Editing Ken Dodd (section)

==Tax evasion court case==
In 1989, Dodd was charged with tax evasion. The ensuing trial, with the prosecution case led by [[Brian Leveson]] QC, produced several revelations. The [[Diddy Men]], who had appeared in his stage act, were often played by local children from stage schools and were revealed never to have been paid. Dodd was also revealed to have very little money in his bank account, having £336,000 in cash ({{Inflation|UK|336000|1989|r=0|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}) stashed in suitcases in his attic. When asked by the judge, "What does £100,000 in a suitcase feel like?", Dodd replied, "The notes are very light, M'Lord."<ref name="men">{{cite news | url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/entertainment/comedy/s/234/234894_dodds_bolton_bonus.html | work=Manchester Evening News | date=1 February 2007 | title=Dodd's Bolton bonus | first=Natalie |last=Anglesey}}</ref>  

He also said: "I am not mean, but I am nervous of money, nervous of having it, nervous of not having it" and described money as "important only because I have nothing else".<ref name="independentie"/>

Dodd was represented by [[George Carman]] QC, who in court quipped, "Some accountants are comedians, but comedians are never accountants".<ref name="bbcgc">{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1097749.stm | title=George Carman: The Bar's 'silver fox' | work=BBC News | date=2 January 2001}}</ref>  He described Dodd as "a fantasist stamped with lifelong eccentricities."<ref name="independentie"/> The trial lasted three weeks; Dodd was acquitted.<ref name="bbcgc" />

Despite the strain of the trial, Dodd immediately capitalised on his new-found notoriety with a successful season running from [[Easter]] to [[Christmas]] 1990 at the [[London Palladium]]. It was there he had previously broken the house record for the longest comedy season at the theatre, in 1965, with a residency lasting 42 weeks. Some of his subsequent material mocked the trial and tax in general. For a while, he introduced his act with the words, "Good evening, my name is Kenneth Arthur Dodd; singer, photographic playboy, and failed accountant!"<ref name="guardian">{{cite news | url=http://arts.guardian.co.uk/features/story/0,11710,1332768,00.html | work=The Guardian | title=Tickling shtick | date=23 October 2004 | location=London | first=Charles | last=Nevin | access-date=7 May 2010}}</ref> Dodd also made a joke that when [[income tax]] was introduced it was a mere 2p in every £1 earned, followed by the punchline "I thought it still was!"<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/one-liner-legend-ken-dodds-greatest-jokes/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/one-liner-legend-ken-dodds-greatest-jokes/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The one-liner legend: Ken Dodd's greatest jokes|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=12 March 2018|access-date=30 July 2020}}{{cbignore}}</ref>