When comedian ken dodd visits weston-super-mare for a show it’s so much more than another working day for him, as Bernard Bale discovers.
KEN DODD was at Weston-super-Mare’s Playhouse Theatre in September and all tickets were sold long before his arrival. His many fans love to see him but for Doddy it is much more than just another show – he is a huge fan himself of the theatre of course, but also of Weston which he declares is one of his very favourite seaside resorts.
“I really like the traditional British holiday, a week at the seaside with salt and vinegar on your chips, sand in your shoes and rain in your face,” he says. “They don’t have holidays like that abroad. You don’t get landladies in Spain like you do in Britain, stout-hearted women who can tear a kipper limb from limb at breakfast time to share it among her guests. Who wants to bring back a stuffed donkey from Spain when you can bring back a stick of rock from Weston-super-Mare? I had a waffle in Benidorm once but that’s another story.
“I really like Somerset as a county, it is very beautiful but my favourite place is Weston. I love seaside resorts and I have probably been to all of them. Weston-super- Mare is right up there in my top five. I love everything about it.
“The beaches are brilliant, the burgers are quite a handful, the aquarium is excellent and I love seeing the donkeys on the beach. I stood alongside them once and a child tried to climb on my back – it’s the teeth you see! Weston is a real seaside resort, great for a day out and fantastic for a holiday.
“The pier is very special. Piers are very British and they all have something special about them and I don’t mean just the smell of seaweed wrapped around the pillars. They have played a part in the lives of thousands if not millions of people. Couples have become engaged on piers, some have had cheap holidays by sleeping under the pier – when the tide’s out of course. I should think just about everybody has a pier memory or two.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2017 من Somerset Life.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2017 من Somerset Life.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
Up on the Down
Try this easy-to-follow Exmoor walk with SIMONE STANBROOK-BYRNE
Shop until you drop
It’s Somerset’s county town, it’s the place to go for the big shops, but Taunton is also home to a thriving independent scene, discovers CATHERINE COURTENAY
Creatures of the night
Have you ever had something swoop past your ear, almost unseen? You may have had a brief encounter with a bat, says BERNARD BALE
Bowled over
Now that we can return to skittle and bowling alleys - albeit with new rules BERNARD BALE reveals that the sport of bowling has many Somerset links
Trackway through time
In the Somerset Levels SIMONE STANBROOK-BYRNE discovers a place where our Neolithic heritage rubs shoulders with the present day
SAVING THE SPLENDOUR OF EXMOOR
The splendour of Exmoor National Park may appear timeless and untroubled, but a new book reveals the long and often bitter struggle conservationists faced to save the landscape from the twin threats of afforestation and the plough
Decorative art
Not simply functional, treat your walls like an extension of your personality
Charity starts at home
How do we teach our children the importance of giving back?
Blooming brilliant
Will and Lauren Holley purchased a four-acre field in Somerset, converted it into a nursery, opened during lockdown and now their perennial plants are flying off the shelves. JULIE HARDING meets the go-getting couple
Age-old advice
Just become a grandparent for the first time? Perhaps you need a little guidance, so here are some top tips about how to embrace your new family role