Ken Dodd
Acting
Biography
Sir Kenneth Arthur Dodd was born on 8 November 1927 in a former farmhouse in Knotty Ash, a suburb of Liverpool, to Arthur Dodd and Sarah (née Gray); where his parents lived. He had an older brother, William and a younger sister, June. He went to the Knotty Ash School and sang in the local church choir of St John's Church, Knotty Ash. He was to live in Knotty Ash all his life, dying in the house in which he was born, and often referred to the area—as well as its mythical "jam butty mines" and "black pudding plantations"—in his act. He then attended Holt High School, a grammar school in Childwall, Liverpool, but left at the age of 14 to work for his father, a coal merchant. Around this time he became interested in show business after seeing an advert in a comic: "Fool your teachers, amaze your friends—send 6d in stamps and become a ventriloquist!" and sending off for the book. Not long after, his father bought him a ventriloquist's dummy and Ken called it Charlie Brown. He started entertaining at the local orphanage, then at various other local community functions. His distinctive bucked teeth were the result of a cycling accident after a group of school friends dared him to ride a bicycle with his eyes closed. Aged 18, he began working as a traveling salesman and used his work van to travel to comedy clubs in the evenings. He gained his big break at age 26 when, in September 1954, he made his professional show-business debut as Professor Yaffle Chucklebutty, Operatic Tenor and Sausage Knotter at the Nottingham Empire. He later said, "Well at least they didn't boo me off". He continued to tour variety theatres up and down the UK, and in 1955 he appeared at Blackpool, where, in the following year, he had a part in Let's Have Fun. His performance at the Central Pier was part of a comedy revue with Jimmy James and Company. Also on the same bill were Jimmy Clitheroe and Roy Castle. Dodd first gained top billing at Blackpool in 1958. Dodd was described as "the last great music hall entertainer". His stand-up comedy style was fast and relied on the rapid delivery of one-liner jokes. He said that his comic influences included other Liverpool comedians like Arthur Askey, Robb Wilton, Tommy Handley and the "cheeky chappy" from Brighton, Max Miller. He interspersed the comedy with occasional songs, both serious and humorous, in an incongruously fine light baritone voice, and with his original specialty, ventriloquism. Part of his stage act featured the Diddy Men ("diddy" being local slang for "small"). At first, an unseen joke conceived as part of Dodd's imagination, they later appeared on stage, usually played by children. Dodd worked mainly as a solo comedian, including in a number of eponymous television and radio shows and made several appearances on BBC TV's music hall revival show, The Good Old Days. Although he enjoyed making people laugh, he was also a serious student of comedy and history and was interested in Sigmund Freud and Henri Bergson's analysis of humour. Occasionally, he appeared in dramatic roles, including Malvolio in William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night on stage in Liverpool in 1971; on television in the cameo role of 'The Tollmaster' in the 1987 Doctor Who story Delta and the Bannermen.
Known For
The biggest stars, the most iconic performances, the most outrageous outfits – it’s Britain’s number one pop show.
Top of the Pops
The adventures of The Doctor, a time-traveling humanoid alien known as a Time Lord. He explores the universe in his TARDIS, a sentient time-traveling spaceship. Its exterior appears as a blue British police box, which was a common sight in Britain in 1963 when the series first aired. Along with a succession of companions, The Doctor faces a variety of foes while working to save civilizations, help ordinary people, and right many wrongs.
Doctor Who
Pebble Mill was a re-launched version of the 1970s daily chat show Pebble Mill (also known as Pebble Mill At One for a while) which aired on BBC1 in the United Kingdom. The series premiered on October 14, 1991. The show was a mixture of celebrity guests and music. Alan Titchmarsh was a presenter on the show throughout it's complete run. Other presenters included Judi Spiers, Gloria Hunniford and Ross King.
Pebble Mill
An Audience with... is a British entertainment television show produced by London Weekend Television, in which a host, usually a singer or comedian, performs for an invited audience of celebrity guests, interspersed with questions from the audience, in a light hearted revue/tribute style.
An Audience with...
Blankety Blank is a British comedy game show based on the 1977–1979 Australian game show Blankety Blanks. The British version ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC One, hosted first by Terry Wogan and later by Les Dawson. Regular members of the celebrity panel on this version included Kenny Everett, Lorraine Chase, Gareth Hunt, Gary Davies, and Cheryl Baker. A revival fronted by Lily Savage was produced by the BBC from 26 December 1997 to 28 December 1999, followed by ITV from 7 January 2001 to 10 August 2002. This version was produced by Grundy, then Thames.
Blankety Blank
Dennis and Gnasher is an animated British TV series based on characters from The Beano comic, It features the daily adventures of the rebellious schoolboy Dennis the Menace and his dog Gnasher.
Dennis the Menace and Gnasher
This Morning features a variety of news, as well as show business, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, home and garden, food, tech, live phone-ins, and competitions.
This Morning
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Hamlet
A BBC light entertainment show broadcast from 1975 to 1979, filmed in a big top at various British seaside resorts. Originally the big top belonged to various circuses, but in later seasons, the BBC bought its own to be the venue. The programme was developed by producer Michael Hurll.
Seaside Special
Alice follows a white rabbit down a rabbit-hole into a whimsical Wonderland, where she meets characters like the delightful Cheshire Cat, the clumsy White Knight, a rude caterpillar, and the hot-tempered Queen of Hearts and can grow ten feet tall or shrink to three inches. But will she ever be able to return home?
Alice in Wonderland
Entertainment-based spin-off of A Question of Sport. The show was reformatted and retitled That's Showbusiness and was broadcast under this title from 1989 to 1996.
A Question of Entertainment
Come to Paul Daniels exclusive nightclub and be his guest as he showcases the latest magicians and variety acts.
Paul Daniels' Secrets
Dawn French interviews famous comedians about how they started, their inspirations and their careers.
More Dawn French's Boys Who Do: Comedy
Dramatisation of the true story of the life of Neil "Nello" Baldwin. Born with a mild learning disability but without the burden of social embarrassment & how his inexhaustible ability to see the good in any situation overcame any stigma society tried to label him with.
Marvellous
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Ken Dodd's World of Laughter
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Doddy's Music Box
Marking 40 years in show business, legendary comedian and entertainer Ken Dodd presents this comedy extravaganza, entertaining a host of celebrities including Frank Carson, Samantha Fox and Warren Mitchell.
An Audience with Ken Dodd
The Nation’s Favourite Beatles Number One tells the stories behind some of the greatest Beatles songs ever. With interviews from Beatles’ insiders including musicians, friends, fellow performers and celebrity fans, we’ll hear about the stories behind the Fab Four’s best-loved hits
The Nation's Favourite Beatles Number One
I Was There…When the Beatles Played The Cavern tells the story of the underground venue which has become synonymous with one of the world’s greatest bands – The Beatles. The programme includes rare archive footage of the Cavern Club in the sixties, including film of The Beatles performing ‘Some Other Guy’ at the club. On 9 February 1961, having recently returned to Liverpool from performing in Hamburg, The Beatles played at The Cavern for the first of nearly 300 appearances at the club. By the time they played their last gig there, Beatlemania had swept Britain and the band was conquering the world.
I Was There: When the Beatles Played the Cavern
A star-studded documentary revealing the private man behind one of Britain’s greatest comic geniuses, using home movies and extracts from notebooks that he wanted to be burnt after his death.