1. Ken still lives in the same house in which he was born in the Liverpool suburb of Knotty Ash.
2. The Happiness Show takes him over 100,000 miles a year.
3. His late father was a coal merchant. Ken used to help deliver the coal with his brother, Billy.
4. His parents bought Ken his first ‘Punch & Judy Show’ and he used to put on shows in the back garden.
5. He and his sister would give their parents impromptu dancing shows.
6. His famous protruding teeth were caused by a childhood cycling accident.
7. Ken’s love of showbiz began when he saw an advert for a ventriloquist’s doll in a local paper.
.....His parents bought it for him and he christened it ‘Charlie Brown’.
8. He worked for many years to supplement his earnings as a salesman ‘on the knocker’ in Liverpool.
9. In 2004 he celebrates his 50th anniversary as a professional comedian.
..... He was described on show bills as: Professor Yaffle Chuckabutty – Operatic Tenor and Sausage Knotter’!
10. He made his Shakespearean debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at
.....The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool in 1971.
11. He created his famous Diddymen early in his career and they have featured in his stage shows,
..... on television, in comics and even board games. Characters like Dickie Mint, Mick The Marmaliser
.....and The Hon Nigel Ponsonby Smallpiece are among the mythical Diddymen who work in the
.....Legendary Knotty Ash snuff quarries, blackpudding plantations and broken-biscuit repair works.
12. He became a major recording star in the 1960s with huge hits like ‘Tears’, ‘Love Is Like A Violin’ and ‘Happiness’.
13. It was in 1965 that ‘Tears’ reached number one in the charts and stayed there for 6 weeks.
14. Today, ‘Tears’ occupies 10th place in the Top 20 best-selling records of all time.
15. He’s in The Guinness Book of Records for telling 1500 jokes in three-and-a-half hours.
16. He made his debut at the London Palladium in 1965 and enjoyed an unprecedented 42 week sell-out season
..... Which earned him a Variety Club Award.
17. Twenty-five years later, in 1990, his highly acclaimed six-week Palladium season was another sell-out success.
18. He has collection of over 20,000 books on Comedy and Laughter.
19. He has his own ‘Giggle Map’ of Britain. It tells him what makes people laugh in different parts of the country.
20. His famous tickling sticks are made specially for him and he gets through hundreds every year.
21. He’s in the prestigious ‘Who’s Who’ and was awarded the OBE in 1982 for his services to show business and charity.
22. He has been honoured as the subject of a special one-hour ‘This Is Your Life’ TV tribute.
23. His critically acclaimed ‘An Audience With Ken Dodd’ produced a five-minute standing ovation from it's audience
.....And has become one of the highest-rating light entertainment shows of all time.
24. An Audience With Ken Dodd became his first ever video.
25. His second video, ‘Ken Dodd’s Live Laughter Tour’ also became a platinum award winner.
26. His unique career has been celebrated in the TV series ‘Heroes of Comedy’.
27. His show-stopping appearance in the 1999 Royal Variety Show brought laughter from the Queen and Prince Philip.
28. Among his awards is the British Comedy Award for a Lifetime Achievement in comedy.
29. He is an Honorary Fellow of Liverpool John Moores University.
30. He made his film debut in 1997 as the non-speaking court jester Yorick in Kenneth Branagh’s ‘Hamlet’.
31. In 1999 he played ‘Mr.Mouse’ in a star-studded Hollywood version of ‘Alice In Wonderland’.
32. In 2001 he was honoured as a ‘Freeman Of The City of Liverpool’.
33. In 2002 he starred in ‘Another Audience With Ken Dodd’.
34. He was made the first ever member of the TV Times ‘Hall Of Fame’ in 2002 to recognise his long and distinguished career in show business.
35. On April 11th, 2003 he was named by the people of his native Merseyside as the ‘Greatest Merseysider’
.....an honour he regards as the most touching ever to be bestowed upon him. *** Runners-up were John Lennon and Paul McCartney. ***
36. Ken was the first recipient of ‘The Living Legend’ Award from the British Comedy Society in November 2003.

ALBUMS

LP Ken Dodd Tears Of Happiness (Columbia SCX 3579) 1965
LP Ken Dodd Hits For Now And Always (Columbia SX 6060) 1966
LP Ken Dodd For Someone Special (Columbia SCX 6114) 1967
LP Ken Dodd I'll Find A Way (Columbia SCX 6379) 1970