Billy Connolly has received an honorary doctorate from a top university just days after he was awarded a knighthood.
The Big Yin was recognised for contribution to society by the University of Strathclyde, in Glasgow, during a ceremony in the city's Barony Hall yesterday (Thurs).
The comedian, who was included in the Queen's Birthday Honours List, will celebrate his 75th birthday this year.
After his knighthood was announced, he joked he should be called "Sir Lancelot" because Sir Billy did not have the "same ring to it".
He was also given a mural tribute when three 50ft-high paintings were installed across Glasgow, where he is from, to mark his milestone birthday.
Each mural was designed by a different artist and depicted different stages of his life.
Sir Billy grew up in the Partick area of the Glasgow and worked in the Govan shipyards before pursuing a career as a folk singer in the Humblebums alongside the late Gerry Rafferty.
There is currently a fundraising campaign underway to have a statue of the comedian, who suffers from Parkinson's disease, built in his hometown.
Sir Billy joked that the only reason he previously been inside a university -- "was to deliver coal".
He said: "I never wanted to attend university. The only time I was in one was to deliver coal.
"I'm a little boy who didn't do his homework. I think if I had got a real degree I would hate me," he added.
"Sitting there having worked my bum off to see this lout go up and get a degree for nothing.
"My wife has PhD so she kind of frowns upon these. She makes it easier for me in other ways. But I take it in the mood that it was given to me."
But he added that it was an "overwhelming" feeling to receive accolades for his lifetime achievements and contributions to society and entertainment.
He said: "It's become quite overwhelming.
"I'm starting to wonder if they know something I don't, with all these prizes piling in, especially the lifetime achievement stuff.
"It's absolutely wonderful. Very hard to describe, actually.
"When I was first offered these things, I wanted to refuse them, then I thought it was kind of churlish. I think it's lovely."
The stand-up comic, who has three other honorary degrees, also had a message for the day's other graduates.
He said: "Work hard and it can happen to you."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here