Disability.^[30] He is also a patron of Celtic Football Club's The Celtic Foundation.^[31]

Folk music [link]

In 1965, together with Tam Harvey, Connolly started a group called the Humblebums. At their first gig, Connolly reportedly introduced them both to the audience by saying, "My name's Billy Connolly, and I'm humble. This is Tam Harvey, he's a bum." The band would later include Gerry Rafferty. After Harvey left the group, Connolly and Rafferty continued as a duo and the latter two of their three albums featured just that duo. Connolly sang, played five-string banjo, guitar and autoharp, and at live shows entertained the audience with his humorous introductions to the songs.

Frank Bruno and Billy Connolly provided lead vocals on The War Song of the Urpneys from The Dreamstone, although the version heard in the series was largely sung by composer Mike Batt.

In his World Tour of Scotland, Connolly reveals that at a trailer show during the Edinburgh Festival, the Humblebums took to the stage just before the late Yehudi Menuhin.

The Humblebums broke up in 1971 and both Connolly and Rafferty went solo. Connolly's first solo album in 1972, Billy Connolly Live! on Transatlantic Records, featured him as a singer/songwriter.

His early albums were a mixture of comedy performances with comedic and serious musical interludes. Among his best known musical performances were "The Welly Boot Song", a parody of the Scottish folk song "The Wark O' The Weavers," which became his theme song for several years; "In the Brownies", a parody of the hit Village People song "In the Navy" (for which Connolly filmed a music video); "Two Little Boys in Blue", a tongue-in-cheek indictment of police brutality done to the tune of Rolf Harris' "Two Little Boys"; and the ballad "I Wish I Was in Glasgow," which Connolly would later perform in duet with Malcolm McDowell on a guest appearance on the 1990s American sitcom Pearl (which starred Rhea Perlman). He also performed the occasional Humblebums-era song such as "Oh, No!" as well as straightforward covers such as a version of Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors," which was included on his Get Right Intae Him! album.

In November 1975, his spoof of the Tammy Wynette song "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" was a UK No. 1 single for one week. Wynette's original was about parents spelling out words of an impending marital split to avoid traumatising their young child. Connolly's spoof of the song played on the fact that many dog owners use the same tactic when they do not wish their pet to become upset about an impending trip to the vet. Connolly's song is about a couple whose marriage is ruined by a bad vet visit (spelling out "W-O-R-M" or "Q-U-A-R-A-N-T-I-N-E", for example.) His song "No Chance" was a parody of J. J. Barrie's cover of the song "No Charge".

In 1985 he sang the theme song to Super Gran, which was released as a single and in 1996 he performed a cover of Ralph McTell's "'In the Dreamtime" as the theme to his World Tour of Australia. By the late 1980s, Connolly had all but dropped the music from his act, though he still records the occasional musical performance, such as a 1980s recording of his composition "Sergeant, Where's Mine?" with The Dubliners. In 1998 he covered The Beatles' "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" on the George Martin tribute album, In My Life. Most recently, he sang a song during the film Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. And in 1995 and 2005, he released two albums of instrumental performances Musical Tour of Scotland and Billy Connolly's Musical Tour of New Zealand, respectively.

Connolly is among the artists featured on Banjoman, a tribute to American folk musician Derroll Adams, released in 2002. He plays one song, "The Rock".

Stand-up comedy [link]

It is as a stand-up comedian that Connolly is best known. His observational comedy is idiosyncratic and often off-the-cuff. He has outraged certain sectors of audiences, critics and the media with his free use of the word "fuck". He has made jokes relating to masturbation, blasphemy, defecation, flatulence, haemorrhoids, sex, his father's illness, his aunts' cruelty and, in the latter stages of his career, old age (specifically his experiences of growing old). In 2007 and again in 2010, he was voted the greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups.

Since the 1980s, Connolly has worn a black T-shirt as part of his on-stage attire. The first one was by English designer Steven King.^[21]

Discography [link]

A partial list of musical and comedic recordings:

1972 - Billy Connolly Live
1974 - Cop Yer Whack for This
1974 - Solo Concert
1975 - Get Right Intae Him!
1975 - Words and Music
1975 - The Big Yin
1976 - Atlantic Bridge
1977 - Billy Connolly
1977 - Raw Meat for the Balcony!
1978 - Anthology
1979 - Riotous Assembly
1981 - The Pick of Billy Connolly (compilation)
1983 - A Change is Good as Arrest
1983 - In Concert
1984 - Big Yin Double Helping (compilation)
1985 - An Audience With Billy Connolly
1985 - Wreck on Tour
1987 - Billy & Albert
1991 - Live at the Odeon Hammersmith London
1995 - Musical Tour of Scotland
1999 - Comedy and Songs (compilation)
1999 - One Night Stand Down Under
2002 - The Big Yin - Billy Connolly in Concert (compilation)
2003 - Transatlantic Years (compilation of material recorded between 1969 and 1974)
2005 - Billy Connolly's Musical Tour of New Zealand
2007 - Live in Concert
2010 - The Man Live in London, recorded January 2010

The above list does not include at least two albums recorded with the Humblebums prior to 1972, and only includes a sampling of the many reissues and compilations released over the years.

Playwright [link]

Connolly has written three plays:

An' Me Wi' A Bad Leg Tae (1975)
When Hair Was Long And Time Was Short (1977)
Red Runner (1979)

Film actor [link]

Connolly has often joked about the regularity of the deaths of the characters he portrays in movies. "If you want to see me in a movie, you have to hurry to the theatre, because I usually die in the first fifteen minutes. I'm never in the sequel."^[32] Connolly also claims to be the only man to ever die in a Muppet movie.^[33] Notable film appearances include Absolution (1978) with Richard Burton, and Mrs Brown (1997) with Judi Dench.

Filmography [link]

Year	Title
1975	Television Movies Just Another Saturday as Paddy
1976	Connolly as Himself Television Movies The Elephants' Graveyard as Jody Documentaries/Specials Big Banana Feet as Himself
1978	Absolution as Blakey Billy Connolly in Concert as Himself
1980	The Secret Policeman's Ball as Himself Worzel Gummidge: A Cup o' Tea an' a Slice o' Cake as Bogle McNeep
1981	Billy Connolly Bites Yer Bum! as Himself Documentaries/Specials Concert for Kampuchea as Himself
1982	The Secret Policeman's Other Ball as Himself The Pick of Billy Connolly as Himself Television Movies Blue Money as Des
1983	Bullshot as Hawkeye McGillicuddy
1984	Television Tickle on the Tum Television Movies Weekend in Wallop as Himself
1985	Water as Delgado An Audience with Billy Connolly as Himself Television Supergran composer/singer of the theme song Television Special Live Aid as Himself
1986	To the North of Katmandu
1987	The Hunting of the Snark as The Bellman Billy Connolly at the Royal Albert Hall as Himself
1988	Documentaries/Specials Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute as Himself
1989	The Return of the Musketeers as Caddie
1990	Whoopi Goldberg Presents Billy Connolly (HBO Standup Performance) as Himself Crossing the Line (known in the UK as The Big Man) as Frankie (for which he shaved off his trademark goatee) Television Head of the Class as Billy MacGregor (1990–1991) Television Movies Dreaming
1991	Billy Connolly Live 1991 as Himself Pale Blue Scottish Person (HBO Standup Performance) as Himself
1992	25 B.C.: The Best of 25 Years of Billy Connolly as Himself Television Billy as Billy MacGregor
1993	Indecent Proposal as the Auction MC Television Movies Down Among the Big Boys as Jo Jo Donnelly
1994	Billy Connolly Live 1994 as Himself Television World Tour of Scotland as Himself
1995	Pocahontas as Ben (voice) Two Bites of Billy Connolly as Himself Documentaries/Specials A Scot in the Arctic as Himself
1996	Muppet Treasure Island as Billy Bones Television Pearl guest star and composer of "I Wish I Was in Glasgow" (1983) in the episode "Billy" Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia as Himself Video Games Muppet Treasure Island as Billy Bones (voice)
1997	Beverly Hills Ninja as Japanese Antique Shop Proprietor Mrs. Brown as John Brown (for which he was nominated for a BAFTA) Paws as PC (voice) Billy Connolly: Two Night Stand as Himself Television Movies Deacon Brodie as Deacon Brodie Documentaries/Specials Sean Connery, an Intimate Portrait as Himself Sean Connery Close Up as Himself Whatever Happened to... Clement and La Frenais? as Himself
1998	Still Crazy as Hughie also the composer of "Stealin'" The Impostors as Mr. Sparks Middleton's Changeling as Alibius
1999	Billy Connolly: One Night Stand Down Under The Boondock Saints as "Il Duce", A.K.A. Noah MacManus The Debt Collector as Nickie Dryden
2000	An Everlasting Piece as Scalper Beautiful Joe as Joe Television Movies Columbo: Murder with Too Many Notes as Findlay Crawford
2001	Gabriel and Me as Gabriel The Man Who Sued God as Steve Myers Who is Cletis Tout? as Dr. Savian Billy Connolly Live: The Greatest Hits as Himself Television Movies Prince Charming as Hamish Gentlemen's Relish as Kingdom Swann Documentaries/Specials Comic Relief: Say Pants to Poverty as Himself Comic Relief Short Pants as Himself
2002	White Oleander as Barry Kolker Billy Connolly Live 2002 as Himself Billy Connolly's World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales as Himself Documentaries/Specials Ultimate Fights from the Movies as Frankie from Crossing the Line Billy Connolly: A BAFTA Tribute as Himself Judi Dench: A BAFTA Tribute as Himself The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch
2003	The Last Samurai as Sgt. Zebulon Gant Timeline as Prof. E.A. Johnston Documentaries/Specials Billy Connolly: Erect for 30 Years as Himself Julie Walters: A BAFTA Tribute as Himself The Importance of Being Famous as Himself Overnight as Himself Comic Relief 2003: The Big Hair Do as Himself
2004	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events as Uncle Monty Television Billy Connolly's World Tour of New Zealand as Himself Documentaries/Specials Comedy Central Presents: 100 Greatest Stand-Ups of All Time as #73
2005	DVD Billy Connolly: Live in New York Documentaries Ivor Cutler: Looking for Truth with a Pin as Himself The Aristocrats as Himself
2006	Open Season as McSquizzy Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties as Lord Dargis Fido as Fido DVD Billy Connolly: The Essential Collection as Himself Documentaries Fuck as Himself
2007	DVD Billy Connolly Live: Was it Something I Said? as Himself
2008	Open Season 2 as McSquizzy The X-Files: I Want to Believe as Father Joseph "Joe" Crissman DVD Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World
2008
2009	Television Billy Connolly: Journey to the Edge of the World (ITV1, also aired Channel Seven in Australia) Good Sharma as Reverend Webster DVD The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day as Noah MacManus, A.K.A. "Il Duce"
2010	Gulliver's Travels as King of Lilliput
2010	Television Ben 10: Ultimate Alien as Captain Glowbeard (1 episode) Billy Connolly's Route 66 as Himself
2011	The Ballad of Nessie as Narrator
2012	Brave as King Fergus
2013	The Hobbit: There and Back Again as Dain Ironfoot

Television guest appearances [link]

The South Bank Show on 13 May 1979
Aspel & Company in episode (#2.11), 23 March 1985
Minder as Tick Tack in episode "Fatal Impression" (#7.3), 16 January 1989
The South Bank Show on 4 October 1992
Late Show with David Letterman on 18 November 1993
Clive James in episode (#1.3), 6 March 1994
Pearl as William 'Billy' Pynchon in episode "Billy Returns" (#1.22), 25 June 1997 and episode "Billy" (#1.4), 30 September 1996
Veronica's Closet as Campbell in "Veronica's Got a Secret" (#1.11), 8 January 1998
Tracey Takes On... as Rory Cassidy in episode "Culture" (#3.9), 1 March 1998
3rd Rock from the Sun as Inspector Macaffery one episode "Dial M for Dick" (#5.4), 9 November 1999
Rove Live on 23 October 2001
The Late Late Show on 17 October 2003
Tinseltown TV on 6 December 2003
Parkinson in 1975 and on 2 January 1978; 3 April 1982; 23 January 1998; 17 December 1999; 20 October 2001; 18 October 2003; 4 September 2004; 16 December 2007
Late Night with Conan O'Brien on 14 December 2004
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 15 December 2004
Last Call with Carson Daly on 22 December 2004
Britain's Finest on episode "Actresses", 18 July 2005 and episode "Actors", 11 July 2005
Real Time with Bill Maher on episode (#3.22), 28 October 2005
Enough Rope on 20 February 2006
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on 10 May 2006
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 28 September 2006
Late Night with Conan O'Brien on 9 June 2007
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 2 November 2009
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on 18 December 2010 (Won the first Golden Mouth Organ after participating in the Mouth Organ Challenge at the end of the interview.)
House on 27 February 2012, in the 14th episode of Season 8 ("Love is Blind"), as Mr. Thomas Bell, House's thought-to-be biological father (it was later revealed however that this was not the case).

Awards [link]

Connolly was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters degree by the University of Glasgow on 11 July 2001.^[34]

In 2003, the BAFTA presented him with a Lifetime Achievement award.^[35] Also in 2003, he received a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours.^[36]

On 4 July 2006, Connolly was awarded an honorary doctorate by Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (RSAMD) for his service to performing arts.^[37]

On 18 March 2007 and again on 11 April 2010, Connolly was named Number One in Channel 4's "100 Greatest Stand Ups".^[38]

On 22 July 2010, Connolly was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by Nottingham Trent University^[39]

On 20 August 2010, Connolly was made a Freeman of Glasgow with the award of the Freedom of the City of Glasgow.^[40]

Bibliography [link]

Stephenson, Pamela (2003). Billy. Perennial Currents. ISBN 0-06-053731-0.
Stephenson, Pamela (2002). Billy (Audio Edition read by Pamela Stephenson). HighBridge Company. ISBN 1-56511-725-5.

Stephenson, Pamela (2003). Bravemouth: Living with Billy Connolly. Headline. ISBN 0-7553-1284-8.

References [link]

^ Gardham, Magnus. "Labour leadership contender Tom Harris calls on Big Yin Billy Connolly to lead campaign to keep Scotland in Britain". Daily Record (Glasgow). http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics-news/2011/09/12/labour-leadership-contender-tom-harris-calls-on-big-yin-billy-connolly-to-lead-campaign-to-keep-scotland-in-britain-86908-23414662/. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
^ "Dave Turner : Obituary". This is Nottingham. Northcliffe Media Ltd.. http://www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5859987. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
^ ^a ^b Stephenson, Pamela. Billy, HarperCollins, 2001
^ ^a ^b "William Connolly on CNN's ''Revealed''". Edition.cnn.com. 16 July 2010. http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2008/09/17/revealed.connolly.bk.b.cnn. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b ^c World Tour of Scotland (1994), Connolly, Billy
^ "Billy Connolly Biography (1942-)". Filmreference.com. http://www.filmreference.com/film/74/Billy-Connolly.html. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ Stevenson, Pamela (23 September 2001). "Billy Connolly: The early years". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2001/sep/23/life1.lifemagazine5. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
^ ^a ^b "Biographical Notes". Comedy-zone.net. http://www.comedy-zone.net/standup/comedian/c/connolly-billy.htm. Retrieved 20 January 2007.
^ "Billy Connolly reveals childhood abuse" - BBC website, 23 September 2001
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Billy Connolly's World Tour of Australia, 1996
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Transatlantic Years liner notes
^ ^a ^b Radio Times 15–21 December 2007: Goodnight... and Thank You
^ "Billy Connolly: The Glory Years", The Guardian, 7 October 2001
^ "Billy Connolly: The interview" - The Guardian, 23 September 2001
^ "''The South Bank Show'' episode guide at". Tv.com. 4 October 1992. http://www.tv.com/the-south-bank-show/billy-connolly/episode/270036/summary.html. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ Episode 3, Billy Connolly's World Tour of Scotland
^ "Connolly sells Hollywood home to live the good life in Scotland" - The Scotsman^{[dead link]}
^ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, 28 September 2006
^ The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, 2 November 2009
^ ""Billy Connolly in car accident, unhurt" - United Press International". Upi.com. http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Entertainment/2007/12/31/billy_connolly_in_car_accident_uninjured/7465/. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ ^a ^b "Billy Connolly is Scotland's gift to comedy" - MiddletownTranscript.com
^ "Billy Connolly breaks rib in bike smash" - Daily Mirror, 25 August 2011
^ "Connolly to play Hobbit great dwarf " - Stuff.co.nz, 2 February 2012
^ MacDonald, Stuart (14 December 2008). "Billy Connolly pins blame for abuse on church". London: www.timesonline.co.uk. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article5337286.ece. Retrieved 2 November 2009.
^ "Conolly's comments regarding the SNP". Findarticles.com. 27 June 1999. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4156/is_19990627/ai_n13938212/. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "UK | Scots 'anti-English' - survey". BBC News. 28 June 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/379935.stm. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "My ashes will be scattered at Celtic Park when I die, says Rod Stewart". dailyrecord.co.uk. 27 December 2008. http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/football/spl/celtic/2008/12/27/my-ashes-will-be-scattered-at-celtic-park-when-i-die-says-rod-stewart-86908-20997610/. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
^ "Connolly blasted over Bigley joke". BBC News. 5 October 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/3717462.stm. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "Why do people tell sick jokes about tragedies? Billy Connolly: Joked about the death of British hostage Ken Bigley in Iraq". bbc.co.uk. 18 March 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12775389.
^ "NABD Patrons". Nabd.org.uk. http://www.nabd.org.uk/supporters/patrons.htm. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "The Celtic Foundation Overview". celticfc.net. http://www.celticfc.net/foundation. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
^ Billy Connolly: Live in New York, 2005
^ Billy Connolly Live 2002, 2002
^ "Billy Connolly receives arts honour" - BBC News, 11 July 2001
^ "'30 Years of Billy Connolly'". BAFTA. http://www.bafta.org/awards-database.html?sq=Billy+Connolly. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "Commanders of the British Empire in the 2003 Queen's Birthday Honour". BBC News. 13 June 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2987844.stm. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "Big Yin awarded honorary degree". BBC News. 4 July 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/5144410.stm. Retrieved 26 April 2010.
^ "100 Greatest Stand-Ups". Channel 4.com. http://www.channel4.com/entertainment/tv/microsites/C/comedy_standups/results/results.html. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ "Stars of stage and screen among honorary graduates of Nottingham Trent University". Ntu.ac.uk. http://www.ntu.ac.uk/apps/news/98814-15/Stars_of_stage_and_screen_among_honorary_graduates_of_Nottingham_Trent_University.aspx. Retrieved 1 September 2011.
^ “Connolly stays away from patterns”, The Calgary Sun, 20 August 2010. Retrieved 18 December 2010.

External links [link]

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Billy Connolly

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Billy Connolly

Connolly's official website
Billy Connolly at the Internet Movie Database
A Guardian interview with Connolly from 2001
"Enough Rope" interview with Andrew Denton; 20 February 2006
Connolly's interview with The Guardian, September 2001
Whiteman, Hilary (16 September 2008). "Billy Connolly: From welder to wit". CNN. http://edition.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/16/billy.connolly/index.html?eref=rss_latest. Retrieved 16 September 2008.
"A laugh a minute? Life with Billy Connolly" - CNN.com

v t e Billy Connolly

Selected filmography	Indecent Proposal (1993) Pocahontas (voice only) (1995) Muppet Treasure Island (1996) Mrs. Brown (1997) Paws (voice only) (1997) Still Crazy (1998) The Debt Collector (1999) The Boondock Saints (1999) Beautiful Joe (2000) The Man Who Sued God (2001) White Oleander (2002) The Last Samurai (2003) Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) Fido (2006) Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (2006) Open Season (voice only) (2006) The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) Open Season 2 (voice only) (2008) The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) Gulliver's Travels (2010) The Ballad of Nessie (2011) Brave (voice only) (2012)

"World Tours"	World Tour of Scotland (1994) World Tour of Australia (1996) World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales (2002) World Tour of New Zealand (2004)

"Musical Tours"	Musical Tour of Scotland (1995) Musical Tour of New Zealand (2004)

Persondata
Name	Connolly, Billy
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	24 November 1942
Place of birth	Anderston, Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death
Place of death

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Connolly, Billy Filmography

Connolly, Billy Filmography

Famous quotes by Billy Connolly:

"I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives."

"What always staggers me is that when people blow their noses, they always look into their hankies to see what came out. What do they expect to find?"

"I don't believe in angels and I have trouble with the whole God thing. I don't want to say I don't believe in God, but I don't think I do. But I believe in people who do."

"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter."

"Marriage is a wonderful invention: then again, so is a bicycle repair kit."

"It seems to me that Islam and Christianity and Judaism all have the same god, and he's telling them all different things."

"Never trust a man, who when left alone with a tea cosey... Doesn't try it on."

"I worry about ridiculous things, you know, how does a guy who drives a snowplough get to work in the morning. . . . That can keep me awake for days.."

"The human race has been set up. Someone, somewhere, is playing a practical joke on us. Apparently, women need to feel loved to have sex. Men need to have sex to feel loved. How do we ever get started?"

"“So, have you heard about the oyster who went to a disco and pulled a mussel?”"

"I've always wanted to go to Switzerland to see what the army does with those wee red knives."

"What always staggers me is that when people blow their noses, they always look into their hankies to see what came out. What do they expect to find?"

"I don't believe in angels and I have trouble with the whole God thing. I don't want to say I don't believe in God, but I don't think I do. But I believe in people who do."

"There are two seasons in Scotland: June and winter."

"Marriage is a wonderful invention: then again, so is a bicycle repair kit."

"It seems to me that Islam and Christianity and Judaism all have the same god, and he's telling them all different things."

"Never trust a man, who when left alone with a tea cosey... Doesn't try it on."

"I worry about ridiculous things, you know, how does a guy who drives a snowplough get to work in the morning. . . . That can keep me awake for days.."

"The human race has been set up. Someone, somewhere, is playing a practical joke on us. Apparently, women need to feel loved to have sex. Men need to have sex to feel loved. How do we ever get started?"

"“So, have you heard about the oyster who went to a disco and pulled a mussel?”"

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