Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Sir Billy’s pledge to grow old disgracefully
BILLY Connolly vowed to be a “nuisance” in old age and thought he would work up until his death.
The poignant comments came to light as the Scot admitted his “life is slipping away” as he battles Parkinson’s disease, and he can no longer do stand-up tours.
On his website, 76-year-old Sir Billy wrote: “I hope to grow old disgracefully. I’d like to be a complete nuisance, like Spike Milligan. Spike’s a great great hero of mine, I’d like to shout at church, ‘Rubbish! Explain!’.
“I’d like to be in a public gallery of Parliament shouting, ‘Tosh! Get a job!’. I really would. I’d like to go and show up those Scottish parliament types. I like to scream at Nationalists whenever I can, I have a loathing of nationalists and patriots.”
Sir Billy in a blog from a decade ago, said: “I always saw myself working until I was old. Maybe it was a naive way to look at it but I always thought it would be a long career.”
He said he would not retire because “I spend an awful lot of money living this funny lifestyle”. Sir Billy also used the blog to pay tribute to his second wife Pamela Stephenson who he married in 1989. He added: “Marriage to Pam, it didn’t change me, it’s saved me.”
The Mirror told yesterday how in the second part of his BBC series Made In Scotland tonight he admits time is running out, but he is not afraid of the prospect.