The closest thing to writing your autobiography is to get your wife to write your biography. (CURRENT wife, of course ex-wives would probably be far from sympathetic.) That, in a nutshell, describes Pamela Stephenson's Billy - the life story of her husband, Scottish comedian Billy Connolly.
This does NOT mean that the book is sugar-coated. The book covers such matters as Billy's sexual abuse as a boy, his substance abuse issues as an adult, his first marriage, his colorful language, his occasional (read: typical) inappropriateness in public settings and, like many famous people of common roots, his fear of fate suddenly realizing that this Glasgow welder overstepped his bounds and doesn't deserve the fame and fortune which life has bestowed upon him.
There's a lot of name-dropping in the book. BUT, the majority of people that are cited as Billy's closest friends are the first-rung type of celebrities that you probably will never have heard of if you live more than 50 miles outside of town. The garage band/pub musicians, the local actors and comedians, the folks he knew on the way up.
If you enjoy celebrity biographies, and you prefer not to read the unauthorized kiss-and-tell-all sorts, I would recommend this book.
RATING: 4 stars.
This does NOT mean that the book is sugar-coated. The book covers such matters as Billy's sexual abuse as a boy, his substance abuse issues as an adult, his first marriage, his colorful language, his occasional (read: typical) inappropriateness in public settings and, like many famous people of common roots, his fear of fate suddenly realizing that this Glasgow welder overstepped his bounds and doesn't deserve the fame and fortune which life has bestowed upon him.
There's a lot of name-dropping in the book. BUT, the majority of people that are cited as Billy's closest friends are the first-rung type of celebrities that you probably will never have heard of if you live more than 50 miles outside of town. The garage band/pub musicians, the local actors and comedians, the folks he knew on the way up.
If you enjoy celebrity biographies, and you prefer not to read the unauthorized kiss-and-tell-all sorts, I would recommend this book.
RATING: 4 stars.
Interesting bio - written by his wife.
Well worth reading
Well worth reading
