Theatre nostalgia - Ken Dodd in Scotland

Arthur Allan tells the story of Ken Dodd’s connections with Scotland.

A best-selling appearance at Carnegie Hall in Dunfermline was just one stop that Ken Dodd has made north of the border in a professional career that has now lasted almost sixty years.   

‘I have so many happy memories of working in Scotland,’ Ken told Scottish Memories. ‘The Scottish sense of humour is completely different but the hospitality and warm welcome I get there is always the same. They love a really good laugh – just look at all the great Scots comedians. I’ve met many of them over the years, Jimmy Logan, Johnny Beattie, Harry Lauder, Will Fyffe. Great characters.’

‘And Carnegie Hall… the very name. What a wonderful man Andrew Carnegie was, giving so much money to build places like libraries all over the world. We’ve even got some in Liverpool!’

There’s a permanent connection with Scotland, of course, wherever Ken takes his laugh-a-minute shows: among the Diddy Men is the fine, upstanding, kilted figure of Wee Hamish.

Dunfermline’s Carnegie Hall

For 75 years, Carnegie Hall has looked out over the home town of the weaver’s son it was named after: Andrew Carnegie, once the richest man in the world. It’s a grey, almost sombre building, in keeping with its origins as a concert hall whose early artists were classical, its first Director of Music’s ambition being to force local citizens’ level of musical appreciation onto a higher plane.

Nowadays, visitors to the art deco theatre can enjoy music, drama, comedy and dance from companies including Carnegie Youth Theatre and Rosyth Musical Society.
Carnegie Hall, East Port, Dunfermline KY12 7JA

Read our article ‘The King of Carnegie Hall’ which tells the story of Ken’s appearance at the famous Dunfermline theatre in the Eighties, in the October issue of Scottish Memories, on sale 19 September 2013.