Peter McDougall reflects on 50 years of friendship with Billy Connolly

From the Greater Glasgow shipyards to Chateau Marmont and back to Greenock, Scottish writer Peter McDougall reflects on more than 50 years of friendship with the Big Yin.

Just Another Saturday

The pair have worked on a number of celebrated projects together over the years including films Just Another Saturday and Down Among the Big Boys.

In honour of Billy’s big day, Peter has shared memories and musings on decades of their friendship.

He told the Glasgow Times the last time he saw Billy was a while ago at the Oran Mor in Glasgow’s West End.

'It kills the rats but it keeps us alive a wee bit longer'

Peter, who has Legionnaires' disease, and Billy, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2013, have both been taking a drug called Coumadin.

Peter said: “I was saying to Billy, remember when we worked in the shipyards there was this thing called Warfarin, and Warfarin was what we used to catch the rats.

“It’s a blood thinner. It kills the rats, but for me and Connolly it keeps us alive a wee bit longer.”

In those days working in the shipyards, Peter knew a lot of men like Billy because the yards were “full of funny men”.

He said: “It was all based in longanimity, long-suffering from being in the yard and in the darkness, all the rest of it, and the way you overcame that without realising it, you were just funny.”

“Billy was a wealth of that.”

Billy walked home soaking wet with 'one clog on'

When Peter knew him, Billy had just left his band with Gerry Rafferty, the Humblebums, and would go down to London where Peter was living.

Peter recounts a night he and Billy were walking along Camden Lock, and the Big Yin tried to break into Regent's Park by “juggling” over a bridge.

He said: “Halfway across, and I’m watching, he falls right into the f***ing canal.

“I help him out, and he’s wearing clogs because this was in the days of bell bottoms and that. He gets out, and he says, 'f***. That’s my clog away'.

“I said, 'you can pick it up in Amsterdam, 'cause that’s where it’s f***ing going'.

An alsatian dog was barking at the pair, so they gave up and walked back to Peter’s house, Billy dripping wet and limping along in one shoe.

Peter waited until Billy’s 60th birthday to divulge he stole one of the canal-soaked tenners Billy was trying to dry on Peter’s electric fire.

Peter and Billy spent time in their younger years ensconced in LA hotels like Chateau Marmont, working at writing.

'It was just one of these things'

The stories from their time together are endless and entertaining - Billy rewriting old shipyard jokes to turn them into tales of the bizarre, Billy strutting into Peter’s play like a peacock and leaving before the curtains so he wouldn’t detract from the star, Robbie Coltrane.

Throughout the years, Billy and Peter have danced in and out of each other’s lives, as great friends do.

Peter said: “Billy and I, it was just one of these things.

“Billy came around one day when I was visiting Glasgow, and I was getting the train down to Greenock to this wild scheme that I come from.

“But Billy came with me because we were that close.”

The two travelled by train to visit Peter’s family who were still living in his birthplace.

Peter said: “It was just very intimate. It was just, it didn’t matter. I said I was going to Greenock, so he said 'I'll come with you'. That was all.”

'Billy Connolly is not a national treasure'

Peter abhors the idea that anyone would call Billy a national treasure.

He said: “Guys like Sean Connery, and all the rest of it, they were never thought of as a national treasure.

“They were thought on as wonderful and talented, never as a treasure, that’s an English concept.

“And I think Billy would actually really dislike the idea, the thought, that they might be thinking he's a national treasure. No, he’s not.”

“He’s a national f***ing example to us all. And a gift to us all. He’s not just gifted, he’s our gift.

“And we should be thankful, for the glimpses he gives of his genius.”

Peter describes Billy as a stamp, unique, a testament to empathy and humanity.

'I want you to be kind to people'

In the last photo taken of Peter and Billy together, Billy is looking at the camera while Peter looks down with his eyes closed (“that’s because I was drinking”).

A journalist told Peter he thought there was sadness about him in the photo.

Peter sais: “When I look closely, it might be because I thought this may be the last time I see him.

“He phoned me from Florida, and he said, 'Peter, I want you to be kind to people'.

“And I said, 'I am ya c***'.

“The only thing I thought about was, 'is this a goodbye?'

“It doesn’t matter [if I see him], I’ve been there with him, we’ve got that thing.

“That’s what I meant about the sadness, I don’t regret f*** all so that’s it.

“If I don’t see him again, I’m sure it’s fine. And I’m sure he’s the same.

“I'm an auld pensioner; not as far on as Connolly mind, but I’m hoping he’ll hing aboot tae a catch him up.”