Billy's arrival was hot news with a car up in flames

SIR Billy Connolly turns 83 next month. The ‘Big Yin’, as he’s also known, is a national treasure, cultural icon, comedy genius and a man who's bravely coped with Parkinson's disease since being diagnosed in 2013.

- By DAVID MORTON

Forty-five years ago, plain old Billy Connolly (he would be knighted in 2017 for services to entertainment and charity) was stopping off in Newcastle during his ‘On Your Bike’ UK tour.

Our sister title, the Sunday Sun, on October 19, 1980, reported how the Glaswegian-born comic arrived an hour late for his engagement at the Kawasaki motorbike store on the city's Westgate Road, an area that was traditionally a magnet for the region’s bike enthusiasts.

The 37-year-old Scot had been travelling North in a jeep when it broke down in Chester-le-Street. His first words when he arrived, sparking laughter among the large crowd of bikers waiting to see him, were: “I'm sorry I'm late lads. Me motor burst into flames!”