The king of comedy has popped his tickling sticks and gone to play possibly the only venue he has never played......KEN DODD is dead !
They say you should never meet your heroes as you will undoubtedly be dissappointed as they'll never be what you wished and imagined them to be, even if your not sure what that is.
I met Ken Dodd on a train to London when he made a trip down to THE CARTOONIST CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN for there once legendary AGM/CHRISTMAS piss ups. He'd been voted 'Jester of the year' an award given to celebrities who'd been a major target of the cartoonists that year. Doddy'd been getting it for his slight problems with the tax man. Totally happy to be the subject of all this stick he quite happily came down to the long lost CARTOONIST PUB and unlike most other recipients of that great honour who arrived said "Ta lots" and pissed off ....He stayed the whole day ,laughing, joking ,talking, even being collared 'to get the ale in!' And letting rip with his acceptance speech in true Doddy style....It was wonderful.
I travelled with him at his insistance and we talked all the way ,what impressed me most was ,he was a nice bloke easy to talk to, but unlike most celebrities he was a listener and fascinated in me being a cartoonist.
He was pestered by well meaning fans constantly ,but he made time and a quip for them all . It was possibly one of the nicest days in my life. I met a personal hero and he was more than i expected or imagined as all the cartoonists who were there that day will probably testify .
Well the angels in heaven should be ok for laughs and jam butties!
