TATTY BYE ,DODDY (R.I.P.)

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!

KEN DODD,MAYBE NOT SCOURGE OF THE SEVEN SEAS, BUT OF NEW BRIGHTON PERCH ROCK...NEARLY!

Yet another week and i'm dragged from my bed kicking and screaming to do yet another days work!!!!!.....This time to a happily rejeuvenated NEW BRIGHTON ,on the WIRRAL across the MERSEY and up from the fair city of LIVERPOOL. New Brighton was a bouncing holiday resort in days of yore ,then hit upon hard times , but there does seem to be a little life left in the ol' resort ,yet and hopefully growing. On Sunday ,they had a huge ,pirate themed festival with fairs , music and a lone shivering caricaturist drawing a non stop line of kids n' mums n' dads .....But the highlight was a pirate seige of the old fort. They'd armed a sailing boat with cannons and gunpowder blanks ,but the fort and surrounding beach was laced with explosive charges to make it seem the barrage was taking effect. Flames and smoke and loud explosions abounded. A few days previously i was asked to draw a picture of KEN DODD as a pirate ,as he was due to be there, but had to cancel due to family problems ,which was a shame.

KEN DODD is the funniest and most amazing live show you will ever experiance , if ,as i truly reccomend you do, even tho' he's not a trendy 'Stand-up' .I mean he's not been on 'LIVE AT THE APOLLO; Michael Macintires thingy, etc, etc, but Doddy is the best and still at his advanced age the the widest ,liveliest ,funniest and hardest working comedian around. We saw him start a show at 7.30p.m and we had to leave after 1.30a.m. and he was only just starting to wind up. I listened to the manic non-stop ranting and raving ,the non stop outpouring of jokes .."Oh i'll remember that!".....At the end , i couldnt remember a single joke from the thousands i'd heard. The old jokes about having to suffer sore ribs through laughing are all true with this man ,believe me. Years ago Doddy was invited by the CARTOONIST CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN as 'JESTER OF THE YEAR'. He asked me to join him on the journey from RUNCORN to LONDON. He was a really nice guy , even tho' being constantly pestered by passengers , he was totally friendly, accomodating and friendly with some real pains in the arse. What impressed me ,was that he was a listener. Most celebrities/entertainers prefer the sound of their own voice over anyone elses. I wanted to hear about Doddy's life ,but he was fascinated in my life as a cartoonist. When he arrived at the CARTOONIST PUB at the end of FLEET ST, he stayed the whole day talking and joking with anybody and everybody, unlike other celebs ,who were gone within 20 minutes. He is a true comedy hero of mine and theres nobody around to touch him ,long may he reign.