In pictures: Sir Ken Dodd through the years

Ken Dodd making toffee in his dressing room before starring in the show Rocking With Laughter at the Hippodrome, Blackpool, September 4 1957

Ken Dodd in his dressing room before opening at the London Palladium, April 17 1965

The Queen talking with Ken Dodd when the stars were presented at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium, November 9 1965

Ken Dodd pictured for the announcement of a new eight-week series of his show Doddy’s Music Box on ABC Television in London, December 28 1967

Margaret Thatcher with her very own ‘tickling stick’, talking with Ken Dodd at the London Palladium when she attended the evening performance of the comedian’s Laughter Show on October 23 1980

Ken Dodd during rehearsals at the London Palladium on September 26 1990

John Major with (from left) Anna Jones, Cilla Black, Ken Dodd and Lionel Blair at a Downing Street party on July 15 1996

The Queen with Ken Dodd backstage after the Royal Variety Performance at the Birmingham Hippodrome, November 29 1999

Ken Dodd and writer and broadcaster Melvin Bragg arriving for the South Bank Awards at the Savoy Hotel in London, January 25 2001

Ken Dodd unveiling a Bronze Statue in memory of Laurel and Hardy, in Ulverston, Cumbria, on April 19 2009

Ken Dodd with an oil on canvas portrait of himself entitled ‘Ken Dodd. Entertainer’ by Wiltshire artist David Cobley, August 17 2005

Sir Ken Dodd at Buckingham Palace, London, after he was made a Knight Bachelor of the British Empire, on March 2 2017

Sir Ken Dodd being made a Knight Bachelor of the British Empire by the Duke of Cambridge

Sir Ken Dodd at a civic lunch to mark his 90th birthday at Liverpool Town Hall, on November 8 2017