Dodd knighthood petition to close

Comedian Ken Dodd was appointed an OBE by the Queen in 1982

Almost 2,000 people have signed an online petition to ask the government to give comedian Ken Dodd a knighthood.

Campaigner Sean Rothwell says the squire of Knotty Ash merits the honour for his considerable charity work.

He said it would be particularly apt as this is Liverpool's Capital of Culture year. The petition on the Go petition website closes on Monday.

It is estimated that the former door-to-door salesman has sold more than 100 million records since 1954.

In 1958 he broke the record for the longest ever comedy run at a British theatre with his sell-out 42-week show - a record which still stands today.

He also entered the Guinness Book of Records in the 1960s for the longest joke telling session ever - 1,500 jokes in three and a half hours.

The comedian is currently in the middle of a six month tour of the UK.

He holds the record for the longest ever comedy run at a UK theatre

He was recently forced to postpone two shows to undergo a hernia operation but after a short recuperation he is now back on stage.

He has nearly 30 other shows scheduled for the first half of 2008.

The star is famous for performing with his feather duster - or "tickling stick" - and has built his shows around Knotty Ash, the Liverpool suburb where he was born.

He tells fantasy stories of its inhabitants who work in a biscuit factory, called the "Diddy Men".

Dodd was the subject of an Arena documentary on BBC Two on Christmas Eve, which followed him on tour and examined the reasons for his lasting popularity.