Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...biography charting the life of Billy Connolly? Only Billy himself, and he hasn't put pen to paper yet. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Initial Thoughts & Feelings ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The book is a very unique insight into the man behind his very unique brand of comedy. It covers some very delicate issues from Billy's early childhood, and demonstrates that strength of human nature to fight against adversity to create success and wide-scale acclaim. ...
...I mean, she loves Billy Connolly, she is married to him and has bore his children, so this in itself would lead you to believe she will tilt the bias of the events of Billy's past to portray him as purely the victim, rather than providing a completely accurate and balanced portrayal of events, most notably from his childhood. Also, in performing her research, Pamela has been inclined to ask her husband about the particular events of his lifetime. ...

newty1977 11.04.2006 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...United States of America. Billy Connolly was the first man to make me laugh. Obviously not “ha-ha” laugh. I mean “stomach hurts, can’t speak, tears rolling down cheeks” laugh. I was fifteen years old, and my uncle on a rare visit had brought with him a recording from a date on Connolly’s “Wreck on Tour” of the previous year. It was a revelation. To this day, I can quote large chunks of what will remain for me his seminal work, and there’s none better ...
...a jot”. Billy Connolly still thinks himself a welder who got away with it, and that someone will come along and tell him his time’s up, and to get back to work. How wrong can anyone be? Best price on 26/7/02: £3.14 (paperback) in Tesco stores ...

TallTone 26.07.2002 (19.08.2002) · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...in the last 40 years. Billy Connolly, or as he is more affectionately known the world over, “The Big Yin”. It’s written by his second wife, Pamela Stephenson, herself a comedienne in her own right, and probably best known for her part in the comedy spoof show from the late 1970’s period, “Not The Nine O’clock News”. These days though she is a Doctor of Psychology, having got tired of life on the boards, and ...
...Amazon with great anticipation, as Billy Connolly has been a favourite singer/comedian/actor of mine from my teenage years in the late 1960’s. I first came across him when he was playing in a folk group called the “Humblebums” with the musician Gerry Rafferty. (of ‘Baker Street’ fame, and yet another of my long time favourites) They used to play the pub and club ‘circuit’ in Scotland, and I had one very memorable ...

the_mad_cabbie 19.12.2001 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

I have liked Billy Connolly’s stand up shows for years, and I particularly enjoyed the slant he took with the “World tour of Scotland” and World Tour Of Australia” series, where hobbies and local history and culture were interspersed with clips from the shows he did, visiting smaller towns instead of the big cities in the UK, as his previous tours had been. I have never managed to see Billy live though, although it has not been for the lack of trying. ...
...since the early 80’s when Billy first appeared on Not the Nine O Clock News, a show which featured Stephenson in the cast. Stephenson has since qualified as a Doctor and practices psychology in Los Angeles and this has given her some insight into Billy’s feelings and insecurities about himself, following his abusive childhood. Stephenson has a tendency to write fairly objectively about Billy’s life and this is entwined with more recent times, linking ...

helencbradshaw 17.07.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...to write a book about Billy Connolly than Pamela Stephenson? Not only originally a comic actress by trade, she is now a clinical psychologist but more importantly his wife. These three stand points must give her an all round insight of the man who has become one of the worlds best loved comedians. Often the best evaluation of a person can only come from an outside source, not the person himself or herself. For this reason whilst autobiographies are ...
...explores the man who is Billy Connolly. Billy Connolly is a work in progress and the man we see before us on stage to day is the process of a long evolution and the book relays the passage of this. From his early days in the rough Glasgow tenements to international stardom is a long walk and every step is brought to life in this vivid account. What I personally find fascinating about peoples road to fame is the whole question of what opportunities ...

steerpyke 10.12.2005 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...Briefly, the book begins from Billy Connolly's birth, the financial and emotional depravation of his family and progressess through his abusive childhood and adolesence, his apprentaship and working days and his terrible struggle with alcoholism. Then the banjo! His love of folk music and purchase of a tatty banjo enable him to leave his fellow dockyard welders and pursue a more glamourous career around the various pubs and clubs that will let him ...
...fact, the author says how Billy often cried after reading some of her views on his life and this has seemed to be helpful so the book is especially good therefore if it has been a help to him. Incidentally, the author is not best pleased about the fact that her husband now has an honourary doctorite, as she says, hers took six years of hard work! This is a fine book and well worth a read regardless of how interested you think you'll be. It's a great ...

jelfs666 09.01.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...has been bubbling away inside Billy his whole life. A huge dose of abandonment pain, a dollop of existential fury, a giant scoop of performing talent plus a massive portion of hell-bent-on-vengefulness has whirled around in him since infancy, catapulting him from tenement to “tinsel town” in five extraordinary decades.” The tears of the clown, a huge cliché I know, but isn’t “cliché” just another word for a universal ...
...remarkable life story of comedian Billy Connelly, as told by his wife Pamela Stephenson. The story of Billy’s early life is harrowing to say the least. From the moment he was born, on the cold bare floor of a Glasgow tenement kitchen, it seemed Billy had everything against him. Stephenson writes starkly, but movingly, of the physical and mental abuse the young Billy suffered at the hands of his aunt Mona, who raised him after his mother abandoned ...

alliecat 02.10.2002 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...for a book written by Billy himself may be disappointed. This biography is written by Billy's second wife, Pamela Stephenson. She is a clinical psychologist and throughout the book adds her own psycho-babble which in my opinion spoils the book. This is probably the only downside to the book. Although if you find swearing offensive, beware the F word is used countless times. It was fascinating to read about Bill's childhood aswell as his adult life ...
...get to know everything about Billy from his troubled and poor childhood in Glasgow, working in shipyards to life on the comedy circuit. There are many parts in the book which made me laugh out loud. The chapters in the book (there are sixteen of them) all have funny titles: 'Jesus is dead, and it's all your fault!' 'He's got candles in his loaf!' In search of a duck's arse Oxyacetylene antics Shaving round the acne Windswept and interesting ...

123me 27.05.2003 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

This is the biography of Billy Connolly {The Big Yin} and is written by his 2nd wife Pamela Stephenson, better know from ‘Not the nine o’clock news’ who is now a doctor of psychology which makes it easier for her to explain some of his insecurities due to a tough upbringing. Billy and his sister Florence were brought up in Glasgow a tenement his father left to work overseas with the RAF and during this time their mother left them both to be look ...
...of was his experiences. Billy Connolly the Comedian is born! The story moves on to how he met Pamela Stephenson, began touring the world, had his own TV shows and stared in Movies. His 3 children to Pamela, how they got custody of his 1st 2 children, his constant battle with alcohol and not to mention all his funny interpretations of Scottish live and the people who live there. It was interesting how the book introduces a lot of famous personalities ...

noosie 20.09.2004 (28.09.2004) · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Billy is a very complex character but Pamela really understands him & seems to be able to get into his mind at times. She is an excellent writer & introduces lots of humour into the book. The book charts his life from birth to the star he is today. Billy was born and brought up in the tenements of Glasgow where he lived in poverty and was sexually abused by his father. Billy's teavhers thought he was slow and stupid, ...
...his comedy on his colleagues. Billy worked his way up from doing stand up comedy in pubs and clubs to become an international star you can't help but love. Billy and Pamela seem to be happily married but this must be due in part to Pamela's tolerance and undertanding of Billy's mind! I am sure you will find this book to be a very entertaining read. ...

dorat84 01.01.2008 · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson

...the start of his life billy had a tough time, Pamela Stevenson (billy's wife) takes you on a journey from the mean streets and tennaments of Glasgow all the way to austrailia, From the harsh realities of living with abuse to coping with the pull of alcohol to the great joys billy gets from his comedy. This book is well written, open and honest. It takes you, as far as it can, into the mind set of this great actor, comedian man. It revels his hidden ...

Goodgodthatonesevenbigger 04.05.2006 (05.05.2006) · Read full review
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Review of Billy - Pamela Stephenson