Ken Dodd /

Kenneth Arthur Dodd OBE (born Liverpool, 8 November 1927) is a British comedian and singer songwriter, famous for his buck teeth, frizzy hair, feather duster (or "tickling stick"), and his catchphrases, often playing on the 'tickled' motif, e.g.: "How tickled I am!". He works mainly in the music hall tradition, although, in the past, has occasionally appeared in drama, including as Malvolio in 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; and as Yorick (in silent flashback) in Kenneth Branagh's film version of Shakespeare's Hamlet in 1996. In total he has sold more than 100 million records worldwide. In the 1960s his fame was such that he rivalled The Beatles as a household name. Dodd's stand-up comedy style is fast and relies on the rapid delivery of one-liner jokes. He has claimed that his comic influences include other Liverpool comedians like Arthur Askey, Robb Wilton, and Tommy Handley. He intersperses the comedy with occasional songs, both serious and humorous, in an incongruously fine light baritone voice. Dodd has had many recording hits, charting on