Billy Gallagher, (born 17 August 1948 in United Kingdom) is a chef and businessman in South Africa.

After having worked at The Dorchester in London, Gallagher arrived in South Africa in 1973 to take up an executive sous-chef position with local hotel chain Southern Sun.

In 1982, Gallagher was elected president of the South African Chefs Association (SACA),^[1] and held that position for 21 years before becoming its honorary life president in 2003. In 1996, he became president of the World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS), and in 2000 its honorary life president.^[2]

In 2000 he survived an attempted hijacking, which left him paralysed as a quadriplegic.

He is currently Chairman of the School for Tourism and Hospitality Studies, in Johannesburg (2006–present), Executive Director for the Centre for Culinary Excellence in Johannesburg (2005–present), and Director of Communication and PR for the Southern Sun Hotel Group in Johannesburg (2004–present).^[3]

Gallagher has earned a Doctorate of Culinary Arts from the Johnson & Wales University, Miami.^[3]

References[link]

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.

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]

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]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (January 2011)

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

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. (April 2009)

Gallagher and Lyle was the Scottish pairing of singer-songwriters Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle.

Career[link]

They joined forces in 1959, initially as members of the local Largs based band, The Bluefrets. They began writing original material for the band and also wrote "Mr Heartbreak's Here Instead" for Dean Ford and the Gaylords (later to become Marmalade).^[1] Their first recognition came in 1968, when they were signed by The Beatles to write for Apple Records' musicians such as Mary Hopkin ("Sparrow", "The Fields of St. Etienne", "International", "Heritage", and "Jefferson").^[1]

There was a rare one-off single issued on UK Polydor 56093 in 1967; "Trees" b/w "In The Crowd" issued under the name Gallagher-Lyle, which preceded their success as songwriters at Apple.

By 1970, they were original members of the newly formed McGuinness Flint, and penned the UK Singles Chart Top 10 hit singles "When I'm Dead and Gone" and "Malt and Barley Blues", both produced by Glyn Johns.^[1]

In the wake of the singer-songwriter phenomenon, they formed the duo Gallagher and Lyle in 1972, recording four albums: Benny Gallagher and Graham Lyle, Willie and the Lapdog, Seeds, and The Last Cowboy again under the auspices of Glyn Johns. But it was not until their fifth album, Breakaway, in 1976, that they charted again, with the hits "Heart on My Sleeve" and "I Wanna Stay with You", both of which reached Number 6 in the UK Singles Chart.^[2] Art Garfunkel's cover of "Breakaway" was also a hit at the time,^[1] and Don Williams took "Stay Young" to No. 1 on the U.S. country chart, which saw the song receive in excess of one million airplays on American radio. The duo also penned and performed "A Heart in New York", which was later performed by both Simon & Garfunkel and Garth Brooks in their concerts in Central Park, New York to audiences of 500,000 and 750,000, respectively.^{[citation needed]}

Their mellow sound was only briefly in vogue, and elusive further success (another minor hit in the UK was "Every Little Teardrop") prompted their split in 1979.

Graham Lyle formed his own publishing company,Goodsingle Publishing,(later to become goodsingle.com), in 1980, chiefly to administer his own copyrights, and began writing for other artists. Graham's songs have been recorded by some of the biggest names in music including Micheal Jackson and Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Diana Ross, Etta James, Patti Labelle, Anita Baker, Brian Ferry, Joe Cocker Wyclef Jean, Fat Joe and Ashanti, Rod Stewart, Tom Jones, The Neville Brothers, Hall and Oates, Joan Armatrading, Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle, Jim Diamond, The Judds, Wet,Wet,Wet, Paul Young, Eros Ramazotti, Warren G, the list goes on and on, but it is for his work with Tina Turner that Graham is best known.

Lyle formed a new songwriting partnership with Terry Britten, and their hits included, the Grammy winning Song of the Year and Record of the Year "What's Love Got to Do with It?" and the multi Ivor Novello winning "We Don't Need Another Hero" for Tina Turner; and "Just Good Friends" for Michael Jackson.^[1] He also recorded an album with Tom McGuinness, credited to Lyle McGuinness: Acting on Impulse (1983). Graham recently performed his composition One Woman at the United Nations in New York,(www.un.org/webcast/) on 24/2/11 to launch their " U.N.Woman" project.

Gallagher spent nine years as a founding director and the first chairman of the Performing Artists Media Rights Association (PAMRA), which saw £20 million of equitable remuneration paid through to UK performers under his stewardship. He has been deemed a companion of LIPA, Sir Paul McCartney's school of performing arts in Liverpool, and spent a brief spell as bassist and vocalist of The Manfreds, which included five of the original members of Manfred Mann, featuring both lead singers, Paul Jones and Mike D'Abo, in the same band for the first time touring the UK, Europe, the Middle and Far East, Australia and New Zealand.

Gallagher is a featured artist and co-owner of OnSong (an internet based record label) with Derek Wilson. Gallagher has released two albums as a solo artist - Benny Gallagher on Stage and more recently, At the Edge of the Wave.

Gallagher and Lyle sang and performed as members of Ronnie Lane and The Slim Chance Band on the hit single "How Come" and the ensuing album, Anymore for Anymore, and they have worked, jointly and individually, on records with Mary Hopkin, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, Ronnie Lane, Ronnie Wood, Elkie Brooks, Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup, Champion Jack Dupree, Joan Armatrading, Ralph McTell, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention and Jim Diamond. In addition to those already mentioned, artists who have recorded and released Gallagher and Lyle songs include:

Bryan Ferry, Colin Blunstone, Donavon Frankenreiter, Elkie Brooks, Bucks Fizz, Fairport Convention, Fury in the Slaughterhouse, Joe Brown, Judith Durham, Little Anthony & The Imperials, Phil Everly, Ricky Nelson, Ringo Starr, Rita Coolidge, Status Quo, The Fureys, Lemon Jelly, and Jim Capaldi.

Personnel details[link]

• Benny Gallagher (born Bernard Joseph Gallagher, 10 June 1945, Largs, Ayrshire, Scotland).
• Graham Lyle (born Graham Hamilton Lyle, 11 March 1944, Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland).

Discography[link]

• Gallagher and Lyle (1972)
• Willie and the Lapdog (1973)
• Seeds (1973)
• The Last Cowboy (1974)
• Breakaway (1976)
• Love on the Airwaves (1977)
• Showdown (1978)
• Lonesome No More (1979)
• The Best of Gallagher and Lyle: 20 Beautiful Songs (1980)
• The Very Best of Gallagher & Lyle (compilation album) (1991)
• Live In Concert (live album, recorded by the BBC Radio) (1999)
• The River Sessions (recorded for Radio Clyde 1974) (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Gallagher and Lyle at Allmusic
• Myspace.com/bennygallagher
• Myspace.com/onsongrecords
• Video interviews and 'fly on the wall' feature with Graham Lyle

David Gallagher
David Gallagher, January 2007
Born	David Lee Gallagher (1985-02-09) February 9, 1985 (age 27) Queens, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1987-present

David Lee Gallagher (born February 9, 1985) is an American actor. Beginning a prolific career as a child actor and model at the age of two, Gallagher is a five-time Young Artist Award nominee and Teen Choice Award winner, best known for his role as Simon Camden on the long running television series 7th Heaven, as well as for his feature film roles; as Mikey Ubriacco in Look Who's Talking Now, as Kevin Harper in Angels in the Endzone and as Ri¢hie Ri¢h in Ri¢hie Ri¢h's Christmas Wish.

Personal life[link]

Gallagher was born in College Point, New York,^[1] to Elena Gallagher^[2] (née Lopez) and Darren James Gallagher.^[3] His parents separated when he was a baby and his mother remarried Vincent Casey.^[4][2] Gallagher is of Cuban descent on his mother's side and Irish descent on his father's side.^[4] He has four younger half-siblings, Michelle (b. 1988), Kelly (b. 1991), Kyle (b. 1995) and Killian (b. 1997).^[5] Killian was diagnosed with autism at the age of 3.^[6] As a result David is an active supporter and spokesperson for the organization Cure Autism Now.^[4]

He graduated from Chaminade College Preparatory School (California) in 2003^[7] and enrolled at the University of Southern California, where he majored in film and television studies, graduating in May 2007.^[7]

Career[link]

Gallagher began acting at the age of 2, first modeling for print advertorials in and around New York City which eventually led to commercial work as an actor. He appeared in many television commercials as a toddler for products such as Tyson Foods and Fisher Price. At age 8 he briefly had a recurring role on the soap opera Loving.

His film debut came in 1993 when he won the role of Mikey in the sequel Look Who's Talking Now, playing the son of John Travolta and Kirstie Alley. In 1995 he played in a production of A Christmas Carol on Broadway. He also starred in several TV movies, including Bermuda Triangle.

In 1996 he reunited with John Travolta for the movie Phenomenon. Later that year, he was cast as Simon Camden in the family drama series 7th Heaven. 7th Heaven remained on the air for 11 seasons, making it the longest-running family drama in television history,^[8] and also became the highest-rated show on The WB Network.^[9]

He filmed a few movies during hiatuses from filming, including the direct-to-video Richie Rich's Christmas Wish and Little Secrets with Evan Rachel Wood. In 2003, during 7th Heaven 's 8th season, David left the show in order to attend college full-time. However, he returned to the series part-time during season 9 and for what was thought to be the 10th and final season. In late 2006 The CW unexpectedly picked up the show for an 11th season. David opted not to renew his contract.

In 2005 David starred in and co-produced a low-budget adaptation of The Picture of Dorian Gray.

His first role after leaving 7th Heaven was a guest stint on Numb3rs, playing serial killer Buck Winters in September 2006, a role which he reprised in January 2009. He also appeared in the season 6 opener of CSI: Miami, playing another suspected killer. He also starred in the horror sequel Boogeyman 2, which went straight to DVD. In July 2008, Gallagher guest-starred on the TNT drama Saving Grace as Paul Shapiro, a troubled young man who was the suspect in a murder investigation. His next guest appearance was in an October 2008 episode of the FOX crime drama Bones as Ryan Stephenson, the son of a man who later became a woman. Then in November 2008 he appeared in an episode of the CBS show Without a Trace as a suspect named Jeff Ellis who was thought to be responsible for the disappearance of a local nurse. He's also notable for having voiced Riku in the Kingdom Hearts video game franchise and for portraying Seiji Amasawa in the English dub version of Studio Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. He appeared on the second-to-last episode of the series The Deep End, where he played a man charged with second-degree murder although he is innocent.

In March 2012, David has been announced to star with Zoe Aggeliki^[10][11] and Jake Weber^[10] in Scared of the Dark directed by Takashi Shimizu.

Filmography[link]