"It sings and it dances": What Billy Connolly had to say about Glasgow's history and culture

In 2014, with Glasgow preparing to welcome visitors from across the globe for the summer Commonwealth Games, Billy Connolly spoke about his hometown. He took a journey down the Clyde and was able to point out places connected to his life, where he grew up and worked as a welder in the shipyards. It was that era of the city that he crafted into his own stand-up routines and performances, a version of Glasgow that was a constant theme in his writing. As an ambassador for the games, Billy was asked to talk about the city he knew and what it was becoming.

Glasgow will again host the Commonwealth Games in 2026, a more compact version of the event that will, nevertheless, bring new visitors and an international audience to the city. Connolly’s introduction to the city, from his own personal perspective, remains relevant.

Billy Connolly on Glasgow

Glasgow's in the middle of a huge transformation. I was born just over here and I was brought up just down the river in Partick, and I went to school in Govan, which is just over there, all on the sides of the River Clyde. And the biggest change I've seen in my life is the lack of shipyards on the Clyde. And now there's more pleasure on the Clyde. I think the River Clyde is unbelievably special.

The River Clyde is the reason for Glasgow being here. When Glasgow was called Glaschu and the Clyde was called Clutha, that's why people settled here, that the Clyde was the sole reason for people to settle just along the road near the Molendinar Burn. And then it grew from there, from just along there in the east. And I've played over there at the Armadillo where there used to be cranes everywhere. There's an atmosphere of moving forward.

Glasgow isn't the ship-building, steel and coal town that it used to be. It's a shame because I kind of miss it. Guy's my age, I miss the wet Glasgow, the dark evenings when the cobbles were wet and you could see the neon reflected on the cobbles on Hope Street. That's the Glasgow I lived in.

But for the Glasgow you live in, it is this one here with squinty bridges and festivals and concert halls. There was no concert hall when I was a kid, so it's brilliant. The one thing that really excites me is the cycling velodrome being built over at Parkhead. I mean, they built one for the Edinburgh of Commonwealth Games and it had no roof, which I mean, they did their very, very best, but when it rains, it makes that thing look unbelievably dangerous. It's the wall of death. We've got the real thing. And I'm really looking forward, I've never seen a cycle race in a velodrome. I've been in a velodrome and I've seen cycle racing, but I've never combined both, and I'm really looking forward to it.

I think the people at Glasgow will enjoy it immensely. They've always enjoyed it. The Garden Festival, the City of Culture, they've enjoyed these things immensely. Even when I was a boy, they had campaigns for Billy Graham, the evangelist, and they had huge audiences, or they had campaigns for tuberculosis - get yourself X-rayed people. Turned out they're great taking-parters, that's Glasgow.

They'll show up to see anything. They would follow a flitting. They'd follow fire engines to see what happens. This is the only town I've ever seen apart from Liverpool, where people walking along the street will ask directions of a person walking the opposite way and they'll say, I'm going there myself, and turn around and take you. Maybe even stop off for a pint on the way.

There are some cities, and I won't mention them, but they are famous for dead things, the great, great museums, and you can go and see paintings that were done by guys who have been dead for ages. You go to libraries and see books that were written by guys who died a long time ago. But this is the place for live writing, poetry, rock and roll, classical music, opera. It's buzzing. Jumping. Always will be. Always slightly ahead of the game.

It's got music written all over it, dancing, written all over it. I love it. It sings and dances.

Here are some of the Glasgow places associated with the life and times of Billy Connolly.