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John Murray Press unveils new Billy Connolly book
Two Roads, an imprint of John Murray Press, has signed Rambling Man: My Life on the Road, a new book by Billy Connolly.
Nick Davies, managing director, acquired world rights directly from the author, with publication scheduled for 12th October 2023. Connolly will narrate the audiobook.
Rambling Man is described as a global adventure with the greatest possible travel companion. “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,” the publisher says.
“Rambling Man brings together hilarious new stories from Billy’s 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.”
Connolly, who in 2022 was the recipient of a BAFTA lifetime achievement award, said: “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.
"In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad trip. Well apart from in the 1970s, but that’s a whole other story. In writing Rambling Man I’ve re-lived my favourite journeys and my most extraordinary encounters from a lifetime on the road. It has been an absolute joy.”
His previous books with Two Roads are Tall Tales and Wee Stories, a collection of his best loved stand-up routines (2019), and his first full autobiography, Windswept and Interesting (2021). According to UK TCM Bookscan, Connolly has sold 1.19 million books for £11.8m, with Windswept and Interesting his bestseller, on 345,620 copies sold in hardback.
Nick Davies said: “Not only has Billy travelled to every corner of the globe, but he has a genuine curiosity about the world around him and a unique ability to connect with everyone he meets. Billy is an old-fashioned troubadour too – a storyteller, a musician and an entertainer – which makes him the perfect travel companion. It’s been a great pleasure to work with him on the book.”
