Before he made it big... the Big Yin in 1971
IT is hard to imagine a scenario in which he could now simply go unnoticed.
But back in 1971, when he was not yet 30, Sir Billy Connolly was just another face in the crowd.
Already, however, his familiar long hair and beard make him immediately recognisable in this photograph, taken at a demonstration of Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) workers at Glasgow Green.
At the time, Sir Billy was just beginning to find his feet – Big Banana ones in his case – as a solo performer.
He had trained as a welder in the shipyards but gave this up in the late 1960s to pursue his showbusiness dream.
The Big Yin was at the 1971 gathering to support shipyard workers after UCS went into receivership.
In that year his folk act The Humblebums, in which he performed with friend Gerry Rafferty, broke up. The Big Yin switched to comedy and, as word spread of his talent, he sold out the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow in 1974.
A year later came his famous breakthrough appearance on the BBC’s Parkinson chat show that made him a household name.
Only last week, the Big Yin was a world away from the shipyards when he was knighted for services to entertainment and charity at Buckingham Palace, ahead of his 75th birthday on November 25. After the ceremony, Sir Billy said: ‘I’m kind of stunned by it, I’m kind of numb. But it means a great deal to the people around me and the fans.’
To mark his birthday, BBC Scotland has commissioned three 50ft portraits of the comic to adorn walls in Glasgow city centre.
The image above is one of many now on sale at The Herald Picture Archive.