Billy Connolly (b. 1942), was born in Glasgow. When he was 3 and his sister, Florence, 4, their mother abandoned the children, living the children at home on their own. Neighbours heard the cries of the chilren and took them to an orphanage. At the time, the children's father, William Connolly, was serving with the Royal Air Force in Burma. Williams 2 unmarried sisters, Margaret and Mona, collected the children from the orphanage and and too them in. After the war, William Connolly moved in with his sisters and his children. He sexually abused his son, and Mona physically beat Billy on a daily basis. Billy left school at 15, eventually supporting himself through folk singing before he moved to comedy and became one of the most influential stand-up comedians of all time. He retired from comedy in 2018. As an actor, Billy Connolly has appeared in numerous films between 1993 and 2014 and he was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Actor for Mrs Brown (1997). He has received numerous awards, including a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award (2003) and honorary doctorates from the University of Glasgow (2001), Nottingham Trent University (2010) and Strathclyde (2017).

In 2017, Billy Connolly was knighted “for services to entertainment and charity.”