HE defied his age by performing five-hour stand-up shows well into his 91st year without pausing for breath – but on the eve of his final run of appearances, Sir Ken Dodd took time to reflect.
In what is thought to be his last recorded interview, shortly before his 90th birthday last November, the legendary entertainer revealed his frustrations as his body began to fail him after spending more than six decades at the top.
And in a moving look back at his incredible life, he said: “I’ve enjoyed every second of it — I’ve been very, very blessed.
“It has been love, the secret. Love and laughter. My body is old. My bones are old. My big toe is old. I’ve got corns that are old. I’ve got old dandruff.
“One or two beauty spots, but I can only tell you about those by arrangement.
“But inside my skull, my mind and brain, that’s about 18, I think. Or maybe 21. I’m so thankful for all the imagination that has been given to me.”
He added: “It’s nearly my 90th birthday, and you realise you have to make a review of your life so far, and my autumn statement is this. Looking back through my life, there’s only really one word that matters — and that’s love.
“Love of romance. Love for family. Love for your offspring. Love has been very good to me.
“I had a wonderful mother and father, brother and sister, fabulous family and wonderful friends. My life really has been one long love life.”
Sir Ken was speaking after a marathon performance in Blackpool, where his quick thinking and wacky sense of humour were as vivid as ever.
But he was keenly aware that a life in showbiz could have seen him drawn in by the trappings and excesses of fame.
Doddy, who was knighted in last year’s New Year Honours for services to entertainment and charity, said: “To be in showbusiness you need to have a cool head if you can.
“It’s a very, very seductive business. You can get taken to all sorts of strange ways — and don’t do it.
“Just work hard, keep smiling, and smile through it all.
“It’s the most wonderful experience of all to stand on a stage and to know you’ve made an audience laugh. It’s a great feeling.
“Years ago, when I was quite a lot younger, when I finished the show, beautiful young ladies used to leave a red rose or a lace handkerchief or a love poem at the stage door for me.
“Now all I get are Fisherman’s Friends, elastic stockings and vapour rubs.”
The star leaves behind decades of beloved comedy and a colourful personal legacy which even saw him bring rapturous laughter to a courtroom in the midst of his infamous tax evasion trial in 1989.
The presiding judge, Mr Justice Waterhouse, even struggled to contain his own laughter as he questioned the comic on what £100,000 in a suitcase “felt like” after hoards of cash were found stashed in his attic — prompting the cool quip: “The notes are very light, M’Lord.”
A doddy dictionary
Chuckle Muscle– to laugh using your chuckle muscles. Doddy said: “Humour is timeless. We laugh at the same things today as in Shakespeare’s day – men, women, love, money, sex”
Diddy– small. Doddy based his Diddymen on his uncle who was small and wore a bowler hat
Discomknockerated– A shambles, or knocked out of kilter
Jam Butty Mines– like the Knotty Ash treacle wells, jam-butty mines, gravy wells and broken biscuit repair worksm this is where the Diddymen are employed
Knotty Ash– this Liverpool suburb sounds like a made-up place but it really does exist
Plumptious– proud. On becoming Sir Ken in last year’s New Years Honours he said: “I’m very, very happy and full of plumptiousness”
Sausage knotter– someone who puts links in sausages
Tattybye– farewell
Tattyfilarious– happy or funny, though drug dealers have coined the phrase to describe good-quality cocaine
Tickling stick– coloured feather duster to go with the catchphrase “How tickled I am!”
TPM– Titters per minute. While telling 1,500 gags in three and a half hours Doddy got 7.14tpm
The fact that Doddy’s contribution to comedy even saw him honoured by the Queen for his services to entertainment was a clear mark of his impact on British culture. But despite his advancing age and failing health, the veteran star insisted he had no interest in his comedy legacy.
Asked by radio presenter Alex Belfield how he hoped to be remembered, he said: “It’s not about what they’re going to say about me. That doesn’t matter.
“Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. That’s what an audience is for.
“What matters is what I think about them, the audience. I think they’re wonderful, fabulous.
“Once you’ve built that bridge from you to the audience, they become your friends.”
He diddy all this...
- Doddy once told 1,500 jokes in three and a half hours – a Guinness World Record
- He sold 20million records
- Sir Ken had longest-ever run at the London Palladium – 42 weeks, earning £3,000 a week
- He was worth about £7.2million, according to Celebrity Net Worth
- He owned more than 20,000 books about comedy
- Doddy’s song Tears was the third biggest-selling British single of the 1960s
- In 2004, Doddy performed a gig by torchlight after a power cut at the Plaza Theatre in Stockport
- When he got his OBE, the palace laid on jam butties
- Sir Ken presented tickling sticks to five Prime Ministers
He added: “A knighthood didn’t make a lot of difference to me but it was nice for other people, for family and friends.
“So obviously I think it was a good thing.”
He added: “Being a Sir, now it’s a curious feeling, you know. It doesn’t make a lot of difference to me because I still feel the same but it made a lot of difference to all the people.
“It was very nice for all the family and friends, so I think it’s a good thing.”
And on his epic showbiz career, Doddy said: “I’ve enjoyed every second of it. I’ve been very, very blessed but I did my very first shows when I was 12.
“And it’s quite exciting to be an acorn . . . sorry, I mean icon — that’s what they call them — of course it is.
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“One part of me is very, very happy and very delighted that I’ve lasted so long, Another part of me is very grateful.
“I think my greatest reward is to be able to carry on and do the shows. Obviously your health is a very important number in this hopeful promise but if I can entertain, I will entertain.
“I hope so, please God.”