Sir Big Yin! Billy gets knighthood
Connolly to be made a knight as Rowling, Murray Macca and Ed Sheeran receive Birthday Honours
HIS unique brand of humour was forged amid the poverty and hardship of his early life in the slums of Glasgow.
Now Billy Connolly’s remarkable rise from a two-room tenement to being one of the country’s best-loved entertainers will be crowned with a knighthood.
It was announced yesterday that the 74year-old comedian and actor will be honoured for his services to entertainment and charity in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list – 14 years after he was made a CBE.
Connolly, affectionately known as the Big Yin, is battling Parkinson’s disease and recently admitted he was not sure if he would ever perform on stage again.
His 50-year career, which has seen him rise from performing in pubs around Glasgow to starring in Hollywood blockbusters, has been the subject of an ITV special this year, while three giant murals have been unveiled in his honour in his native city ahead of his 75th birthday.
The citation for his knighthood reads: ‘Billy Connolly is a comedian and actor who has supported a wide range of charitable causes. He was a key participant in the first Comic Relief campaign.
‘He donates his own artwork to Whatever It Takes, a subsidiary of Trade plus Aid which raises funds for charity. He has supported numerous fund-raisers, including for Oxfam’s East Africa Famine Appeal and Beating Blood Cancers. He is patron of the National Association of Bikers with a Disability and of Ballet West.’
Last night, Connolly said: ‘I am a little embarrassed but, deep within me, I’m very pleased to have it.
‘I wish my sister was here. My sister Flo died last year and she would have loved that, and my parents are both dead, so I wish they were here to see it. I’m not big on pride but I’m kind of whatever the equivalent of pride is. This is a bit decent – I’ve got that.
‘I feel as if I should be called Lancelot or something... Sir Billy doesn’t quite have the same ring. I think it’ll be William, I don’t know if you get Sir Billy. I don’t have a choice.
On his associations with royalty he said: ‘I feel completely comfortable with it. The way I saw it was, if I was invited nicely by those people to do things, the least I could do is respond nicely. It’s the way I was brought up – you give a lady the seat on a bus – so I responded nicely to an offer given nicely.’
Recently Connolly admitted his battle with Parkinson’s and prostate cancer had left him ‘really dependent’ on his wife Pamela Stephenson. He added that a return to the stage was dependent on whether or not his first course of Parkinson’s medication is effective enough, as his condition worsens.
He is one of dozens of Scots from all walks of life named in the honours list, including Edinburghbased Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who will become a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour.
Last night she said: ‘I’m deeply honoured and proud to be nominated for this honour for services to literature and philanthropy and to be included in the distinguished and diversely talented company of the other Companions of Honour.’
Professor Anton Muscatelli, the principal of Glasgow University, will also be knighted for his services to higher education. Known as a world-class economist, he chairs the Standing Council on Europe which advises the Scottish Government on securing Scotland’s relationship with the EU.
Tennis coach Judy Murray, mother of two-time Wimbledon champion Sir Andy Murray, will be honoured with an OBE for her work to grow the sport and encourage more women into sport.
Pop singer Emeli Sandé, 30, raised in Alford, Aberdeenshire, is made an MBE for services to music. Her debut album, Our Version Of Events, spent ten nonconsecutive weeks at No1 and was the best-selling album of 2012.
Edinburgh-born model and television presenter Eunice Olumide, 29, will also be awarded the MBE for services to broadcasting, the arts and charity.
Scores of Scots will also be honoured for their civic work, including six emergency services workers awarded the Queen’s Police, Fire Service and Ambulance Service medals.
Police Scotland’s Deputy Chief Constable, Rose Fitzpatrick, will receive an OBE for services to law and order.
From the world of politics, former Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon will become a CBE. A former education spokesman for her party, she was among the first intake of MSPs in 1999 and stood down at the last Holyrood election.
Former Labour health spokes-
‘My sister would have loved that’
man Dr Richard Simpson, who also retired from the Scottish parliament in 2016, is to be made an OBE. Receiving the same honour is the Very Rev Dr Lorna Hood, a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland and the Kirk’s longest-serving woman parish minister when she retired from the ministry last year. Last night she responded: ‘I am gobsmacked and totally taken aback that I have been made an OBE.’
Scottish Secretary David Mundell said: ‘In the centenary year of the Order of the British Empire, the Queen’s Birthday Honours have recognised the achievements of a diverse and inspiring number of our fellow Scots. I congratulate each and every one of them.
‘Billy Connolly’s knighthood celebrates a truly great Scot, the irrepressible “Big Yin” who has entertained millions, but also his dedicated charity fundraising. He is an ambassador for both humour and humanity and this recognition is richly deserved.’
Other high-profile figures included on the list included former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney, who will be made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to music. Television host and cookbook writer Delia Smith will be handed the same honour for her services to cookery, while charttopping singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is made an MBE for services to music and charity.
Veteran actresses Julie Walters and June Whitfield will both receive OBEs for services to drama, along with Happy Valley star Sarah Lancashire. Centenarian Olivia De Havilland, who starred in the 1939 film Gone With The Wind, will receive an OBE.
But some honours have proved controversial. Jonathan Faull, the Eurocrat who presided over the shambolic Brussels effort to keep Britain in the EU, gets a knighthood. Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: ‘It’s farcical that a man who has worked for the European Commission against the interests of the UK can receive an honour.’