The World According To Billy

As Billy Connolly marks 25 years of World Tours with a trip around Florida, he talks to TV&Satellite Week exclusively about fame, marriage and dancing naked…

It’s nearly 25 years since Billy Connolly invited viewers to join him on the first of his World Tour travelogues, when he took us on a trip around his native Scotland.

To mark this milestone, Billy’s latest TV excursion is a guided tour of Florida – his new home – interspersed with clips from earlier globetrotting exploits, from dancing naked in the Orkneys to gazing in wonder at the Grand Canyon.

TV&Satellite Week caught up with the Big Yin for an exclusive interview to take a nostalgic look back on his life, career and travels…

You show us around Florida, where you live, in your new show. What do you like about life there?

I like the weather, and the fact that nobody knows me. I get a degree of anonymity that really appeals to me and makes my life simpler.

How has travel changed you?

Travel makes me miss my shoes. When you’re packing, the shoes suffer because they’re big and heavy. So I find myself missing shoes. And my travel essential is cotton underwear – never take anything else or it’s torture!

Would you change anything about your career?

No, it’s been a splendid career. It never came down or levelled off – it just kept climbing. Michael Parkinson’s chat show in the 1970s was enormous. And then working in America catapulted me into big-ness. But they had trouble understanding my accent…

What was your first impression of your wife, Pamela Stephenson?