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Plan approved for £15m Ken Dodd Happiness Centre

Getty Images Ken Dodd's face between two colourful tickling sticks in 1986Getty Images
Sir Ken pictured with two of his trademark tickling sticks

Sir Ken Dodd's joke books, tickling sticks and other artefacts are to be preserved in a new £15m centre dedicated to the late comedy legend in his home city of Liverpool.

The Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre will provide a permanent home for his archive, as well as hosting comedy performances and events.

The four-storey centre will be attached to the city's Royal Court theatre, where Sir Ken regularly performed during his career. He died in 2018.

The plans were submitted in November and were approved by Liverpool City Council last week.

His widow Lady Dodd told BBC News he would be "honoured" and "amazed".

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris CGI impression of the new Sir Ken Dodd Happiness Centre, showing a large modern building extension attached to the Royal Court theatreAllford Hall Monaghan Morris
The centre will be part of Liverpool's Royal Court theatre

"I know he'd be thrilled to bits," Lady Dodd said, adding that her husband had helped to save the theatre from closure in 1979, and it is "in the city he loved and where he lived all his life".

The centre will have exhibition space for Sir Ken's possessions, like his Diddymen puppets and the notebooks that he filled with jokes and thoughts about his life and seven-decade career.

He left about 1,000 books, which he used to record jokes - marking the best with the acronym GOG for "good old gag".

He also made observations about the art of comedy, while some pages give insights into intimate and revealing thoughts.

However, he also left instructions for his wife to burn them after his death. But she decided to save them, explaining that they were "unique" and "invaluable".

Getty Images Ken Dodd standing outside Liverpool's Royal Court theatre in 1972Getty Images
Dodd helped save the Royal Court from closure in the late 1970s

The centre will also celebrate other comedians, because Sir Ken had always wanted to open a museum of comedy to honour the British sense of humour, Lady Dodd said.

"We will make sure that his dream comes to life, and it is a history of comedy as well as showing the artefacts."

The centre will be built on the site of the theatre's current Courtyard Bar, with the aim of opening in time for the 100th anniversary of Sir Ken's birth in 2027.

Royal Court chief executive Gillian Miller said: "There is no better city than Liverpool to create a centre for happiness and wellbeing in, and we are looking forward to delivering a unique building for the city that epitomises happiness."

Funding will come from the Sir Ken Dodd Charitable Foundation and the Comedy Trust, with a fundraising campaign also due to begin soon.