Hair-raising moments are not uncommon for stand-up comics like Bill Bailey. Grumbling about turning 60 in “depressing” January, he smiles as he explains the reason for his new, close cropped hairstyle. The “turning-point” when he decided to lop-off his ponytail, came when it nearly went up in flames as he cooked on a campfire.
“That was a sign from the universe”, he tells The Mirror. “I’d had it since my twenties, but last year it felt like it was time for it to go”. So, it was out with “Gandalf” and in with a more sophisticated look, in time for his sixtieth. Despite Bill’s more hairy moments as a result, I went to the barber down the road from my house, “he says”. I explained to him how heartbreaking it was for me to lose something that had been my identity for so long.
“He listened to me and then went, ‘ Yeah, whatever, ‘ and he’d shaved it off—in seconds”! However, the restyled Bill received a “phwoah” in agreement! from another writer, Dawn French, in a tweet.
“I was quite taken aback by that but flattered, yeah” he says. “I never really thought about cutting my hair because it was just one of the things that grew.”
” I wasn’t bothered about it and then, doing stand up, people latched on to it. ‘ He looks like a wizard, ‘ ‘ he looks like Gandalf! ‘ So I kept it. “Now his 22-year-old son Dax is his dad’s personal groomer.
” He’s great with the clippers, so he does a tidy up every now and then! “Bill laughs. Returning to being born in the wrong month, he says:” January is never the month for celebrating, is it?
“It’s cold, dark. Nobody wants to leave. So we continued to stay at home (for his 60th). I had some friends over the following evening after my wife and I had a fantastic dinner.
Although it was a quiet day, I intend to do it well over the summer.
Turning 60 is a time to reflect, but not to slow down.
Bill has appeared in the BAFTA-winning Channel 4 classic Black Books and has become a favorite of comedy panel shows since his first solo performance at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996, where he was nominated for a Perrier Award.
But he undoubtedly became a national treasure by winning the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing at age 55 in 2020.
Starting as, unsurprisingly, something of a joke act, he went on to be a very serious winner – lifting the glitterball trophy with dance partner Oti Mabuse. And he says being a comedian was an advantage, explaining:” Comics are pretty resilient. We stand up in front of people, trying to make them laugh, but sometimes things don’t work out. You have to get used to things not working out, or people shouting or heckling, or whatever.
“We don’t take criticism personally. We might laugh at it, but we won’t have any sleepless nights.
Meanwhile, Bill and Oti, 34, were a dream team and became great friends.
“There is an alchemy in getting the partnership right on Strictly”, says Bill. I never wanted to let myself down, but Eti already saw something in me.
” I don’t know if I was paired with another dancer, if they’d have recognised that. It can be hit and miss. You never know whether someone will agree to Strictly, or whether they will.
“I had a lot of confidence in going that extra mile thanks to my experience on Strictly,” said one participant.
And so he has, literally – completing the Cape Wrath trail in the Scottish Highlands, a 250 mile hike from Fort William up to Cape Wrath.
There were times when I felt like I couldn’t walk another step because it is regarded as the country’s toughest hike.
” Every day, I walked 20 miles or more. Some days I didn’t believe I could continue. Then I’d remember sitting in the rehearsal room with Oti saying, ‘ C’mon, do another dance. ‘ I’d be exhausted, she’d make me get up, and it would turn out I’d have three more dances in me. “
Chris McCausland, the most welcome series winner since Bill dazzled viewers four years ago, was hailed as the most enthralling TV critic. McCausland won with dance partner Dianne Buswell and is now the most enthralling contestant.
Of Chris, a fellow comedian, who is blind due to retinitis pigmentosa, Bill says:” It’s a marvel how he was able to learn the steps. The sheer amount of trust he would have had in Dianne’s teaching is just extraordinary.
“It was up to Oti, and I’m not blind, to trust him.” Without being able to see what the outcome was, he was doing that.
“And not being able to see the heights of things he was jumping off… gauging the distance on the dance floor…
“All those things are really difficult to do if you’re sighted”!
Strictly, Bill says, gave him the confidence to do more TV presenting.
“You’re being interviewed a lot of the time, so it makes you comfortable on camera”, he says.
Additionally, he will be presenting a new series of Extraordinary Portraits on BBC One this week, which combines talented artists with inspiring individuals to produce stunning artwork.
Bill meets the people behind the portraits, who tell their back stories, ahead of them being exhibited in the spring in Bradford, as part of the UK City of Culture celebrations.
He states, “It can be difficult to put these people at ease having a camera crew around you.
I’ve discovered that I have some sort of facility for it. I enjoy it very much.
“It’s a very rewarding TV series to be part of and I love drawing myself – although it’s more wildlife … birds, butterflies, bugs, beetles”.
A great nature lover, the funnyman’s West London home is shared with his wife, Kristin, his father Christopher, son Dax, 22, and a menagerie of animals including cockatoos, frogs and lizards:
“We are like a foster care home for animals. He claims that we take care of them a little bit and try to bring them back to a zoo or collection.
And they don’t limit their rescues to domestic animals.
Recalling he and Kristin’s mission to save an owl during a holiday in China, he explains: “We went to a restaurant in the Guangdong province. There were many animals present that shouldn’t have been in captivity; some of them were uncommon, others were common, but none of them should have been in a restaurant.
We bargained with them and purchased the owl because we believed that if we can save one animal, we will.
Paying 400 Yuan – around £40 for the female Eurasian eagle-owl – he continues:” We drove it to some woodland and it flew into the night. We all stood around and cheered. “
He now has his turn as a result of his beloved Thoughtifier tour’s cheered-out audience. Described as a” magical, musical mystery tour of the human mind, “it finishes its run at London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket on February 15.
His former GP father, Christopher, whose love of The Goons inspired Bill to become a comedian, is one of his biggest fans.
” Dad is in his nineties but he’s just amazing. He enjoys attending gigs because of the social aspect. And he’s very sharp, “says Bill.
Hugely family orientated, 2025 marks 20 years since Bill’s mum Madryn’s death from bowel cancer – which prompted him to work with Macmillan Cancer Support. Following the death of his friend Sean Lock, a comedian, in 2021, he is now more passionate about the cause.
We will be thinking a lot about her because she passed away at the age of 74, according to Bill. Her ashes are perched high on a hill with a view of the picturesque valley close to our house in Bath. We will go there and say hello to her after my dad planted a tree there.
On his 60th party plans he says:” I’m going to have a proper ding dong this summer. We are fortunate to be here when other people are not.
On Friday, February 7 at 7:30 PM on BBC One, Extraordinary Portraits with Bill Bailey will be shown.
Source: Mirror
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