Ken Dodd has been performing for 50 years and he has no plans to stop. Why should he? He's having too much fun, as he tells Charles Hutchinson.

KEN Dodd once said discovering he could make people laugh was like being kissed by an angel.

Still feeling blessed, even in his 70s, he continues to travel 100,000 miles a year to dispense all-night tickle tonic in his Happiness Show.

That tonic will be imbibed gleefully by yet another full house for Doddy at the Grand Opera House in the Sunday highlight of the 2004 York Comedy Festival.

"York audiences are among the very best in the country", says Ken, who will celebrate his 50th anniversary in showbusiness in September.

"York audiences love nothing better than coming out and forgetting their cares and worries for a couple of hours - at least! - by having a good laugh. So if anyone comes into the Grand Opera House looking miserable, we won't let them out again until they're laughing their heads off.

"Did you know you can tell a gag in York and get a huge laugh, yet it won't raise a titter in Yarmouth?" Why Ken, why? "They can't hear it!"

Ken became a professional entertainer in 1954, and the honours pile ever higher in his golden jubilee year. He has become the first recipient of the Living Legend award from the British Comedy Society, to complement his Lifetime Achievement Award in the British Comedy Awards.

Yet surely, after touring for 50 years, he must think about hanging up his famous tickling stick?

Ken is nonplussed at the very thought. "How dare you," he says, in mock indignation. "I've never even thought about retirement. Why should I when I love every second of doing my job? Anyway, it's not really a job. I've been doing it for 50 years now and it's more like a hobby because I love it so much. I'm very lucky to be doing what I want to do, and being paid for it at the same time."

He attributes his longevity to the British public's unchanging craving for humorous entertainment.

"There have been lots of changes in lifestyle over the years, but one thing remains the same: audiences still go to a theatre wanting to be entertained. They come to my shows in search of happiness and that's what I try to give them, with humour aimed at all the family. Age is no barrier: young, old, male, female. They all want a good old-fashioned laugh," he says.

Part of his skill lies in his ability to serve both the individual and collective response. "When I go on stage I'm talking to people as individuals, not one great mass. You have to relate to every single person in an audience. You play them like you would play a violin or a piano. Collectively an audience is big and challenging, but you must never lose sight of the fact that it is made up of individuals".

For all his travels, Ken does find time to relax and unwind. "I enjoy television but when most people are in bed, I'm returning home in the early hours, so I tend to view satellite and cable channels - especially those screening America comedy shows and specialist channels like the Discovery and History channels," he says.

He also enjoys holidays - "Exploring capital cities is a wonderful way of unwinding" - as well as reading and gardening. However, performing remains his greatest pleasure.

"I'm lucky because I never get tired of entertaining and making people laugh," he says. "Well, I do sometimes, but it doesn't last for long. I think I've only had one day off in my entire career - and that was for suspected pneumonia.

"I was back on stage the next night with a mustard patch on my chest. The doctor insisted that I wore it, but all the stage hands kept rubbing their ham sandwiches on it, so it had to go," he says.

"As long as people keep coming to my shows and laughing their heads off, then I will continue touring this great country of ours. It's my love, it's my life and I enjoy every single minute of it. And, by jove, they can't touch you for it."

Ken Dodd's Happiness Show, York Comedy Festival, Grand Opera House, York, Sunday, 7.30pm. Sold out. For returns only, ring 0870 606 3595.

Ten facts you may not know about Ken Dodd

1. Ken Dodd still lives in the house where he was born, a listed Georgian farmhouse in the Liverpool suburb of Knotty Ash

2. His father was a coal merchant who ran his business from the family home. Ken used to deliver the coal with his brother, Billy

3. His protruding teeth were caused by a childhood cycling accident

4. He worked as a semi-professional for many years to supplement his earnings as a salesman 'on the knocker' in Liverpool. He had his own van and sold household goods

5. Ken's ballad Tears reached number one in the British singles charts in 1965, staying there for six weeks. It occupies tenth place in the UK's Top 20 best-selling records of all time

6. He made his Shakespeare debut as Malvolio in Twelfth Night at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool, in 1971

7. He is in The Guinness Book of Records for telling 1,500 jokes in three-and-a-half hours.

8. He has compiled his own Giggle Map of Britain, which tells him what makes people laugh in different parts of the country

9. He was awarded the OBE in 1982

10. On April 11 2003 he was named as the Greatest Merseysider, an honour he regards as the most meaningful bestowed on him. Runners-up were John Lennon and Paul McCartney

Updated: 09:56 Friday, June 04, 2004