Ken Dodd - Personal Life

Personal Life

Dodd has had two long-term fiancées, but has never married. A stalker, Ruth Tagg, who harassed Dodd and his girlfriend Anne Jones (who is also a current support act, named 'Sybie' Jones), sending threatening letters and a dead rat, attempted to burn down his house by pushing burning rags through the letterbox, in October 2001. Tagg pleaded guilty to harassment and arson at Preston Crown Court.

He underwent a hernia operation in late 2007, forcing him to cancel several performances, but was back on stage within a month. Dodd presented the History of Liverpool Comedians at St George's Hall on 1 and 2 April 2008.

Dodd is still touring and appeared at the Glasgow Pavilion in April 2009, playing to a sell-out crowd for over four hours. September 2010 saw Dodd perform at the Playhouse Theatre, Weston Super Mare (Somerset, UK), where he performed to a full house in a show that started at 7pm and finished well after midnight.

He also played at Southport Theatre and Convention Centre, on 20 November 2010. Similar to the Glasgow Pavilion in April 2009, the show started at 7 pm and finished in the early hours of Sunday 21 November.

Dodd was a supporter of the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher and campaigned during the 1979 general election campaign, which brought her to power. In the last rally, in Wembley Stadium, he introduced her on to the stage.

His first, and to date only, book, Look At It My Way, was published in November 2009. Ken Dodd: The Biography by Stephen Griffin was published on 15 September 2005 (ISBN 1-84317-123-6). In July 2010, the regional UK airline, Eastern Airways, named one of their Jetstream 41 aircraft after Dodd, in celebration of one year of scheduled services to Liverpool, and the support that Dodd shows for the region and in particular the airport.

Still touring in 2012 at the age of 84, he played the Princes Theatre in Clacton on 7 July. Starting at 7.15pm he continued until just before 9.00pm when Sybie Jones took to the stage. Returning at 9.30pm he continued until 10.00pm. The second support act performed until Dodd's return just before 11.00pm when he continued until 00.25. The tour, already on performance 15 of the year, had a further 38 dates scheduled before the end of 2012.