Billy Connolly’s upbringing can only be described as grim but his gratitude for life, friends and his own love for family lifts this autobiography out of the grim category. Windswept and Interesting: My Autobiography was a joy to read and to go on Billy’s life journey through his memories.
Billy was born in 1942 in Glasgow so his memories cover a lot of change. Abandoned at the age of 4, he is the survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family and his success against all the odds I am sure comes from his determination to remain windswept and interesting.
Apparently an exotic friend seeing Billy with long hair, a beard and dressed in electric blue flairs – it was the time! – said, “Look at you – all windswept and interesting.” After that Billy decided he had to maintain his reputation.
"Funny, confronting, life affirming and joyful this is one autobiography that everyone should read or listen to."
- Jane Cowell
His childhood is confronting so be prepared but Billy shares the love of his sister who got him through and his lifelong friends formed in the playground who gave him companionship and camaraderie.
Billy escaped his family when he started an apprenticeship as a welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde and them he became a “rambling man”, a folk musician with his genuine talent for playing the banjo. But his ability to tell jokes, spin rambling stories that makes us all laugh and hold an audience in thrall of his tales steered him in the direction of stand up comedy.
This story is told – yes Billy dictated his story in his own words and there are countless digressions and rambles that are genuinely funny as he shares with all of us the intimacies of his life, loves and regrets.
Of course I loved reading about when he found Charles Dickens by himself and his love of reading and his local library, “Everything I have achieved in life came from the Patrick Library”.
Funny, confronting, life affirming and joyful this is one autobiography that everyone should read or listen to. You will come to love Billy as a person more than you already do and if you have not come across Billy Connolly before this introduction will send you seeking all his YouTube videos to learn more.
This autobiography can also be found in our Book Express Collection at Diamond Valley Library so call in and grab the copy that will be waiting for you today.
