IT is common knowledge that comedian Jim Davidson has had a bumpy year.

He went from the deep lows of an Operation Yewtree arrest in relation to historic sex offences -he was released without charge - to the highs of winning the public vote in Celebrity Big Brother, and with it a pay day and the chance of career resurrection.

Right now though, he’s recovering from pneumonia.

He told Vibe: “I’m just getting over a bout of pneumonia, due to inhaling liquid into the lung.

“It was breathed in while doing a shot or something. You know when you’re choking and it affects your lung a bit? Anyway, I’m alright. I’ve got two lungs.”

The 60-year-old doesn’t know what shot it was that caused the illness.

He said: “I don’t know, anything. I’ve got Scottish blood, mate. I could drink battery acid.”

The good news is Jim's on the mend and should be fine when he returns to south east London to perform at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley, with his old pal Richard Digance, on April 9.

The controversial comic said: “All last year while I was arrested and horribleness was going on, very few theatres wanted to know.

“These (theatres on the tour) were the theatres that we booked or the ones that said ‘we don’t mind you playing here, Jim’.

“I said to Richard Digence, ‘come with us, for god’s sake’, and it has worked out really well because you get two comedians for the price of one.”

Having grown up in Kidbrooke, Jim should be able to relate to the audience.

He said: “I go to all the Charlton games because I drive back to where I came from. I like driving through Charlton and I like talking to the people.

“I’ve had a varied life - I’ve sat down with Prime Ministers and Queens and Kings, been all around the world first class on aeroplanes, Concorde, you name it - but I am never happier than when I am with my own people.

“I’m just a south east London boy that got lucky.”

As for what parts of last year’s rollercoaster ride have made it into Davidson’s show, he is quite clear.

“All of it, really,” he said. “You couldn’t make up what happened.

“January 2013 I was arrested by the Operation Yewtree people and I was sitting in a cell on January 2 and I should have been in the Big Brother house.

“A year later I was in the Big Brother house with Linda Nolan, and god I wished I was back in that cell.”

His arrest may have made him unbookable for a time, but the truth is his popularity has been on the wane for years, with critics labelling him a sexist, racist and homophobic throwback.

Jim said: “Sexist, I probably am a bit. But only on stage. If there’s women in the audience, I always talk about how I don’t know how to work them, and I haven’t got a clue.

“If that’s taken as sexist then fair enough, I can slightly hold my hand up to that one.”

“Racist and homophobic? Oh, come on.” he sighed, presumably fed up of having to defend himself against the same allegation time and time again. “Well, people have got to get up and see what's going on. Come and see me before you make up accusations.”

In winning Celebrity Big Brother, though, Jim has achieved some kind of redemption.

He said: “It was a horrible year and although the two are not linked it did make me think that the public voted for me and didn’t believe that nonsense and wanted to see me back on the television.

“I got the people’s vote. I’m the people’s comedian now, which is a real accolade to get, nevermind the critics or the people that went to university or the people who vote for the Labour party, the paid up Marxists.

“I’m just a south east London boy that the public seem to like.”

Jim Davidson and Richard Digance are at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley, on April 9. Tickets cost £21. Go to atgtickets.com/Bromley or call 0844 7620.