Billy Connolly set for new book release this autumn detailing life on the road

Two Roads, an imprint of John Murray Press, will publish Rambling Man: My Life on the Road, a new book by Billy Connolly, this October. Connolly’s previous book with the publisher, Tall Tales and Wee Stories, a collection of his best loved stand-up routines (2019), and his first full autobiography, Windswept and Interesting (2021) were both No.1 bestsellers and have combined sales of almost two million copies across all formats.

Rambling Man is 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.

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.

Billy Connolly 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.”

Nick Davies said: “Rambling Man is a hugely enjoyable book. 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 on the book together.”