Connolly told of cancer, Parkinson’s on the same day

Billy Connolly has revealed that he was diagnosed with both prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease on the same day.

The comedian, aged 71, describes in a new ITV programme how he received the diagnosis.

He tells the programme: “It was a funny week I had. On the Monday I got hearing aids, on the Tuesday I got pills for heartburn which I have to take all the time. And on the Wednesday I got news that I had prostate cancer and Parkinson’s disease.

“They told me on the phone, they said, ‘look we’ve had the result and it’s cancer.’ And I said, ‘Oh nobody’s ever said that to me before’.”

He told Radio Times: “I remember I went through to the bedroom to answer the phone, and [wife] Pamela [Stephenson] was behind me — I thought she was gonna catch me.

“And she sort of held me, and I went, ‘Oh Jesus...’ But when we went into the living room I went, phrrhrht.”

Connolly, who has since been given the all-clear after treatment for prostate cancer, dismissed a claim that the drugs that he had to take for Parkinson’s caused on-stage memory loss in Belfast last year.

“Oh that was bullshit! It makes me so fucking angry! “I’ve lost my train of thought all [through] my career!” He added: “I just ramble off and come back ages later.”

Connolly said that he uses notebooks to improve his memory: “I’ve put myself on a strict regime of crossword books. They remind me of everything. I have to train my memory.”

“I’ve got a notebook with all the words I tend to forget. It’s the same ones cropping up again and again.”

Connolly talks about his own death in the documentary. “I don’t think I want a resting place. I want to be scattered to the wind,” he says.

* The first part of Billy Connolly’s Big Send Off airs on May 7, at 9pm on ITV.