07 September 2023 , 18:42
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The widow of comedy legend Sir Ken Dodd has defied his instruction to burn hundreds of his private notebooks, filled with his gags and thoughts.
After his death aged 90 in 2018, Lady Anne Dodd decided his musings on his 70-year career were so unique they should
be preserved. Now 10 of the books are going on public display for the first time at an exhibition called Happiness! from tomorrow. There will also be memorabilia, such as his Diddymen puppets and tickling sticks, at the Museum of Liverpool in his home city.
The books have been chosen from about 1,000 in which he recorded jokes, marking the best “GOG” – “good old gag”. Lady Anne said: “He told me several times in the latter years of his life, ‘You will burn everything when I’m gone? You will burn all my notebooks, won’t you?’. And I promised. I’m afraid I promised faithfully because he said it so adamantly.
“But when I came to think of it, I never thought of burning them. I knew I couldn’t.” She had not read the books before her husband died and wondered why he was determined they should be destroyed. She said: “There’s nothing terrible or salacious or nasty about anybody or anything like that.
Lady Anne with some of books (Mark McNulty)“Anything I have found is just part of him being an entertainer.” The comedian noted his doubts about his famously lengthy performances, which would often go on for several hours. He wrote: “I am spoiling the quality of my lifestyle by being so self-indulgent and egotistical. I must take some material out.”
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In the 1960s he got into The Guinness Book of Records for the world’s longest ever joke-telling session after cracking 1,500 jokes in three-and-a-half hours. Lady Anne, 81, his partner for more than 40 years, married him two days before his death. She still lives in Oak House, the farmhouse in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where her husband was born and lived right up until his death,. She said: “Often I dream about him, but it’s so real I say, ‘Please don’t go away’.”
DODDY'S GAGS
1. My dad knew I was going to be a comedian. When I was a baby, he said: “Is this a joke?”
2. I haven’t spoken to my mother-in-law for 18 months. I don’t like to interrupt her.
3. My act is very educational. I heard a man leaving the other night, saying: “Well, that’s taught me a lesson.”
4. On his marathon live shows: “You think you can get away, but you can’t. I’ll follow you home and I’ll shout jokes through yourletterbox.”
5. “So, do I believe in safe sex? Of course I do. I have a handrail all around the bed.”
6. At the Royal Variety Performance: “This audience tonight represents the creme de la creme. That’s French for evaporated milk."