News about Ken Dodd

QUENTIN LETTS: Conservative MPs, and I suspect a few Labour ones, look at Sir Keir Starmer and think 'how on earth is this constipated clunker so far ahead in opinion polls?' At PMQs, Sir Keir was weaving his own brand of non-magic. Scintillating was not the right word. His questions were rhetorical, and they sparked off a rigid script. The rhythms of speech? The pre-defined, whiny trios. He was as new as a pub carpet. Sir Lindsay Hoyle was so distraught that he forgot Sir Keir had one more question to answer and mistakenly called Tory MP Simon Hoare instead. Speaker Hoyle corrected the error and allowed Sir Keir to answer his sixth and final question. The chamber, which was in a state of advanced accidie, groan. Following last week's by-election to replace Boris Johnson's ally Nadine Johnson, Downing Street had figured out that the nasal knight would open his questions by lauding the new (Labour) MP for Mid Bedfordshire.

'Allow me to show how you can turn a will into something that is fun or that will save thousands of dollars - or both.' Stephen Gold, a former judge, is honest.' In a recent book, he discusses the benefits of having a will and how to ensure that your final wishes are fulfilled.

Mike Yarwood was a pioneer. The errant pomposity of politicians has now been mistakenly dismantled, revealing the world that they are often both absurd and ridiculous. They may have been a hit on parody by day's reckoning. But they were certainly not on Saturday nights, when Mike enjoyed his golden age of comedy. The delight was that the characters he could choose from were all so eccentric - a wonderful palate to draw from as a comedian. He dismissed the belief that certain people, from monarchs to politicians, could not be impersonated. Everyone was fair game. Mike's greatest strength and imagination was deciding which to parody and which portions of their story to exaggerate.

CRAIG BROWN: I kept going to the Ad Lib club and one night, I was dancing with X.' The Fab Four were the world's biggest thing, and we were full of curiosities on the dance floor. Which is why we ended up in bed together the next morning; the morning Freddy arrived unexpectedly for a reconciliation. If it had been someone else but a Beatle, I suspect he would have screamed out X. As it was, he was so taken aback when he saw it was X in bed with me that he just stood there gawping. X made a run for it, breaking my banister as he went. A week later, he married for the first time.' Christine Keeler's 2001 book included these memories of her one-night encounter with a Beatle while going out with the nephew of one of the Kray Brothers. Which Beatle?

CRAIG BROWN: Craig Revel Horwood is expected to take over from Huw Edwards as the lead presenter of News At Ten, with the division between newsreading and ballroom dancing becoming more fluid. Examiners applauded Revel Horwood for his intelligence and dynamism in preparation sessions, but critics chastised him for bringing his own views into the conversation. For instance, he closed a report from the Liberal Democratic Party on climate change with the verdict: 'Dull, darling - dull, dull, dull!'On another occasion, some critics considered it inappropriate when Revel Horwood signed off an interview with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer on the downturn in the British economy with the words: 'Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous darling!Yes, it's a nine from me!' It's just a short hop from the peaks of newsreading to the lower slopes of light entertainment, according to history. Many forget that Tommy Cooper started his career as the lead presenter of BBC Radio 4's Today program, and that Ken Dodd chaired Question Time for ten years before moving to the more demanding art of comedy. Keith Lemon co-presented Newsnight with Kirsty Wark.

RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: The National Trust, in association with Leicester University, has included him in a video about historical figures whose "stories of disability are widespread, but rarely published." I'm not sure how Henry would be remembered because 'disabled' is how he would be remembered. But revisionism is the Trust's best bet these days. Everything is now seen through the prism of the modern obsession with diversity, identity, and, in recent years, slavery.

There are more workwear options out there than ever before, thanks to the continuous rise of hybrid everything. However, British stylist Miranda Holder claims that many of us are still wearing office clothes from the 1990s. Left to right: Grey thigh-length coats are impractical. The hungover admin assistant's black trousers are the hat trick, while striped shirts are too corporate. Ballet pumps are dull and dated, while cardigans are matronically and are often too short or long.

The United Kingdom is brimming with strange and wonderful traditions that date back centuries that people are still keeping alive. Hundreds of thousands of people from around the country take part in the strangest of activities, from stinging nettles to snorkeling in a bog to parading as Vikings with lit torches every year. Although many of these bizarre traditions were put on hold during the pandemic, they are now fully operational, attracteding people from near and far.

The Beatles' career began in 1962, as well as Parlophone, EMI, and Abbey Road. We're being told the tale of the legendary recording studios in St John's Wood. David Hepworth has written about the studio's enthralling past. Sir Yehudi Menuhin and Sir Edward Elgar are left on the left. Right: Pink Floyd

CRAIG BROWN: Scientists in Japan are said to have created a robot with a sense of humor. Researchers at Kyoto University have programmed their robot to a) detect laughter, b) determine whether or not to laugh, or not not to laugh, and c) choose the type of laughter - cackle, smirk, splutter, or chuckle - she chooses appropriate. I hate to pour cold water on Erica, but it doesn't appear that she will ever be the life and soul of a party.

EDWINA CURRIE: I'm a proud Liverpudlian and this week's headlines have me devastated, as well as many from the region. Olivia Pratt-Korbel, a nine-year-old little girl, was shot by a alleged gangster's bullet in her own house. Ashley Dale, a 28-year-old council employee, was shot and killed in her back garden in what police believe to be a case of mistaking identities. Three shootings and a stabbing have taken place in the last week alone, shedding a light on one of the world's best cities for all the wrong reasons.

Gary Barlow's forthcoming book A Different Stage talks about growing up with'selfless' loving parents and his struggle to fame - the highs, the lows, and the in-between. The singer claims that it all started with a keyboard and playing gigs, where he was upstaged by hot meat pies. Pictures: Gary Barlow of Halton Royal British Legion (bottom left) and Gary Today (right) are shown.