Billy Connolly, 81, insists 'I'm not dead' with health update on Parkinson's battle

Sir Billy Connolly has insisted he is "not dead or broken" and is happily enjoying his retirement in the US.

The Big Yin said he feels lucky to have lived to the age of 81 given the extraordinary life he has led and is now content drawing and fishing next to his home in the Florida Keys.

In his new book The Accidental Artist, Connolly reflects on how he is fortunate to still be here given his traumatic childhood, alcohol addiction and his dangerous first job as a welder. He is suffering from Parkinson's disease but says he could have contracted a worse illness from working in the hazardous Glasgow shipyards as a young man.

In the book, Connolly writes: "I got diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and prostate cancer the same week. I got treated for the cancer and now I seem to be OK. The Parkinson's just rumbles along, doing its thing. It bothered me for a while but when I think about it I suppose I'm lucky I didn't get something worse because I was a welder.

"The diseases they talk about now due to welding weren't known about when I was in the shipyards. They didn't know about the hazards of asbestos. And men were always dying in accidents too. I was in an accident myself. I fell off the ship into the Clyde, dropped 40 feet into three feet of water and broke my ankle."

He adds: "I'm a lucky bugger. I survived a lot of s**t - much of it brought on by myself.

"I probably shouldn't have escaped but I did. Maybe what doesn't kill you f**ks you up for life but at least I'm still here. I'm fishing happily in Florida and I'm not yet dead or broken.

"I once ran into the Geordie writer Ian La Frenais in Tramp nightclub in London. I was wearing my leather jodhpurs and a leather jacket, pink socks and mules. He said, 'You know what you look like?' I said 'What?' He said 'A welder who got away with it.'"

After retiring from stand-up Connolly has focused on his new career as an artist after he took up drawing while bored in a hotel room in Montreal. The book, which was published on Thursday, features artworks he has completed over the last 12 years along with stories from his life and career.

In the foreword, Connolly tells how his success as an artist has taken him completely by surprise. Exhibitions of the Glaswegian's artworks have been held at galleries in the UK and . He writes: "I can't quite handle it when I go to one of my exhibitions.

"I've met people who collect my stuff, which is a serious compliment, but I still can't get my head round it. Maybe you shouldn't dwell on that kind of thing. I find it extraordinarily wonderful that people want to buy my drawings. Biggest surprise of my life."

Connolly was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease 12 years ago after a doctor spotted him walking strangely through the lobby of a hotel in Los Angeles.

He moved to Florida from his previous home in New York after doctors advised him to live in a warmer climate.

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