Doddy's schooldays tale knocks us down with a feather
Now here's something which may tickle you.
Did you know that Sir Ken Dodd is a former Shrewsbury schoolboy?
And Sir Ken wasn't joking about it when he came to the county town in May 1964. The comedian from Knotty Ash was appearing at the Granada at the time.
"The fact is that I know Shrewsbury quite well," Doddy told an interviewer.
"In fact, I'm an old boy of the Priory School. Oh yes, it's quite some time ago now, but it's true.
"During the war I was evacuated here with the Holt School, Liverpool. I cannot remember with whom I stayed, or anything about where I lived, but I remember well that I went to the Priory."
Naturally, if any readers can shed any light on his time there, or with whom he stayed, we'd love to hear from them.
On stage at the Granada, Doddy was in brilliant form. He said he had been invited to Shrewsbury to open its new herb shop and he had "never been so thinged in all his tickling kind."
In the next breath he said he had come to attend the World Health Conference at Wem. And he drooled over the street name "Dogpole."
Backstage, he had thoughts on the changing face of 1960s Shrewsbury. He was surprised, he said, to see so much development.
"Mind you, I should like to see Shrewsbury's really old buildings preserved - what you really need is a nice bypass."
Told that a new link road was being opened the following month, he replied: "Thank goodness - I should hate to see half Shrewsbury torn down just to let all the traffic through."
He claimed that the last time he was in Shrewsbury he had taken home some Palin's Shrewsbury biscuits.
"And my, they're good, nick nock, nicky nocky noo!"
Earlier Doddy had had a tumultuous welcome from what he called the "little diddywomen" as he headed to "the Back o' the Sheds" area of Shrewsbury - that is, the Old Potts area - allegedly trying to track down his jam butties.
He found himself almost mobbed by a crowd of adoring fans. Doddy was driven into Spa Street in a Mini by a Shrewsbury Chronicle photographer - Ken left his Jaguar Mark 10 behind - and was greeted by Shrewsbury's Domino Queen, Miss Margaret McCarthy of number 5 who stepped forward and told him: "Welcome to the Back o' the Sheds."
Among the crowds were local schoolchildren who had the day off school, because the schools were being used as polling booths in local elections.
Then the long-sought butties appeared, with a monster one for Doddy. The Shrewsbury Chronicle report did not say who had made them, but did mention that "Ken's welcome was arranged by 'Missus' Rosser and 'Missus' Tipton who both live in Rea Street and were two of the energetic workers in the good old carnival days."
