KEN Dodd has been in show business for more than 60 years.

Take a moment to reflect on that. Six decades of telling jokes, singing, performing and making people happy.

And while a lot of his contemporaries have retired, shrunk away, are in ill health or have died, the comedian and variety artist is arguably enjoying one of his best years.

When the World spoke to him he was about to travel to the capital to receive the Freedom of the City of London.

Ken, who will be performing at Warrington’s Parr Hall on Sunday, has a tour schedule that puts many performers half his age to shame and he is still happy to share anecdotes with reporters after more than half a century of interviews.

Then there is his upcoming knighthood. Ken was named in the New Year’s Honours list for services to entertainment and charity.

He announced it in typical fashion while on stage at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall.

Ken will receive his honour at Buckingham Palace in early March.

“When the Queen dubs me with the sword in a few weeks’ time I hope she remembers that the cut is vertical and not horizontal,” said the 89-year-old.

“I was watching one of these programmes about poor old Anne Boleyn and Sir Walter Raleigh and in those days they really lost their heads.

“It is a great honour and I am delighted to get a knighthood.”

Ken’s many fans, particularly those in the north west, have been campaigning for the ‘King of the Diddymen’ to get a knighthood for many years.

But despite having a long relationship with the royal family – he has met the Queen about 15 times and performed at eight Royal Variety shows – they have only just got the hint.

Ken added: “I must admit when they said you are getting a knighthood I thought ‘I have been practising for a long time’.

“I don’t mind getting down on one knee but I might need help getting up now.

“My supporters didn’t give up. They kept sending the request in. It has been very, very humbling.

“Thank you very much. I am discomknockerated.”

What makes Ken’s story all the more remarkable is that he works in the variety show business.

He has always had healthy numbers at his own shows but he admitted it is a shrinking side of the stage industry.

Ken said: “Showbusiness is like a huge department store. Well I am in the variety department.

“I don’t know anything about rock and roll and I know very little about chamber music, but I do know something about ventriloquists, comedians, jugglers and impersonators.

“A variety of skills is what it really means and these people work so hard polishing their acts until it is absolutely shining like a jewel.

“Their numbers are dwindling a bit and variety on television seems to be going more for sensationalism – who can eat the most worms and things like that.

“I would love for variety to make a comeback. People love it, there is no two ways about it.

“I go up and down the country like a human yo-yo and people love a good variety show.

“I think the snag is that the people who used to present and produce variety are no longer with us so it is a craft that has been neglected.

“People who run show business are thin on the ground now. It is all to do with musicals and bands.

“They call them bands but they are usually just half a dozen lads plonking the guitars. That is a different ‘department’ to me.”

Ken fell in love with variety when his dad started to take him to the Shakespeare Theatre of Varieties when he was 10.

He turned professional in 1954 and the first time he topped the bill was at the Royal Court Theatre in Warrington in 1957.

“I believe in years gone by it became a job centre, and I suppose it was in those days as well,” Ken added.

“I was so proud. To see your name at the top of the bill was wonderful.

“I felt like I had arrived. I have always had a marvellous crowd in Warrington.”

A life in show business has stood Ken in good stead. You will very rarely find the performer in a bad mood.

He said: “Years and years ago there was always an advert in the newspapers for a psychology course called pelmanism.

“It was all to do with programming the mind and it was probably the first self-help routine.

“Their motto was ‘remember, everything you do is preceded by your state of mind’.

“That’s true you know. It is the way you look at life.

“That is what a sense of humour is. It is a sense of being able to perceive the ridiculous side of life.

“Some people only see what is in front of them whereas a humourist might say ‘let’s see what it looks like upside down and sideways up’.”

Ken also reckons that things will not change much with a knighthood because he has had the life he has always wanted since he started stepping on stages and singing Happiness.

“That is the way I live and that is what I do,” added Ken.

“People ask why I do it and it might sound melodramatic but I just love seeing people laughing.

“It makes me very happy to be on stage telling jokes. It is a wonderful way of life.”

Tickets are still available for Sunday’s show at Warrington’s Parr Hall. To find out more call the venue on 01925 442345.