http://www.timbosliverpool.co.uk/entertainment/comedy/dodd1.jpg

Born...8 November 1927
Knotty Ash, Liverpool, England, UK

He's played Malvolio in Shakespeare's Twelth Night and is one of the biggest box-office stars in the history of the theatre. A comic genius whose humour has made him Britain's best loved comedian. His fertile imagination has given birth to his famous Diddymen, the Jam-butty mines and the black-pudding plantations of his native Knotty Ash.

Comedian Ken Dodd has told audiences at Stratford on Avon how tattifilarious he finds William Shakespeare.

It's about men and women and thingy - sex - you know, and kings and queens and politicians and bishops. It's all the same. Mind you, he wasn't a gag man, William. Me, I'm an eyes and teeth man. But he had wonderful characters. He was absolutely amazing, supernatural.

Source (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/4268630.stm)

hello, does anyone have the e-mail addrerss of Doddy or his manager /agent..

thanks

Lemmo...

It's unlikely anyone would know. Ken Dodd is a very private person.

http://www.entertainers.co.uk/images/star-comedians/ken-dodd/ken_dodd_large.jpg

I think Ken manages his own affairs from an office under the stairs. :rolleyes:
I know where he lives if you wanted to contact him by snail mail, but I'm not sure of the number!

A few years ago we were in the local launderette and a lady said to us "You should have come last night, Ken Dodd was in having his suits dry-cleaned, he kept us entertained for ages". ...Dead thrifty, is our Ken. :)

I think the diddymen look after Ken in the Jam Butty Mines, especially Mick the Marmelizer. Ken's mother used to deliver my Nin's coal during the war - (I'm full of them aren't I??)

Big strong woman, Ken's mum! :) :eek:

When our coalman came my mum used to send me out to count how many bags he put in! Robbin 'sod, our coalman. :D

Thanks LindyLou...

ScouseMouse, yes i would like his address if you have it... If you want to keep it private you can e-mail me on walsh9999@hotmail.com or just put it on here.

I am a special needs teacher and i am looking for his support for some special needs projects that I am planning for 2008...

thanks guys...

Lemmo...:037:

Hi Lemmo, Don't forget to check your email, or your PM.
I always do...eventually! ahem! :rolleyes:

hello Scousemouse

yes i checked and i have replied, thanks for your assistance...

fingers crossed for a positive reply...

Lemmo...:037:

i believe doddy is on tour in Wales, does anyone know...?

have the diddymen kidnapped him...?

is he locked up in the jam-butty mines...?

please, someone tell all... we will pay the ransom, ?

a years supply of Fishermans Friends...extra hot...

Lemmo...:037:

Oh god no....Fishermans friends are worth too much.:celb (23):

spill the beanz BobbyMac...

or the diddymen get it...!!!

lemmo...:037:

does anyone know if Doddy is still on tour...?

Lemmo...:gossip:

Yes John he still is on tour, Go to, www.chucklebutty.co.uk/kendodd.html
Please enjoy. from jimmy in sunny Melbourne.

spill the beanz BobbyMac...

or the diddymen get it...!!!

lemmo...
Hmmmmmm?????????????????????????:Colorz_Grey_PDT_1 6:

thanks jimmy...

hello bobbymac...:037:

Ello Lemmo:Colorz_Grey_PDT_24:

hello BobbyMac how are you my friend???

Lemmon...:celb (6): :037:

Luv the guy.
(Mentioned this before on another forum)
When I was in West Derby Comp, Bankfield Rd wing, he used to walk past our school to visit his long term girlfriend who has since sadly passed away. We used to mob him and he'd spend ages chatting with us. I was a snot nosed skinhead at the time and he nicknamed me Bald Eagle:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

In my opinion, here's the best ever Ken Dodd interview.
(Mail on Sunday 21st Oct 2001 - By Robert Chalmers)

Whitley Bay. There is something very alarming about hearing Ken Dodd use the f-word. You would no more expect it from him than from the Archbishop of Canterbury, or Big Ears. But he has just said it. Twice actually, and with feeling. And the worst of it is, we've only just met.
He's speaking about his 1989 trial for tax evasion. If he did do an interview, he says, he wouldn't talk about that. He brought this up, I remind him, not me. 'It took three months of my life,' Dodd explains. 'Two years, if I'm truthful, worrying about it. And now it is so boring. It is so f*****g boring'

It's a little after 1am. we are in the tiny dressing room at the Whitley Bay Playhouse, just outside Newcastle. Dodd is in a check shirt and casual trousers, holding a pint of lager. All around him are large notebooks, full of jokes. Messages to himself, in black felt-tip, are scrawled all over his left hand. His face still shows traces of yellow make-up so thick that he calls it Fenceguard. His manner is deeply wary. That said, he looks far more relaxed than the haggard figure whose face stared out from the front page of every British newspaper 12 years ago, wearing the expression - if I may conflate three images used by other reporters at the time - of an elderly hamster going through the sound barrier backwards.

His stage jacket, hanging on a rack is covered with what looks like a giant's dandruff: flakes of plaster were failing on him, an unscripted distraction, throughout the show. The Whitley Bay Playhouse is beautifully atmospheric and welcoming. But it's no place for a legend.

'That's one thing I won't talk about,' he says. 'The trial. The other is my personal life. I don't have a personal life. He pauses. 'Well - not in that way.' Not in the way, he means, that he fears might enthuse me.

Why, Dodd asks, am I here? Because he is the last of the great generation of British comedians. And because I don't understand why a man of his age - 74 in November - should live as he does, playing one-night stands, night after night. He's like Bob Dylan: a great talent punishing himself on the road, when he could be relaxing at home. It's a comparison that a man of his generation might see as unflattering.

'I don't,' he says.
So why do you and Bob do it?
'We do it, 'says Dodd, 'because that is what we do. We do it because that is what we are.'

He gives me a can of lager. Anne Jones, the former dancer and airline personnel manager who has been his partner for the past 20 years, puts her head round the door. An engaging woman in her mid-50s, Jones, like Anita Boutin, who died of cancer in 1977 after a 24-year engagement to Dodd, has the title of fiancée, not wife. There are people, she gently reminds him, still queuing outside.

What would I call this article, he asks, if it ever appeared?
'Confessions Of A Fan'
'Really?' Dodd gives me a look of intensified suspicion.

It has taken months to get to speak to him. The other thing he shares with Bob Dylan is a famous dislike of the Press. There was a brief flurry of articles following the unmentionable court case. Now, in the words of one of his aides, he has given almost no interviews for ten years.

Whitley Bay is the latest stop on a tour that has taken me to see him at Skegness (twice), Worthing and Eastbourne. I've been staying in small seaside hotels, or driving through the night to get home. Living like he does. In the process, watching him, I have come to realise that Dodd is a genius.

At each venue I've left him a postcard, all of which went unanswered. Then tonight, in Whitley Bay, at the stage in his act where he reads out dedications to invalids, he said 'I'd like to say hello to young Robert Chamlers'. At first I took this to be a final, sarcastic snub, but when I came backstage just now, he seemed to be expecting me.

He starts talking about the people he worked with; the great music hall stars, like the alcoholic comedian Frank Randle, and Rob Wilton. 'If I could say I walked in their footsteps,' he tells me, 'I would be very proud. I think they left me to switch the light off. I am the last one. They've all gone. Frank Randle, Norman Evans. Max Miller. They're my heroes. They're my boys.'

There's a knock on the door. It's 2am. He has another show here tomorrow evening but no, he won't meet me during the day. 'Come backstage tomorrow,' he says

The bulk of Dodd's performance is unchanged every night. It's the few minutes where he improvises that are really captivating. He begins by asking the front row about their occupations. Tonight there was a painter, a mechanic, then a beadle. 'You're a what?' the comedian said. 'A beadle' the man repeated. 'You mean you go out, 'Dodd said, 'helping the men in red jackets with the whips and the horses?' 'I'm a beadle, 'the man said, 'at the university.'
'And you, sir?' Dodd said, moving on. 'I'm a pensioner,' the man replied. 'I knew you were retired,' Dodd told him. 'You've got one of those half-price haircuts.'
'I'm sorry,' he continued, 'I shouldn't mock. Because men do need a rest from work. They get stressed. They have to go to these massage, er - there's one just near here. These places have soft music, and ladies who have devoted their lives to this healing art, using aromatic oils, and... 'That's where I've seen you,' he said, turning back to the front row. 'Beadle my eye. I've only ever seen you in your socks.'

The irony about Ken Dodd is that it is now - with his regular television work behind him - that he is at the height of his powers. He has reverted to what he does best - live, front of cloth comedy. He performs three or four nights most weeks of the year, in venues that seat between 600 and 3,000. He sells out everywhere. His show lasts from 7.30pm to around 12.45am. There are support acts, but Dodd is generally on stage for more than three hours.

Most of his audience, as he himself says, are people waiting for a hip operation. He's embraced old age as a stage of life that - like youth - can grant a license to disregard social norms. In old age - like Richard Pryor with racism and crack - Ken Dodd has discovered his definitive subject.

The next night at Whitley Bay, he does routines about incontinence and Alzheimer's. 'Last week,' he says, 'I was in our bathroom with one foot in the bath, and one foot out. I stood there asking myself: was I getting into the bath, or was I getting Out of the bath?' 'So I call downstairs to my brother Billy. He says, "What is it Ken?", I say, 'Come up and help me. I can't remember if I was getting into the bath or out of the bath" , I wait for five minutes. Nothing happens. I shout downstairs, "Billy, where are you?" 'He says, "Ken, was I coming up the stairs, or was I going down the stairs?"'

Back in the dressing room he tells me: 'I want your word that you have not come to do a hatchet job on me.' He takes his shirt off to reveal a white, not too overweight torso. He coughs. Soon his thoughts are back with the trial. 'I don't give a bugger who else talks about it,' he says.' Because I won. But I don't like discussing it.' This does sound rather like the Ancient Mariner telling you he will discuss anything but nautical matters - not least because Ken Dodd's dealings with the Revenue feature heavily in his act. ('Self assessment? They pinched that idea from me you know.') Not that his reticence is difficult to understand. Dodd is rigidly guarded by nature, and the trial exposed every area of his life, from the £336,000 stashed in his attic, to the injections Anne had been receiving in their attempts to have a child. During a Radio 4 In The Psychiatrist's Chair interview, recorded before his legal difficulties, Anthony Clare pressed the comedian to explain why he never had children, a question he evaded, somehow sounding furtive.

Talking to Ken Dodd when he's in make-up, your gaze tends to settle on his eyebrows. They're daubed on using greasepaint, following the line of the lowest of many furrows in his brow. He asks me if I have children. 'Oh,' he says, when I tell him I do. There is a new tone in his voice. Just for a moment, the condition of fatherhood has obscured the stain of journalism. 'You're a family man.', How many children?' he asks. 'How old? What make?

He is, and always has been, a family performer. Right from the start of his career, in 1954, Dodd has had clear ideas about what is acceptable in comedy. 'I believe there's a rainbow of laughter, says. 'At the top, there's white. You can hear that any time you want - you've got two little lads. It's pure joy. At the bottom there is shock. I'm in the middle somewhere.' He coughs again. ('I'm on four bottles of Buttercup syrup a day,' he says on stage. 'I can't cough. I daren't.') 'Is it bronchitis?' I ask. At the trial he was depicted as a sick man who might never work again Twelve years on, I suspect he may be conceding the seriousness. 'I haven't got bronchitis,' he says. It's OK. I went the doctor's and he told me, "It's asthma." They can do something about asthma.'

One of his admirers, I tell him, is the greatest talent of the new generation Johnnny Vegas. I'd met him in Manchester the previous week. (Vegas recently queued for an hour outside Ken Dodd's stage door at St Helens just to shake his hand.) Dodd told Vegas, who recently won the celebrity special of The Weakest Link, that to succeed he'll need to do something about his voice, The comedian, who is 30, told me he has no idea how Ken Dodd physically endures his schedule. 'Come on,' Dodd laughs. 'I hold the record for the longest run at the Palladium - 42 weeks. Twice nightly, three times on a Saturday.' Can we meet again? I ask him, as I'm leaving. Perhaps. At his home? (Ken Dodd still lives in the Knotty Ash farmhouse where he was born, the son of a coalman). 'No.'

New Brighton: Like many Liverpool taxi drivers, the man who picks me up at Lime Street has stories about Ken Dodd's mythical talent for thrift. ('I don't believe in tips,' Dodd tells audiences.' I think they spoil people.') I travel to New Brighton, across the Mersey from Bootle, with Alan Bleasdale. He's hardly a natural soulmate for Dodd, who was once pelted with eggs while canvassing for Margaret Thatcher. But Bleasdale, like everybody I spoke to in the business, testifies to Dodd's Philanthropy 'It's easy to be generous with money,' Bleasdale says. 'Far harder to be generous with your time.' It has become a risible cliché to say that an entertainer does a lot of charity work, but Dodd's commitment to good causes has been like a mission.

A few puzzled youths look on as, along the otherwise deserted seafront, Ken Dodd's travelling army is pouring into the Pavilion Theatre - a last pocket of grey defiance which won't accept that the resorts are finished.

'What a wonderful way to end a career,' Dodd tells them. 'Forty seven years in showbusiness. Struggling, night after night and dreaming of stardom. Then waking up and finding myself in New Brighton.'

He coaxes his hair up into a peak, where it remains, like a dunce's cap, then turns his back on the audience. It's a trick he did in the Sixties, but now it reveals areas of pale scalp. I'm old like you, the gesture says, and I don't give a ****, and I'm not going out quietly, and neither should you.

'What do they give us on television?' Dodd asks. 'Black and white films with John Mills. Then Frank Windsor appears saying: "Have you paid for your funeral? Crack now, or we'll send you off in a bin bag."'

The interval comes a little before 10.30pm.
We'll let you out for a few minutes, but no running away,' Dodd says. 'This is like antibiotics. You have to finish the course.'

In his dressing room during his hour-long break, Ken Dodd greets Bleasdale, whom he's met once before, like a lost brother, then gives me the kind of look that Boswell might have got from Johnson on a wet day in the Lowlands.
'One reason I admire what you do,' Bleasdale tells him, 'Is that I can go back to the stalls now, and most people won't know who I am. But when you walk on that stage, you go out there naked.' 'No,' says Dodd. 'I don't go out there naked.' He gestures towards his joke books. 'I go out there armed to the bloody teeth.' He says he needs the notebooks to consult: he's about to record a sequel to his 1994 special, An Audience With Ken Dodd, widely regarded as one of the best one-man shows ever. But the way the books are always there makes me suspect he needs them like a touchstone.

It's a curious thing about many artists, I venture, that they don't know what makes them good. Things happen by instinct.
'I remember Frank Randle,' Dodd says. 'He looked like a gargoyle. If you asked him to be funny, he'd blow raspberries. But Randle just was so funny. It was as if there was a comic spirit inhabiting him. That was the sense I had. Something inhabited Frank Randle.'
'There have been great comics,' Dodd goes on, 'who are aliens. I do not believe that Frank Randle was of this planet.
Because there was something very odd about him. 'It's a feeling I've had about Ken Dodd himself from the moment I met him.
'Not me,' he protests. 'I know exactly what I'm doing.' And yet on stage, he admits, 'something takes over'. 'You go out there,' he says, diving for the shelter of the second person pronoun, 'and it takes you.'

He holds up his copy of The Mail on Sunday. 'We live in a crazy bloody world,' he says, as he makes his way back onstage. 'I think we clowns are the sane ones.'
'Take off that gloomy mask of tragedy,' Ken Dodd sings to the crowd at New Brighton. 'It's not your style.' I can imagine him requesting the phrase as his epitaph. It's the way he deals with the world.

The rare occasions when he has been obliged to stop accentuating the positive have, curiously enough, found Dodd at his most memorably articulate. The trial was an example. 'What does £336,000 in a suitcase look like Mr Dodd?' the judge asked. 'The notes 'he replied, with a gentle touch worthy of Oscar Wilde, 'are very light m'lud.,

If Ken Dodd was ever persuaded to explore the dark end of his comedy rainbow, either on stage or in print, it would be his masterpiece. It isn't going to happen. 'I know what would sell a book,' he once complained. 'The sleepless nights. The terror.'
Yet all comedians bring their past on stage with them, possibly more than they know. Towards the end of every show, Ken Dodd sits with his dummy ****ie Mint on his knee, and sings a lullaby to the wooden doll: 'My son, my son, my only pride and joy. My son - my life, my boy.' There's a pause, and the doll replies 'My dad, my dad. 'Emotionally, this scene can generate a far more intense empathy in a hall than it ought to. In Skegness it had a woman in tears.

Liverpool: I meet Ken Dodd for the last time a week later, during the interval of his show at the Liverpool Empire. He is more tense than usual. 'It's not you,' Anne Jones tells me. 'This is a large venue. Liverpool's very important to him.' Something has happened since we last met: the attack on the World Trade Centre. I've wondered if he will acknowledge recent developments, especially as part of his act refers to the Gulf War. 'I knew it was serious,' it goes, 'because I heard her gargling.' The routine survives unaltered. It's surprising, I tell him, that he has resisted the temptation to add some topicality to this section. 'That's not what I do,' he says. 'What I do is about happiness; about bringing people joy.' You can see the expressions of his audience as they pour out into the early hours.

But if there's one memory that stays with me from this summer, it's of another set of faces: a row of rubber masks, discarded by child dancers, lined up on the floor outside Ken Dodd's dressing room door at New Brighton. They were placed in a line, waiting to be picked up and returned to storage in his house. Each was modelled on the features of a great comedian - Max Wall was there, between Stan Laurel and Tommy Cooper. His heroes; his boys. The ones who've left him to turn off the lights when he leaves.

Like them, Ken Dodd will probably be dead before the extent of his talent is adequately celebrated. As his punishing tour continues, there are millions all over the country who will hope it is many years before that brilliant last light goes out.

Ken Dodd. The Biography. by Stephan

Griffin.

(Michael O'Mara Books Limited).

A good read. You can get it from the library.

great interview, he is a true gentleman & icon...

love the guy...hey missus...

Lemmo...:037:

Ken Dodd. The Biography. by Stephan Griffin.

(Michael O'Mara Books Limited).

A good read. You can get it from the library.

I'll have to get the book. He's a hero of mine.

Chris

I'll have to get the book. He's a hero of mine.

Chris

What amazed me was some bunch of whoever they were voted Peter Cook the funniest British man ever. Peter Cook I hear you mummble. Yes, they said Peter Cook. A lot of his stuff was missing with me. And a lot just plain unfunny. My Ma would switch the TV off if he came on.

Ken Dodd is ignored and yet at nearly 80 he is doing sell out performances to all ages. The man is phenominal. The funiest man in British history without a doubt. His track record speaks for itself. Unmatched. No one even comes a poor second.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What amazed me was some bunch of whoever they were voted Peter Cook the funniest British man ever. Peter Cook I hear you mummble. Yes, they said Peter Cook. A lot of his stuff was missing with me. And a lot just plain unfunny. My Ma would switch the TV off if he came on.

Ken Dodd is ignored and yet at nearly 80 he is doing sell out performances to all ages. The man is phenominal. The funiest man in British history without a doubt. His track record speaks for itself. Unmatched. No one even comes a poor second.
I loved Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Spike Milligan and all that pre Monty Pyhon stuff. However, Ken Dodd has well proven himself as the funniest man that has ever walked this planet......apart from my Dad, of course:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Ken Dodd is an icon as far as I'm concerned. He's the greatest.

I could never see anything in Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Monty Python, The Goodies .. they just didn't make me laugh out loud. Their humour didn't appeal to me at all.
I could never laugh at Max Wall - he was scary ! Mind you I was a kid when he was on telly.

I liked Spike Milligan tho' ... he was off his head ! ha!

He had a lot of serious stuff to say as well though.

Ken Dodd is a true gent and kills me with his humour. When I return home, you sometimes see him parking up at the side of his house and you always give him a wave. One of his video's that is taken out from time to time - he sometimes slips in things about when he got done for fraud and when telling a story about tax in the 1900's his finished off with

'Those days tax was tuppence in the pound.......I thought it still was!'

Brought the house down I can tell you!

Ken Dodd is an icon as far as I'm concerned. He's the greatest.

I could never see anything in Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Monty Python, The Goodies .. they just didn't make me laugh out loud. Their humour didn't appeal to me at all.
I could never laugh at Max Wall - he was scary ! Mind you I was a kid when he was on telly.

I liked Spike Milligan tho' ... he was off his head ! ha!

He had a lot of serious stuff to say as well though.
Max Wall (http://www.uk-ch.org/articles/grock.html) was totally off his head. Couldn't quite work out why he made me laugh so much as a kid. You can still buy Max Wall wigs, btw

I didn't like him 'cos he was always dressed in that horrible black coat and strange black leggings or something ! I didn't like that funny walk and his deep voice .... and his whisps of hair ... he looked frightening to me when I was a kid ! :shock: lol.


ps,

I just looked at your link .... he was scary !

great interview, he is a true gentleman & icon...

love the guy...hey missus...

Lemmo...:037:

'' by Jove missus ... !'' :D

"I feel people desperately want a laugh and what I offer them is optimistic comedy. Unlike some comics, I don't tell them what a rotten world it is. I say life is fabulous and wonderful and we should enjoy it while we can"

Went to see Ken last night at Parr Hall, Warrington- the man is a real pro, and his act was hilarious. Totally clean, no swearing, you could have taken your granny. Went on for 5 hours, with variety acts interspersed. Was like being in an old style music hall, an excellent show. Am now a convert!

Went to see Ken last night at Parr Hall, Warrington- the man is a real pro, and his act was hilarious. Totally clean, no swearing, you could have taken your granny. Went on for 5 hours, with variety acts interspersed. Was like being in an old style music hall, an excellent show. Am now a convert!

The man is incredible, a national treasure. An artist who certainly gives value for money. I saw him a few years ago (2003) at the Floral Pavilion in New Brighton. A wonderful entertainer!

Chris

you lucky people to have seen him...

how old is he for goodness sake, he can teach these young kids something about stamina and puttting on a good show...

good onya doddy... by jove missus...!!!:celb (6):

live long & prosper...

he desrves a knighthood...

some one should nominate him !!!

Lemmo...:037:

you lucky people to have seen him...

how old is he for goodness sake, he can teach these young kids something about stamina and puttting on a good show...

good onya doddy... by jove missus...!!!:celb (6):

live long & prosper...

he desrves a knighthood...

some one should nominate him !!!

Lemmo...:037:

Thanks, Lemmo. Ken is 79. He will turn 80 next November 8. See Ken Dodd's bio on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Dodd). I agree that a knighthood would be appropriate for all the happiness Ken has brought people. Personally, I also like him because he is a big Liverpool fan. I used to see him quite a lot at the matches at Anfield in the Sixties when I went there with my Grandad and Uncle Bill (a fellow comedian) -- looking quite different with his hair slicked back than the wild hair look he affects onstage.

Chris

THE DIDDY PEOPLE MYSTERY

(Daily Post, January 25 1965)

Liverpool's great Leprechaun Mystery has been solved. It was only nine months ago that reports of "little people" started pouring in. They were seen in parks and playing fields around Liverpool. Scores of children scoured the parks, invaded bowling greens and hunted among shrubberies in an effort to catch a glimpse of the little men from Ireland. At the time no one knew how the leprechaun mystery started.

But the man who thinks he might have the answer to the whole business is the man from Knotty Ash Towers - Ken Dodd. "Just before all these rumours started, I did an item on television. We used a special technique by which the cameras were able to 'diddify' people. It was rather like looking through the wrong end of a telescope. We arranged everything so that television commentator Bill Grundy was reduced to about four inches on the screen and I described him as a diddy man from Ireland - a leprechaun. Immediately afterwards, there were all sorts of stories about leprechauns being sighted by people all over the place. Children were running around the parks and gardens looking for the little men," says Ken.

HE HAS tickled the funny bones of generations of Scousers and become a national institution.

Now Ken Dodd has taken the first step towards being voted the Greatest Ever Merseysider.

The 79-year-old came out tops in the first category - entertainment and media - with an overwhelming majority of votes from ECHO readers. CONTINUES (http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpoolecho/news/echonews/tm_headline=doddy-takes-lead-in-race-to-be-greatest%26method=full%26objectid=18282031%26sitei d=50061-name_page.html).....

i just hope that Ken gets all the credits he deserves especially next year & 2008.. not only is he a notionbal treasure, but scouse through & through...

well done sir ken...

'taxes...!!!!' said ken, ..

'I thought they were those big black things with FOR HIRE on the top...'

he he he...

Lemmo...:037: :celb (23):

My sketch of Ken Dodd.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/rubinda/tn_09.jpg

My sketch of Ken Dodd.

http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y249/rubinda/tn_09.jpg

Lindy, that is brilliant and a really good likeness of when he was younger, well done :PDT_Piratz_26:

Thanks. It's an old pic I sketched probably 1980s.

Lindy, I'm in awe!
That is a fantastic sketch. You're one talented lady.:handclap:

Ta. :o :)

well done lindy lou... that's great.. missus...

could you do one of him with his tickling stick..

Lemmo...:037:

Fine work, Lindy! A good likeness of the great entertainer and ambassador of good will for his favorite city.

Chris

how tickled hi ham!! missus!!!

more doddy news please anyone, what's he up to ???

Lemmo...thanks...:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

how tickled hi ham!! missus!!!

more doddy news please anyone, what's he up to ???

Lemmo...thanks...:PDT_Aliboronz_24:


"How full of plumptiousness I am! What a great morning for ramming a brush up Nigel Mansell's trouser leg and saying 'how's that for pole position!"

:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Does Ken have the honour of of being in the only scouse related (that I know of) tongue twister?

Ken Dodd's dad's dog's dead

Doddy is a legend

A leg end :)

does that make him a foot :)

Great sketch lindylou...
I bumped into the great man only two weeks ago and said hello.
I wish i had this on me at the time for him to sign it.http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b122/Klaatu_/normal_George_Jones_Ken_Dod-1.jpg


One of my illustrations I did about a year ago.

I like your pic of Doddy, Klaatu. Good work.

Chris

That's great artwork Klaatu :handclap:

Thanks everyone...I met him in the Anglican Cathedral, apparently he's quite a regular visitor.

In hindsight I should have said to him- it's great meeting a Liverpool icon inside another Liverpool icon.

Thanks everyone...I met him in the Anglican Cathedral, apparently he's quite a regular visitor.

In hindsight I should have said to him- it's great meeting a Liverpool icon inside another Liverpool icon.

I met him at Anfield. . . another of Liverpool's temples. :PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Chris

Met him on more than one occasion going in to All Saints Childwall Church - that's his 'local' chuch! You can't really say anything apart from doffing your cap at the giant of comedy - especially when he's just about to enter a place of worship :)

I picked him up off the late train from London a few times when I had my cab in the 70's, he looked absolutely worn out, he is a workaholic. Don't believe the rumours that he is stingy, he is quite generous.

I picked him up off the late train from London a few times when I had my cab in the 70's, he looked absolutely worn out, he is a workaholic. Don't believe the rumours that he is stingy, he is quite generous.

One of my fav lines from Doddy was when he was talking about the olden days (this was during his court case era) and he said 'in those days, tax was tuppence in the pound..........................'I thought it still was!!!!'

Creased me so much!!! :) :)

I picked him up off the late train from London a few times when I had my cab in the 70's, he looked absolutely worn out, he is a workaholic. Don't believe the rumours that he is stingy, he is quite generous.

Agree over the workaholic bit, he has often been given the keys to theatres by disgruntled staff because of how long he stays on stage for. Wont stay in hotels either, always likes to get home to own bed.

It shows how much he's in Liverpool.
Everyone has got a story about seeing him or meeting him.

I think this thread would have ended by now if we were talking about "Jimmy or Cilla"

That's true.

I've met Ken Dodd on a couple of occassions. :) I know someone who is related to him.

That's true.

I've met Ken Dodd on a couple of occassions. :) I know someone who is related to him.


Does he work down a jam butty mine?

lol ! :D

I just watched Kenn Dodds "This is your life" from 1990.
Really enjoyed it.:PDT_Aliboronz_24:

Arena : Ken Dodd's Happiness - 8pm Christmas Eve BBC Two

BBC Two's 'Arena' is given unique, behind-the-scenes access, to one of the country's truly great comedians, the Squire of Knotty Ash, Ken Dodd.

Ken Dodd is probably the last of the great all-round entertainers whose roots go back to the old British music hall tradition.

As another veteran Eric Sykes says,"This man is the piece of Chippendale in a room full of G plan furniture".

Doddy, who was eighty in November, continues to perform live with a schedule that someone half his age would struggle to tackle.

Driven by an ambition to play every theatre in the UK and armed with his tickling sticks, jokes, songs and ventriloquism skills, he comes on stage at 7.30pm and rarely finishes before 12.30am.

Dodd still lives in his beloved Liverpool - in the same house in Knotty Ash where he's lived since he was four years old.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/images/2007/12/21/dodd_mid_200x150.jpg
Ken Dodd and the Diddymen

Arena has been given unprecedented film access to give a glimpse of the side of Ken Dodd that the public seldom see. It reveals an intensely private man and builds a portrait of a serious-minded comedian.

Doddy's early career was spent as a coal-man and then a door-to-door salesman, selling feather dusters to Liverpool housewives.

It was during this time that he began to develop his act as a comedian," I served my apprenticeship round the clubs, dockers' soirees, anywhere where there was an audience I would go along and do my act".

Ten years later, he was performing sell-out shows at the London Palladium and his fans ranged from the Queen Mother to Harold Wilson and playwright John Osborne.

The Ken Dodd Show was watched by millions on television in the 60's and 70's but nowadays, apart from the occasional chat show appearances and "An Audience With…" Doddy has focused largely on his live shows.

His pedigree as a live performer has no challengers in show business. He holds the record for the longest ever run at the Palladium lasting 42 weeks in 1965 and breaking all box office records.

He has performed Shakespeare, appeared on Doctor Who and sold millions of records including the Number One 'Tears'.

In the minds and hearts of the British public he is 'up there' with other iconic comedy greats like Morecambe and Wise, Tommy Cooper and fellow scouse comics Arthur Askey, Ted Ray, Tommy Handley and Rob Wilton - all of whom were major influences.

Arena : Ken Dodd's Happiness - 8pm Christmas Eve BBC Two

BRILLIANT.
NOT USED THE VCR FOR AGES.A GOOD REASON TO GET THOSE TAPES USED.!
THIS IS THE BEST THING ON OVER THE CHRISTMAS PERIOD!!:handclap:

John: Turn your caps lock off matey :PDT10, stop shoutin' :PDT11

OOPS
So sorry.Hope I didn't deafen' you!!:PDT_Xtremez_42:

Hope I didn't deafen' you!!:PDT_Xtremez_42:

what? eh? :PDT10

Just been reading this, while the arena show about Doddy was on, some great stories here and on there. An Audience with Ken Dodd on BBC 2 later, I will make sure thats on too.
First saw him late 70's or early 80's when he did The Playhouse, and I was just blown away by the show, he was bleedin fantastic, until then, he was just that scary lookin bloke on the telly, after that show, he rocketed to the top of my fave comediens.
I've seen his stage show twice more since then, but not for about 18 years.
I've seen Joe Pasquale a couple of times since, took my 9 and 10 year old boys to see him, he's a very good live comedien, but he's no Doddy, he even agreed with me when I saw him the stage door once.

just finished watching the Doddy show, it was very good. I saw him live when I was, or was it before I was an elf, brilliant. As a kid back then he did it for me so for the grown ups it must have been hillarious.

Good man Ken, keep it up, yer ticklin, stick that is.:handclap:

What a terrific man, a legend to be treasured :PDT11

It just became available on UKnova.com:handclap:

Doddy is to play two shows in March 08 at St Georges Hall to celerate the capital of culture, talking about his 4 favourite Liverpool comedians.

I think Robb Wilton is one of them...

I went to see Doddy on the Empire, it must have been about 4 years ago. I think he was only supposed to do 2 hours but he got carried away and the brilliant entertainer carried on for well over 3 hours.

Saw Ken in Bradford on Friday 21st.His audience just love him,The man is the best comedy entertainer this country has seen.His energy levels are just amazing.I have seen him twice before in Blackpool.His jokes are so fast it is nearly impossible to remember them.We are going to try to get in at the City Varieties in Leeds in March.I also watched the programmes on him over the Christmas period.The show an audience with-most of that material he told last Friday.He involves his audience so much.May he go on for a lot longer.There is one thing we will not see him on telly.That medium cannot do him justice,you can't keep Ken in a box.He drifts off then comes back to the joke he was telling.

I used to go and see Doddy on the Shakespeare Theatre in the early 1950`s
in variety shows. He always included The Road To Mandalay in his act dressed up in safari clothes with a pithe helmet on his head and everything
but the kitchen sink on his back.
Before he became famous he sold Aunt Sally (liquid soap for non scousers) round the houses in Liverpool.
gregs dad

Hello Greg,s dad, I saw that act live once and have seen it on tv. You can,t fault the bloke for being gutsy can you? But that stigma of his loot in his boot cannot go away from some scousers I,ve talked to about him. Also the fact that he was critising the council for not doing something for the building that caught fire and was pulled down and was going to be used as a laughter museum, while he was sleeping on millions of pounds. Perhaps these critics should go to one of his shows eh. and reestablish themselves to him?

He was an aunt sally man eh too. Ther used to be a song about that didn,t there?

"Sally, Aunt Sally pour it down the alley" lol

I saw Doddy last night/this morning at the Philharmonic.

He came on stage and you could tell he wasn't well. He was coughing quite badly and looked pale and I was fearing he may have to cut the performance.
Not a chance...he was a real pro and as he continued, his health seemed to gradually improve during the course of the night.

The whole show lasted 5hrs (19.30-00.30) -with a half hour interval after 3hrs- and not once did he complain about his cold.

£17.50 for 5hrs is just amazing value from a professional entertainer these days.
Great show - highly recommended. :handclap:

I saw Doddy last night/this morning at the Philharmonic.

He came on stage and you could tell he wasn't well. He was coughing quite badly and looked pale and I was fearing he may have to cut the performance.
Not a chance...he was a real pro and as he continued, his health seemed to gradually improve during the course of the night.

The whole show lasted 5hrs (19.30-00.30) -with a half hour interval after 3hrs- and not once did he complain about his cold.

£17.50 for 5hrs is just amazing value from a professional entertainer these days.
Great show - highly recommended. :handclap:

5 HOURS:shock: Fantastic!!
I saw him about 20 years ago on the "railway club" in Aintree, i went home cold sober because i dare not go to the bar and miss anything!
He came on waving his Tickling sticks and said "Oh what a beautifull day for shoving bucketfulls of ice up yer girlfriends vest and saying now then how's that for that chest freezer you've always wanted!"
Doddy is the bestest:)
Mike Harding is the only comedian that could ever come (a close 2nd) anywhere near Doddy

5 HOURS:shock: Fantastic!!
I saw him about 20 years ago on the "railway club" in Aintree, i went home cold sober because i dare not go to the bar and miss anything!
He came on waving his Tickling sticks and said "Oh what a beautifull day for shoving bucketfulls of ice up yer girlfriends vest and saying now then how's that for that chest freezer you've always wanted!"
Doddy is the bestest:)
Mike Harding is the only comedian that could ever come (a close 2nd) anywhere near Doddy

Brilliant.
Doddy is taking a young magician around with him when he tours.
Magician is from Liverpool.
Nice of him to get this kid some work.He did advise this kid to write down everything he earns (source:my brothers mouth)

Just heard on radio Doddy`s unwell some shows cancelled

That fits in with what macateb said in his post. (post no.82).

sounds like Doddy isn't too well.

2 shows in january have had to be cancelled and he is now in hospital, lets hope this isnt serious.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7166591.stm

:handclap:Just to say I am posting for the first time, my husband and i went to see " The King of Knotty Ash" the great Ken Dodd at the Philamonic on Sunday and what a performance I am sure its the BEST ever we were in stitches laughing all the time, we wonder just how he does it at his great age!

We have been to see him many times at the Southport Theatre and met him and what a nice person he is, we wish him the very best for the future and may he continue making us all laugh for many, many years to come, possibly with " SIR " in front of his name as he deserves it.

If Ken reads this " Well Done:handclap: great performance "

Hi and welcome, enjoy your time here and thanks for your support.

PS, hope you don't mind but I'll move this post to the Ken Dodd thread :PDT11

Kev

A hernia his agent said, best wishes to Ken and glad all appears to have gone to plan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7166591.stm

Not sure if its been posted but this is Ken's official site with news and perfrmance dates.

http://www.kendoddshows.com/

A hernia his agent said, best wishes to Ken and glad all appears to have gone to plan.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7166591.stm

Not sure if its been posted but this is Ken's official site with news and perfrmance dates.

http://www.kendoddshows.com/

Could you imagine being stuck in the next bed to Ken Dodd. Sat there with usually nothing to do, you be in stitches yourself - literally!

Let's hope Doddy has grand health for 2008 and well beyond!!

I met him once, had a long chat with him. He was re-opening a shop, I worked in, after major refurbishment. The guy is brilliant and typical of scouse humour. He was slated for half an hour and stayed for two giving out free panto tickets to all the staff. It's true, once he get talking you can't stop him.
Some of the very best comedians come from Liverpool...and why not!
Tocky

The last time I met Ken was a few months ago in the market facing T.J's. Like me he was getting his fruit and told me he'd been to Liddls to get his bargains. Of course he turned this into a story/joke session and 'held court' at the fruit stall for about half an hour. The tears of happiness were running down our legs.

Are you sure Steven, haven't they shut those toilets in London Road?

Tickets go on sale Saturday for Ken's capitalof culture performances

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/02/29/tickets-on-sale-for-ken-dodd-comic-tribute-100252-20539107/

I've just been to a preview of Ken Dodds comic tribute (due to be performed at St Georges Hall in April) at the Liverpool Academy of Arts Actors Studio on Seel Street.

It was a sell out crowd - the intimate venue only holds about 100 people.

To be honest I didn't know anything about the show beforehand. I wasn't too sure who or what to expect as the tickets only cost £5 each. (Ken Dodd for a fiver - surely not)

Well, amazingly it was the man himself, Ken Dodd. In fact, it was pretty much just him! There were no support acts to break up his rhythm.

The act was in two halves. The first half started about 8.00pm and lasted until almost 10pm. This was mainly jokes & funny stories - ie what you expect from Mr Dodd - although no singing.

As it was a preview show, he had stacks of folders and prompt cards from which to help keep the jokes flowing.

After a short 15min break came part 2.

The second half was a little shorter (its not finished). This lasted for about 90mins. This time there weren't any prompt cards.

Ken talked about some of the Merseyside comics from the past, some of whom he'd met or worked, with such as Arthur Askey & Ted Ray etc... and went on to show some film clips of these performers. There were a few more funny jokes and some singing towards the end.

It was all very entertaining and I know the people who where lucky enough to get tickets for the finished event at St Georges Hall are going to have a very enjoyable night.

One last thing. He looked & sounded a 1000% healthier compared to when I saw him last in his show at the Philharmonic back in December.

Was anyone here lucky enough to go to this event?
What a guy.A true scouser.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/04/02/ken-dodd-and-his-kings-of-comedy-100252-20707075/

Was anyone here lucky enough to go to this event?
What a guy.A true scouser.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2008/04/02/ken-dodd-and-his-kings-of-comedy-100252-20707075/

Hello John

I agree, Ken is incredible -- he embodies all that is good about Liverpool. Long may he continue to give joy and happiness to everyone. :PDT11

I have sent this link on to a friend of mine who is a Ken Dodd fan.

All the best

Chris

Dodd statue planned for station

A bronze statue of Liverpool legend Ken Dodd is to be erected at the city's Lime Street Station.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44602000/jpg/_44602920_kendodd_bbc226b.jpg
Ken Dodd was appointed an OBE by
the Queen in 1982

The bronze work will be put on the station's main concourse - and should be ready before the end of Capital of Culture year.

It has been commissioned by Merseytravel and will be designed by Liverpool-based artist Tom Murphy.

The artwork will show the veteran comic greeting the late Labour MP Bessie Braddock who died in 1970.

'Personal tribute'

The star is famous for performing with his feather duster - or "tickling stick" - and has built his shows around Knotty Ash, the Liverpool suburb where he was born.

Neil Scales, Merseytravel chief executive, said: "This is our personal tribute to a man who continues to bring laughter to millions of people.

"Lime Street is one of our most important gateways and, in terms of public art on our network; this will be one of the jewels in our crown.

"Doddy and Battling Bessie will certainly provide a unique welcoming committee!"

Repeated calls have been made to honour 80-year-old Ken Dodd over the years - and a campaign was recently launched for him to receive a Knighthood.

He was appointed an OBE by the Queen in 1982.

Source: BBC NEWS | Merseyside (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/7368718.stm)

Good, Doddy deserves a statue!

Excellent News! Well deserved indeed. :handclap:

Chris

Good, Doddy deserves a statue!

and Battling Bessie. :handclap:

Yes, so does she!

Excellent News! Well deserved indeed. :handclap:

Chris

and Battling Bessie. :handclap:

Yes and this makes for an interesting and unusual combination of two diverse key figures in Liverpool's history. Great stuff!

Chris

About time too.Brilliant!:handclap::handclap::handclap:

it'd be a great tribute to 2 true Scousers who never forgot their roots. the city could do with Bessie now!
:PDT_Piratz_26:

Great news and about time too ! :handclap: