Happy Birthday Billy Connolly! How could you not celebrate the Big Yin’s birthday - the man embodies the spirit of Glasgow - so we thought it only right to have a look through the archive to share our favourite photos of the Glaswegian icon.
Sir William Connolly is a man of many hats, working as an actor, retired comedian, artist, writer, musician, and presenter, and before all that he worked in Glasgow as a delivery boy for a bookshop and a bakers - and a welder on a shipyard. He is best-known for his comedy, in which he is beloved, being ranked the greatest stand-up comedian of all time in many UK polls.
The Anderston-born man has been the international face of Glasgow for generations - and he has more than earned universal respect from the people of Glasgow. Here’s our ten favourite photos of the Big Yin to celebrate his 82nd birthday.
1. Billy Connelly with the coal queen
Billy Connolly pictured with the Scottish Coal Queen Miss Sandra Carruthers of Cumnock during the heyday of the Scottish Miners’ Gala in Edinburgh, on June 12 1976. | TSPL
2. Billy Connolly in a hot air balloon
Billy Connolly, TV journalist Selina Scott and Scottish Secretary George Younger in a hot-air balloon to help the Scottish Development Agency launch the Glasgow Garden Festival 1988 | TSPL
3. Billy Connolly before a sponsored cycle
Scottish entertainer Billy Connolly leaves Glasgow on a sponsored cycle ride to Inverness in August 1980. | TPSL
4. Billy Connolly at the Fringe
Billy Connolly at the Portobello float on Market Street at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Cavalcade in August 1979 | TSPL