'That's where I belong'

He may be one of Scotland's best-known exports, and now a long-time resident of Beverly Hills, but Billy Connolly reckons it's Ireland where he belongs.

His revelations come in the new BBC1 series Billy Connolly's World Tour of England, Ireland and Wales, which followed the 59-year-old comic while he was on the road last year.

And Ireland is where the tour kicks off. "I've always liked it here," the Big Yin says. "Part of me is Irish.

"My family comes from the west coast, so whenever I come to Ireland I get a wee tingling in my heart that I'm where I belong."

In the opening episode of the series, to be screened in the first week in March, Connolly jams with musicians in Dublin, visits the grave of Thin Lizzy legend Phil Lynott and samples some Guinness-flavoured ice cream

Published: 17 Feb 2002