Entertainment

Mural tributes to Sir Ken Dodd unveiled in Liverpool

Lady Anne, who wed Sir Ken two days before his death, said she hoped it would bring smiles and laughter to people as they passed.
Lady Anne, who wed Sir Ken two days before his death, said she hoped it would bring smiles and laughter to people as they passed. Lady Anne, who wed Sir Ken two days before his death, said she hoped it would bring smiles and laughter to people as they passed.

Sir Ken Dodd is continuing to spread happiness two years on from his death, with murals in his memory unveiled in his home city of Liverpool.

The two paintings, by artist Paul Curtis, were unveiled on poster panels outside the Royal Court Theatre on Wednesday, the two-year anniversary of his death.

His wife, Lady Anne Dodd, said: “Ken would have felt humbled – he would have said it was tattyfilarious, plumptious and ‘I’m totally discomknockerated’.”

Ken Dodd mural unveiling
Ken Dodd mural unveiling Lady Anne Dodd unveils the mural of Ken Dodd (Peter Byrne/PA)

Lady Anne unveiled the artwork, commissioned by The Comedy Trust, as the Royal Court Community Choir sang the comedian’s hit song Happiness.

One of the two square-metre paintings shows the comedian holding his famous tickling stick on a pier, to reflect his love of performing at seaside resorts, and the other features lyrics to Happiness and two Diddy Men.

Lady Anne, who wed Sir Ken two days before his death, said she hoped it would bring smiles and laughter to people as they passed.

She said: “They are just amazing, absolutely amazing. I’m humbled. I’m thrilled to bits.

“I woke up sad this morning because it’s a sad day in one way but it just shows he brought happiness.”

She said an annual Doddy Day would be marked by the theatre every year on the comedian’s birthday, November 8.

“I’ve found he is loved and he continues to be,” she said.

Ken Dodd mural unveiling
Ken Dodd mural unveiling Lady Anne Dodd and Paul Curtis in front of the artworks (Peter Byrne/PA)

Sir Ken broke the world record for non-stop joke-telling at the Royal Court Theatre when he told 1,500 jokes in a three-and-a-half hour “marathon mirth-quake” in 1974.

In the late 1970s, he was a part of the Royal Court Theatre and Arts Trust who bought the building when it looked likely to go under – and he sold the first tickets at the box office for The Ken Dodd Laughter Show which reopened the theatre in 1978.

He died aged 90 in the home in Knotty Ash, Liverpool, where he grew up.

The murals’ creator Curtis is known for his artwork in the city, including the For All Liverpool’s Liver Birds mural of wings, which the Duchess of Cornwall posed in front of on a visit to Liverpool.