AN avid Ken Dodd fan was tickled to receive a letter from his idol after a decade of sending him letters, cards and tapes.

Allan Sullivan, 70, of Grove Lane, Padiham, has been a fan of the entertainer since he first took his grandchildren Sarah and Lee to see him in Blackpool 10 years ago.

Since then he has seen Ken Dodd live dozens of times at shows around the North West and has filled his home with memorabilia and photographs.

He also regularly tapes Ken's appearances on radio shows he may be interested in and sends them to the comic's Knotty Ash address.

Allan, a widower, received a letter along with a signed photo after sending Ken a cassette of a radio programme about Lancashire comedian Jimmy Clitheroe. He said: "I have been a big fan of Ken for at least 10 years and I always try to get to his shows with my granddaughters and sometimes with my son Vaughan and his wife Barbara.

"I have been to Colne, Blackpool, Fleetwood, Oswaldtwistle and other places to see Ken.

"I will travel around the North West to go.

"My granddaughters are 14 and 15 now and they have grown up with him.

"We wait to see him at the end of the shows and he's always really pleasant, a very nice person.

"We still have the tall hats the girls got when they were younger and he once gave Sarah a tickling stick on stage on her 5th birthday.

"I like his type of entertainment. It's the old style and the best entertainers don't swear like all these new ones.

"I always send Ken anything I think he would like and I think it's lovely of him to send this letter.

"I will keep it at home, with my diddimen and tickling sticks."