Download or read book Tall Tales and Wee Stories written by Billy Connolly and published by Two Roads. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Connolly's raucous run through his life is as furious, funny and foul-mouthed as you'd expect' Sunday Times In December 2018, after fifty years of belly-laughs, energy and outrage, Billy Connolly announced his retirement from live stand-up comedy. It had been an extraordinary career. When he first started out in the late sixties, Billy played the banjo in the folk clubs of Scotland. Between songs, he would improvise a bit, telling anecdotes from the Clyde shipyard where he'd worked. In the process, he made all kinds of discoveries about what audiences found funny, from his own brilliant mimes to the power of speaking irreverently about politics or explicitly about sex. He began to understand the craft of great storytelling. Soon the songs became shorter and the monologues longer, and Billy quickly became recognised as one of the most exciting comedians of his generation. Billy's routines always felt spontaneous. He never wrote scripts, always creating his comedy freshly on stage in the presence of a live audience. A brilliant comic story might be subsequently discarded, adapted or embellished. A quick observation or short anecdote one night, could become a twenty-minute segment by the next night of a tour. Billy always brought a beautiful sense of the absurd to his shows as he riffed on his family, hecklers, swimming in the North Sea or naked bungee jumping. But his comedy can be laced with anger too. He hates pretentiousness and calls out hypocrisy wherever he sees it. His insights about the human condition have shocked many people, while his unique talent and startling appearance on stage gave him license to say anything he damn well pleased about sex, politics or religion. Billy got away with it because he has always had the popular touch. His comedy spans generations and different social tribes in a way that few others have ever managed. Tall Tales and Wee Stories brings together the very best of Billy's storytelling for the first time and includes his most famous routines including, The Last Supper, Jojoba Shampoo, Incontinence Pants and Shouting at Wildebeest. With an introduction and original illustrations by Billy throughout, it is an inspirational, energetic and riotously funny read, and a fitting celebration of our greatest ever comedian.
Download or read book Made In Scotland written by Billy Connolly and published by Random House. This book was released on 2018-10-18 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'Where do you come from? It's one of the most basic human questions of all. But there is another question, which might sound a wee bit similar but is actually very different: What do you come from? And, let me tell you, that question can take you all sorts of strange places...' In Made in Scotland, legendary comic and national treasure Billy Connolly returns to his roots, reflecting on his life, his homeland and what it means – then and now – to be Scottish. Full of Billy's distinctive humour, Made in Scotland is a hilarious and heartfelt love letter to the place and the people that made him.
Download or read book Windswept Interesting written by Billy Connolly and published by Two Roads. This book was released on 2021-10-14 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his first full-length autobiography, comedy legend and national treasure Billy Connolly reveals the truth behind his windswept and interesting life. Born in a tenement flat in Glasgow in 1942, orphaned by the age of 4, and a survivor of appalling abuse at the hands of his own family, Billy's life is a remarkable story of success against all the odds. Billy found his escape first as an apprentice welder in the shipyards of the River Clyde. Later he became a folk musician - a 'rambling man' - with a genuine talent for playing the banjo. But it was his ability to spin stories, tell jokes and hold an audience in the palm of his hand that truly set him apart. As a young comedian Billy broke all the rules. He was fearless and outspoken - willing to call out hypocrisy wherever he saw it. But his stand-up was full of warmth, humility and silliness too. His startling, hairy 'glam-rock' stage appearance - wearing leotards, scissor suits and banana boots - only added to his appeal. It was an appearance on Michael Parkinson's chat show in 1975 - and one outrageous story in particular - that catapulted Billy from cult hero to national star. TV shows, documentaries, international fame and award-winning Hollywood movies followed. Billy's pitch-perfect stand-up comedy kept coming too - for over 50 years, in fact - until a double diagnosis of cancer and Parkinson's Disease brought his remarkable live performances to an end. Since then he has continued making TV shows, creating extraordinary drawings... and writing. Windswept and Interesting is Billy's story in his own words. It is joyfully funny - stuffed full of hard-earned wisdom as well as countless digressions on fishing, farting and the joys of dancing naked. It is an unforgettable, life-affirming story of a true comedy legend. 'I didn't know I was Windswept and Interesting until somebody told me. It was a friend who was startlingly exotic himself. He'd just come back from Kashmir and was all billowy shirt and Indian beads. I had long hair and a beard and was swishing around in electric blue flairs. He said: "Look at you - all windswept and interesting!" I just said: "Exactly!" After that, I simply had to maintain my reputation...'
Download or read book Journey to the Edge of the World written by Billy Connolly and published by Headline Book Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To have Billy Connolly as a personal tour guide through some of the world's most dramatic landscapes in the vast wilderness of the Arctic is to enjoy a once-in-a-lifetime experience only he can offer. In his own quintessential way, this much-loved Scottish comedian, actor, musician and self-proclaimed 'citizen of the world' takes us zig-zagging from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean via Newfoundland, Canada, the Yukon and the Northwest Passage in an epic adventure only recently made possible through global warming. With his infectious enthusiasm and idiosyncratic humour, Billy goes searching for the beauty of ordinariness and bumps into all manner of weird and wonderful people along the way. He learns how to be a bear whisperer, pans for gold with prospectors, learns how to square dance, kayaks through ice floes between fishing trips, runs bare-assed into a sweat lodge, and attempts the finer complexities of the Inuit language. He jams with fiddlers, kisses a cod, goes hunting for Big Foot, and invokes the spirit of the ancients while iceberg-harvesting. With as many laugh-out-loud moments as they are poignant ones, Journey to the Edge of the World is more than just an informative and entertaining travel guide - it is time spent exclusively in the company of an irascible national treasure.
Download or read book Billy Connolly s Route 66 written by Billy Connolly and published by Sphere. This book was released on 2011-09-15 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Follow much-loved Scottish comedian Billy Connolly across Route 66 on this unforgettable journey, filled with music, modern history and hilarious stories. Billy Connolly first dreamed of taking a trip on the legendary Route 66 when he heard Chuck Berry belting out one of the greatest rock 'n' roll records of all time - and now he's finally had the chance to do it. Travelling every one of its 2,278 miles on his custom-make motorbike, Billy's journey takes him past many of the best-known icons in the US: the Gateway Arch in St Louis, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon, and the funky neon-lit gas stations and diners that once lined the route. Billy also has the chance to get to know the people who call it home, from Mervin the Amish carpenter, to fellow banjo enthusiast and obsessive instrument collector Rob, to Angel, one of the many people determined to keep the spirit of the Mother Road alive. Funny, touching and inspiring in equal measure, the tales he gathers on the way tell the story of modern America. With his unrivalled instinct for a good story, and the gregariousness that has made him a comedy legend, Billy Connolly is the ultimate guide to the ultimate road trip.
Download or read book Snickerdoodle written by Clare Ham Grosgebauer and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of a "pee-wee" who rides in a peanut and manages to overcome big odds and outwit the "bad guy" with humor.
Download or read book Seven Stories written by Ed Briant and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2005-10 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A girl in a seven-story apartment building has trouble sleeping because of her disruptive neighbors, who all seem to be characters from fairy tales.
Download or read book Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village written by Maureen Johnson and published by Ten Speed Press. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Considering a trip to a quaint English village? You’ll think twice after learning about the countless murderous possibilities lurking behind the bucolic façades, thanks to this illustrated guide from #1 bestselling author Maureen Johnson and illustrator Jay Cooper—perfect for fans of cozy mysteries. A weekend roaming narrow old lanes, touring the faded glories of a country manor, and quaffing pints in the pub. How charming. That is, unless you have the misfortune of finding yourself in an English Murder Village, where danger lurks around each picturesque cobblestone corner and every sip of tea may be your last. If you insist on your travels, do yourself a favor and bring a copy of this little book. It may just keep you alive. Brought to life with dozens of Gorey-esque drawings by illustrator Jay Cooper and peppered with allusions to classic crime series and unmistakably British murder lore, Your Guide to Not Getting Murdered in a Quaint English Village gives you the tools you need to avoid the same fate, should you find yourself in a suspiciously cozy English village (or simply dream of going). Good luck! And whatever you do, avoid the vicar.
Download or read book Billy Connolly s Tracks Across America written by Billy Connolly and published by Sphere. This book was released on 2016-09-06 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Billy Connolly - raconteur, comedian, and irrepressible wanderer - has spent much of his life in the United States. It's a country he knows and loves a great deal, but even someone as well-travelled as Billy can always discover knew things about such a vast nation. So he's off on the move again, this time via the tracks of the great railroads that helped to build the country. Billy's latest adventure takes him on an epic trip through the backyard of America, tracing the routes taken by the first European settlers westwards from Chicago to California, then back down south and eastwards through Arizona, Texas, Alabama and finally New York, over 6,000 miles and 26 states later. It's a journey through a country you don't get to see from 30,000 feet in the air - the real America of friendly people with fascinating tales to tell which not only give us an insight into their lives, but also into the life of their great homeland. And it's a journey that couldn't be shared with a more entertaining companion. Hope aboard and join Billy on a trip you'll never forget.
Download or read book The Deep Range written by Arthur C. Clarke and published by Rosetta Books. This book was released on 2012-11-30 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A man discovers the planet’s destiny in the ocean’s depths in this near-future novel by one of the twentieth century’s greatest science fiction authors. In the very near future, humanity has fully harnessed the sea’s immense potential, employing advanced sonar technology to control and harvest untold resources for human consumption. It is a world where gigantic whale herds are tended by submariners and vast plankton farms stave off the threat of hunger. Former space engineer Walter Franklin has been assigned to a submarine patrol. Initially indifferent to his new station, if not bored by his daily routines, Walter soon becomes fascinated by the sea’s mysteries. The more his explorations deepen, the more he comes to understand man’s true place in nature—and the unique role he will soon play in humanity’s future. A lasting testament to Arthur C. Clarke’s prescient and powerful imagination, The Deep Range is a classic work of science fiction that remains deeply relevant to our times.
Download or read book The Little Book of the Hidden People written by Alda Sigmundsdóttir and published by Little Books Publishing. This book was released on 2022-01-21 with total page 100 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Icelandic folklore is rife with tales of elves and hidden people that inhabited hills and rocks in the landscape. But what do those elf stories really tell us about the Iceland of old and the people who lived there? In this book, author Alda Sigmundsdóttir presents twenty translated elf stories from Icelandic folklore, along with fascinating notes on the context from which they sprung. The international media has had a particular infatuation with the Icelanders’ elf belief, generally using it to propagate some kind of “kooky Icelanders” myth. Yet Iceland’s elf folklore, at its core, reflects the plight of a nation living in abject poverty on the edge of the inhabitable world, and its people’s heroic efforts to survive, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That is what the stories of the elves, or hidden people, are really about. In a country that was, at times, virtually uninhabitable, where poverty was endemic and death and grief a part of daily life, the Icelanders nurtured a belief in a world that existed parallel to their own. This was the world of the hidden people, which more often than not was a projection of the most fervent dreams and desires of the human population. The hidden people lived inside hillocks, cliffs, or boulders, very close to the abodes of the humans. Their homes were furnished with fine, sumptuous objects. Their clothes were luxurious, their adornments beautiful. Their livestock was better and fatter, their sheep yielded more wool than regular sheep, their crops were more bounteous. They even had supernatural powers: they could make themselves visible or invisible at will, and they could see the future. To the Icelanders, stories of elves and hidden people are an integral part of the cultural and psychological fabric of their nation. They are a part of their identity, a reflection of the struggles, hopes, resilience, and endurance of their people. What you will read about in The Little Book of the Hidden People: • The fascination in the international media: why are they so obsessed with elves? • The meaning of elf: what do hidden people stories tell us about the psyche of the Icelanders of old? • The elves' badassery—they could make or break your fortune so you’d better be nice! • The ljúflingar ... hidden men who became the lovers of mortal women • Glamorous and regal: why were the elves so damn good-looking? • The grim realities: what do scholars believe about all those children abducted by elves? ... and so much more!
Download or read book AC DC written by Mick Wall and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The premier rock biographer and author of When Giants Walked the Earth Mick Wall writes the compelling story of the enduring rock band that has sold 200 million albums Megan Fox wears the band’s T-shirts. Keith Richards says Malcolm Young is a better guitarist than he is. Like the Rolling Stones, AC/DC survived every musical trend and industry change to remain both at the top of their game and the charts. From their start in Australia in 1973—with two Scottish brothers, Angus and Malcolm Young, at the core—AC/DC launched an assault on punk in both England and the U.S., in a wild rebel return to real rock roots that’s still chart-topping and selling albums today: over 71 million in the U.S. alone. AC/DC ruthlessly shed band members, managers, producers, and anyone who stood in the way of world domination. Like the Rolling Stones, they’ve survived every musical trend and industry change to remain both at the top of their game and the top of the charts. In AC/DC: Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be, world-renowned rock writer Mick Wall unearths previously unheard stories from all the key players in the AC/DC story. At the center is a tight–knit clan who became and stayed musically successful because they took no hell from outsiders. Wall also uncovers the truth behind the mysterious death of lead singer Bon Scott in 1980, and writes with unflinching insight into the dizzying highs and abysmal, self-inflicted lows of that band’s career with Scott’s replacement Brian Johnson. The Young brothers and AC/DC have survived drugs, death, divorce and the damnation of critics to become one of the best-known and most listened-to rock bands in the world. This is their story: rock n’ roll.
Download or read book The Squire s Tale written by Gerald Morris and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2008-04-28 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First in the medieval fantasy series set in Camelot. “This Arthurian adventure is all heart—and humor.”—Publishers Weekly Growing up an orphan in an isolated cottage in the woods, young Terence never expected much adventure. But upon the arrival of Gawain, his life takes a surprising turn. Gawain is destined to become one of the most famous knights of the Round Table. Terence becomes Gawain’s squire and leaves his secluded life for one of adventure in King Arthur’s court. In no time Terence is plunged into the exciting world of kings, wizards, knights, wars, magic spells, dwarfs, damsels in distress, and enchanters. As he adjusts to his new life, he proves to be not only an able squire but also a keen observer of the absurdities around him. His duties take him on a quest with Gawain and on a journey of his own, to solve the mystery of his parentage. Filled with rapier-sharp wit, jousting jocularity, and chuckleheaded knights, this is King Arthur’s court as never before experienced. “The author leaves some tantalizing questions, and the tale is filled with knightly derring-do.”—The Horn Book “Well-drawn characters, excellent, snappy dialogue, detailed descriptions of medieval life, and a dry wit put a new spin on this engaging tale.”—Booklist “If your readers are looking for some notable swashing and buckling with a little chivalrous slapstick thrown in, this retelling of Arthurian legend is the book for you.”—The Bulletin “There are plenty of sword fights and flashes of sorcery to delight readers, while the plot moves at a swift clip.”—Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book The Marmalade Diaries written by Ben Aitken and published by Icon Books. This book was released on 2022-03-10 with total page 293 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Charming, touching and very very funny' Jenny Colgan 'Simply too good' Daily Mail From the author of the acclaimed THE GRAN TOUR ONE HOUSE. TWO HOUSEMATES. THREE REASONS TO WORRY: WINNIE AND BEN ARE SEPARATED BY 50 YEARS, A GULF IN CLASS, AND MAJOR DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. When hunting for a room in London, Ben Aitken came across one for a great price in a lovely part of town. There had to be a catch. And there was. The catch was Winnie: an 85-year-old widow who doesn't suffer fools. Full of warmth, wit and candour, The Marmalade Diaries tells the story of an unlikely friendship during an unlikely time. Imagine an intergenerational version of Big Brother, but with only two contestants. One of the pair a grieving and inflexible former aristocrat in her mid-eighties. The other a working-class millennial snowflake. What could possibly go wrong? What could possibly go right? Out of the most inauspicious of soils - and from the author of The Gran Tour - comes a book about grief, family, friendship, loneliness, life, love, lockdown and marmalade.
Download or read book The Wee Little Woman written by Byron Barton and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 1995-06-01 with total page 32 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In rhythmic text and striking pictures, Byron Barton retells the classic story of the wee little woman who lives in a wee little house with a very mischievous wee little cat. Mr. Barton's simple words, bold images, and imaginative use of color have made his many picture books perennnial favorites with young children.
Download or read book An Audience with Billy Connolly written by Billy Connolly and published by . This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Audience with Billy Connolly is an album in the genre of comedy.
Download or read book Vasilisa the Beautiful written by Irina Zheleznova and published by . This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: CONTENTSVasilisa the BeautifulTsarevich Ivan and Grey WolfThe two IvansFenist the FalconSister Alyonushka and Brother IvanushkaChestnut-GreyFather FrostGo I Know Not Where, Fetch I Know Not WhatLittle Girl and the Swan-GeeseThe Silver Saucer and the Rosy-Cheeked AppleEmelya and the PikeThe Frog TsarevnaWee Little HavroshechkaMarya Morevna the Lovely TsarevnaIvan - Young of Years, Old of WisdomThe Seven Simeons - Seven Brave Workingmen
