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Sir Ken is 'highly tickled' by Knighthood as he celebrates honour with his family

SOG's Managing Director John Lewis and his wife Linda were at Buckingham Palace last week to see John's uncle, the legendary comedian Ken Dodd, receive his Knighthood from the Duke of Cambridge.

The 89-year-old comic, who has been entertaining audiences for more than 60 years, had his most important audience of all with HRH Prince William on Thursday, March 2. Sir Ken was accompanied by his partner Anne Jones. John and Linda’s son Ryan and daughter Becky also joined the celebration.

Sir Ken, famous for his tickling sticks, was honoured for his charity work and his amazing show business career. Posing with his medal after the ceremony Sir Ken joked with photographers telling them: “How tickled I am! I’m full of plumptiousness and highly tickled. One of the happy things is the joy and pleasure it brings to your family and friends and then you say to yourself it is a great honour and I just hope I’ll be worthy of it.”

John, who affectionately refers to him as ‘Uncle Ken’, said: “It was an absolutely amazing day and I was delighted that I and my family could be there to share such a precious occasion with Uncle Ken and Anne. We are all immensely proud that he has received the recognition he so thoroughly deserves for an extraordinary career in show business.”

Sir Ken still performs to sell-out audiences and his Happiness Tour has just completed its 25th consecutive year.

John added: “He’s not only a brilliant comedian and TV celebrity but Ken was also a wonderful singer who had massive hits with chart topping records such as Tears, Love is Like a Violin and Happiness which became his signature tune. Tears was at Number One for five weeks and became the third biggest selling single of the 1960s.”

In January John and Linda were with Ken when he received the Freedom of the City of London from the Lord Mayor at a special ceremony at The Mansion House. Sir Ken has visited the SOG-owned Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn on a number of occasions to support business and community activities.

Sir Ken, who will be 90 in November, is carrying on working. He said: “I tell people I’ve got the best job in the world because I only see happy people. I won’t hang up my tickling stick until I have to.”

About The Heath
The Heath Business and Technical Park is a phenomenal regeneration success story. Formed in 2000, its owner and operator, SOG Ltd, has transformed a once single occupancy corporate facility into a thriving independent business park. The Heath now provides office and laboratory accommodation for more than 120 individual organisations, ranging from business services and IT specialists to those at the cutting edge of science, research and advanced manufacturing. Around 2,000 people are employed at the site. For further information, telephone 01928 515988 or visit www.theheath.com

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PAUL SMITH ASSOCIATES
9th March 2017