Rambling Man
On sale
12th October 2023
Price: £25
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLING HILARIOUS NEW BOOK FROM THE NATION’S FAVOURITE COMEDIAN, BILLY CONNOLLY
Being a Rambling Man was what I always wanted to be, to live the way I damn well pleased. I’ve met the weirdest and most wonderful people who walk the Earth, seen the most bizarre and the most fantastic sights – and I’ve rarely come across something I couldn’t get a laugh at. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad trip. Well, apart from in the 1970s, but that’s a whole other story . . .
When Billy set out from Glasgow as a young man he never looked back. He played his banjo on boats and trains, under trees, and on top of famous monuments. He danced naked in snow, wind and fire. He slept in bus stations, under bridges and on strangers’ floors. He travelled by foot, bike, ship, plane, sleigh – even piggy-backed – to get to his next destination.
Billy has wandered to every corner of the earth and believes that being a Rambling Man is about more than just travelling – it’s a state of mind. Rambling Men and Women are free spirits who live on their wits, are interested in people and endlessly curious about the world. They love to play music, make art or tell stories along the way but, above all, they have a longing in their heart for the open road.
In his joyful new book, Billy explores this philosophy and how it has shaped him, and he shares hilarious new stories from his lifetime on the road. From riding his trike down America’s famous Route 66, building an igloo on an iceberg in the Arctic, playing elephant polo (badly) in Nepal and crashing his motorbike (more than once), to eating witchetty grubs in Australia, being serenaded by a penguin in New Zealand, and swapping secrets in a traditional Sweat Lodge ritual in Canada, Rambling Man is a truly global adventure with the greatest possible travel companion.
Being a Rambling Man was what I always wanted to be, to live the way I damn well pleased. I’ve met the weirdest and most wonderful people who walk the Earth, seen the most bizarre and the most fantastic sights – and I’ve rarely come across something I couldn’t get a laugh at. I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad trip. Well, apart from in the 1970s, but that’s a whole other story . . .
When Billy set out from Glasgow as a young man he never looked back. He played his banjo on boats and trains, under trees, and on top of famous monuments. He danced naked in snow, wind and fire. He slept in bus stations, under bridges and on strangers’ floors. He travelled by foot, bike, ship, plane, sleigh – even piggy-backed – to get to his next destination.
Billy has wandered to every corner of the earth and believes that being a Rambling Man is about more than just travelling – it’s a state of mind. Rambling Men and Women are free spirits who live on their wits, are interested in people and endlessly curious about the world. They love to play music, make art or tell stories along the way but, above all, they have a longing in their heart for the open road.
In his joyful new book, Billy explores this philosophy and how it has shaped him, and he shares hilarious new stories from his lifetime on the road. From riding his trike down America’s famous Route 66, building an igloo on an iceberg in the Arctic, playing elephant polo (badly) in Nepal and crashing his motorbike (more than once), to eating witchetty grubs in Australia, being serenaded by a penguin in New Zealand, and swapping secrets in a traditional Sweat Lodge ritual in Canada, Rambling Man is a truly global adventure with the greatest possible travel companion.
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Reviews
This is everything a celebrity autobiography should be and more.
A read that entirely fits the personality of the extreme personality who wrote it, Connolly's raucous run through his life is as furious, funny and foul-mouthed as you'd expect. His stand-up knack for easy storytelling shines through.
One of stand-up's great naturals. No one told a story better.
An ode to the restless soul, chronicling Billy's lifetime wanderings in his usual charming, irreverent and hilarious style.
[This is] not a standard travelogue; nothing about Connolly is ever that straightforward . . . The book is written in Connolly's voice and vernacular, and is shot through with his standard wit. There are more belly-laughs than you get in an entire series of an average sitcom . . . This is no mere celebrity memoir however. Connolly can write compellingly.
Full of choice lines and amusing anecdotes, this account of the Big Yin's rambling life is the kind of Christmas present that will cheer anyone up . . . Very engaging and good fun it is, and with lots of stories to make you smile or laugh. [Billy's] rambling days may be physically over, but he still rambles happily in his memories of them.
A funny, life-affirming rhapsody . . . The Big Yin is an actual comic genius. He's led an extraordinary life. At no point, however, during this jolly globe-trotting tome will you detect a hint of self-aggrandisement or fake humility. He's just so grateful and delighted. His romantic hippie outlook and generosity of spirit are infectious.
Brings together hilarious stories from the much-loved comedian's lifetime on the road, from riding his trike down America's famous Route 66 and building an igloo on an iceberg tobeing serenaded by a penguin in New Zealand...
Our greatest living comedian . . . an easy-going ramble around his life and times. What a legend. He does make me laugh.
Big Yin's memoir of a life on the road is funny, wise - and not pretentious. He squeezes humour from subjects as diverse as yodelling, Keith Richards, and the isolated hamlet ofTuktoyaktuk in the Arctic . . . Rambling Man meanders as pleasingly as the rivers Connolly loves to fish. His stories are thekind you couldn't make up, ones that revel in life's ludicrousness. Is Rambling Man funny? Is it sweary? Of course it is, ya daft f*ck.
A paean to the wonder of travel . . . if your love of travelling is anything like Connolly's, you'll lose yourself in this odyssey with a difference. It's the world through Connolly's eyes, always alert for the absurd, the exotic quirk, the joy of each new destination.
This cheerful, joyously life-affirming ramble to every corner of the Earth should make you want to pick up your banjo and set out on the open road. On the other hand, we can't all be Billy Connolly, still Britain's greatest living comedian; and we won't usually be accompanied by a TV crew. Being a rambling man, says Connolly, is a state of mind: they are free spirits, enterprising and endlessly curious about the world . . . Full of excellent jokes and engaging anecdotes, this book makes you feel good to be alive.
Entertaining his audience is his priority. Here he wins hands down.