FREE! Click here to Join FunTrivia. Thousands of games, quizzes, and lots more!
Quiz about Ken Dodd  Comedian and Singer
Quiz about Ken Dodd  Comedian and Singer

Ken Dodd - Comedian and Singer Quiz


The city of Liverpool has produced many comedians over the years. Sir Ken Dodd was arguably the best of them, and this is a short quiz on this much loved and much missed entertainer.

A multiple-choice quiz by sancho_pft. Estimated time: 4 mins.
  1. Home
  2. »
  3. Quizzes
  4. »
  5. Celebrity Trivia
  6. »
  7. Celebrities C-D

Author
sancho_pft
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
392,189
Updated
Dec 03 21
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Average
Avg Score
8 / 10
Plays
202
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. Ken Dodd was born, lived, and died in the same house. The name of the area of Liverpool was frequently worked into his routines. Many people thought it was one of Ken's surreal inventions, but it does exist. What is this area called? Hint


Question 2 of 10
2. Part of Ken Dodd's persona was his wild hair and big protruding teeth. How did he come to have such teeth? Hint


Question 3 of 10
3. Ken's first professional engagement was as what? Hint


Question 4 of 10
4. What stage name did he use for that first performance? Hint


Question 5 of 10
5. In 1989, Ken Dodd was arrested and tried for what offence? Hint


Question 6 of 10
6. Ken Dodd's stage act was peppered with catch phrases. Which of these was NOT one of his? Hint


Question 7 of 10
7. What was notable about his stage peformances? Hint


Question 8 of 10
8. Ken Dodd was also an accomplished singer. His song "Tears" topped the UK charts for 5 weeks. In all he had 8 top 40 hits, but which song became his signature tune? Hint


Question 9 of 10
9. In 2001 Ken Dodd suffered at the hands of a stalker, Ruth Tagg. In which of these ways did she harrass him? Hint


Question 10 of 10
10. For his funeral, his coffin was carried in a glass hearse drawn by horses. There was a particular reason for this. What was it? Hint



(Optional) Create a Free FunTrivia ID to save the points you are about to earn:

arrow Select a User ID:
arrow Choose a Password:
arrow Your Email:




Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. Ken Dodd was born, lived, and died in the same house. The name of the area of Liverpool was frequently worked into his routines. Many people thought it was one of Ken's surreal inventions, but it does exist. What is this area called?

Answer: Knotty Ash

Knotty Ash is a pleasant, leafy suburb of Liverpool, although the black pudding plantations and jam butty mines are all figments of Ken's imagination. The other answers are all suburbs of Liverpool.
2. Part of Ken Dodd's persona was his wild hair and big protruding teeth. How did he come to have such teeth?

Answer: Riding his cycle with his eyes closed as a dare.

He accepted a dare at age 7 and, unsurprisingly, crashed. He suffered multiple facial injuries, leaving him with the protuding teeth which later became such an integral part of his stage persona. Ever since then he took great care of the buck teeth, even insuring them!
3. Ken's first professional engagement was as what?

Answer: Ventriloquist

He appeared in all of those roles, although at age 26 he appeared as a ventriloquist with a dummy named "Charlie Brown" bought for him by his father. His first stage performance was at the Nottingham Empire, which was notorious for giving new acts a difficult time. Dodd later remarked "At least they didn't boo me!"
4. What stage name did he use for that first performance?

Answer: Professor Yaffle Chuckabutty

The surreal name of Professor Yaffle Chuckabutty ("operatic tenor and sausage knotter"), showed the early development of his fantasy humour. Mick the Marmeliser was one of his invented characters, the Diddy Men (Diddy meaning small in the Liverpool patois). Although he occasionally used ventriloquism in his act in later years, the stage name gradually disappeared.
5. In 1989, Ken Dodd was arrested and tried for what offence?

Answer: Tax evasion

After a 3 week trial, he was acquitted. During the trial, it was revealed that he had over £325,000, in cash, hidden at home as well as over 20 bank accounts in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. After the trial he joked that "when income tax was introduced it was 2% - I thought it still was!"
6. Ken Dodd's stage act was peppered with catch phrases. Which of these was NOT one of his?

Answer: "Nice to see you, to see you, nice!"

The "nice to see you" quote is from another great Knight of British entertainment, Sir Bruce Forsyth. Many of Ken's routines contained weird and wonderful words of his own invention - 'discumknockerated' (disoriented and confused) is how he described himself on being knighted. "What a beautiful day for" was the lead in to many surreal one liner jokes ("what a beautiful day for pouring ice cubes down the weatherman's trousers and saying 'how's that for a cold front?'") He usually started his performances with "How tickled I am to be here in Glasgow" (or wherever he was appearing)
7. What was notable about his stage peformances?

Answer: They always overran.

If you went to one of his one man shows, you needed to be prepared for hour after hour of laughter. His 8 p.m. shows regularly lasted well beyond midnight. He would joke "I gather some of you have taxis booked for midnight - forget that, but I believe they do a great breakfast here".

In true Ken Dodd fashion, even his funeral overran! (A local joke at the time said "The funeral will be held on Wednesday, Thursday and may finish around Friday lunchtime")
8. Ken Dodd was also an accomplished singer. His song "Tears" topped the UK charts for 5 weeks. In all he had 8 top 40 hits, but which song became his signature tune?

Answer: Happiness

The Bill Anderson song "Happiness" topped the charts in 1964. At one point in the 1960s Dodd was rivalling The Beatles as the biggest selling recording artist. Bill Anderson had been a prolific songwriter and country music singer, and recorded "Happiness" himself, although Bill's style was to speak, rather than sing, many of the lyrics.
9. In 2001 Ken Dodd suffered at the hands of a stalker, Ruth Tagg. In which of these ways did she harrass him?

Answer: Trying to burn his house down

The fire caused £11000 of damage to the ground floor of the house. Tagg pleaded guilty to arson and harrassment at Preston Crown Court, and was sentenced to indefinite detention under the Mental Health Act. She had taken to always securing the centre seat of the front row at every performance, wearing a vivid green dress, and once pushed a dead rat through his letterbox.
10. For his funeral, his coffin was carried in a glass hearse drawn by horses. There was a particular reason for this. What was it?

Answer: It was as a tribute to his coal merchant father.

The funeral, on 28 March 2018, went the six miles from his home in Knotty Ash to Liverpool Cathedral. His father, who had encouraged his entertainment career, had been a coal merchant and had delivered the fuel from a horse drawn wagon.

Part of his costuming was a large brightly coloured feather duster, which he always called his "tickling stick". On the day of his funeral hundreds of tickling sticks appeared across Liverpool with many statues suddenly brandishing one.
Source: Author sancho_pft

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor skunkee before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.
12/21/2024, Copyright 2024 FunTrivia, Inc. - Report an Error / Contact Us