Billy Connolly joins Aberdeen City of Culture bid

COMEDIAN Billy Connolly and award-winning crime writer Stuart MacBride have joined Dame Evelyn Glennie in backing Aberdeen’s bid to be named as UK City of Culture in 2017.

• Billy Connolly and Stuart MacBride join Dame Evlyn Glennie in endorsing Aberdeen’s City of Culture bid for 2017

• Comedian Connolly cites “heritage of traditional music and ballads”

• Author MacBride: “Many people seem to think culture in Scotland only happens in Edinburgh and Glasgow”

The Big Yin, who has owned Candacraig House at Strathdon in Aberdeenshire since 1998, said: “Aberdeen becoming UK City of Culture would be a great thing. In addition to its many other cultural attributes, the heritage of traditional music and ballads in Aberdeen and the north east is outstanding and deserves wider recognition. I hope this can be achieved.”

MacBride, whose gritty crime novels are set in Aberdeen, said: “Many people seem to think culture in Scotland only happens in Edinburgh and Glasgow - that everywhere else is just mountains, tartan, whisky, and shortbread - but this is an opportunity to show there’s a lot more going on.”

He said: “The north east has a great tradition of literature, art, and music that many people simply don’t know about, and making Aberdeen the UK City of Culture would be a terrific way of sharing that artistic wealth with the rest of Britain.

“It’s time Scotland’s third largest city got the chance to shine.”

Rita Stephen, Aberdeen’s Bid Manager,said: “To have Billy Connolly and Stuart MacBride support us just days after Dame Evelyn Glennie publicly announced her support is very special indeed. The bid team are very passionate about Aberdeen winning the City of Culture title because we know that if we do this right then we have the opportunity to make Aberdeen a more creative city, a more inspiring city and a better city to live.

“We could be creating the next generation of Billy Connollys, Stuart MacBrides and Evelyn Glennies. “That’s too big an opportunity to pass up.