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{{Other uses|Diddy (disambiguation)}}

The '''Diddy Men''' are a mythical race whose invention is often attributed to the [[Liverpool|Liverpudlian]] comedian  [[Ken Dodd]]. However, they have existed in [[Merseyside]] mythology for much longer and, along with the [[Treacle mining|Treacle]] and Jam Butty Mines of [[Knotty Ash]], had been referred to in the earlier act of another Liverpool comedian, [[Arthur Askey]].<ref>{{cite news|title=More than his share of happiness: Sir Ken Dodd's life in pictures|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comedy/comedians/sir-ken-dodd-life-career-pictures/dodd-performing-duet-tv-show-one-diddy-man-puppets-1968/|website=The Telegraph|date=12 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Arthur Askey, Series 3, Episode 1, How Tickled Am I? - BBC Radio 4 Extra|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007mw9s|website=BBC}}</ref> When Ken Dodd began playing seaside resorts, he made famous his home area of Knotty Ash in Liverpool and popularised a miniature race of people who inhabited it. Diddy is an informal British word for "little".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/diddy|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170116163439/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/diddy|url-status=dead|archive-date=January 16, 2017|title=diddy - Definition of diddy in English by Oxford Dictionaries|website=Oxford Dictionaries - English|accessdate=5 July 2018}}</ref>

The Diddy Men were originally an unseen joke but after a while began to appear on stage with Dodd, delighting children in the audience. They also appeared in Dodd's [[BBC]] television programmes in the 1960s, as Marionettes. The Diddy Men tend to wear slightly oversized adult clothes in flamboyant style including tall furry hats.

==Diddy Men characters==
The Diddy Men include: Dicky Mint, Mick the Marmaliser, Stephen "Tich" Doyle, Little Evan, Hamish McDiddy, Nigel Ponsonby-Smallpiece, Nicky Nugget, Ben "Tiny Ween" Winston, Sid Short and Smarty Arty. Diminutive British [[disc jockey]] [[David Hamilton (broadcasting)|David Hamilton]], who appeared regularly on Dodd's BBC shows, acquired the nickname 'Diddy David' which has stayed with him to this day. The original Mick the Marmaliser was the ten-year-old daughter of Little Jimmy, who appeared at the Blackpool Tower Circus with [[Charlie Cairoli]] and Paul.
The Jam Butty Mines in Knotty Ash were where the Diddy Men worked.

==The Song of the Diddy Men==
The Diddy Men have a song, once released as a single, titled "The Song of the Diddy Men", sung in a high pitched, [[Alvin and the Chipmunks|chipmunk]] style voice. It includes the chorus: "We are the Diddy Men, Doddy's dotty Diddy Men, We are the Diddy Men who come from Knotty Ash". Another song "Doddy's Diddy Party" featured the refrain - "tonight's the night the Diddy Men paint the town, we'll lose our blues, and let our Diddy hair down". There were several other songs including "Diddycombe Fair" - a spoof of the well-known [[West Country]] song "[[Widecombe Fair (song)|Widecombe Fair]]".

==Actors==
On stage the Diddy Men are normally played by children or adults with [[dwarfism]]. On [[television|TV]] and in some stage performances, Dodd used a [[ventriloquist|ventriloquist's]] puppet of the Dicky Mint character. These days {{when|date=April 2022}} the Diddy Men are rarely seen outside [[pantomime]] season. [[Carol Vorderman]], of ''[[Countdown (game show)|Countdown]]'' fame, played a Diddy Man as a child.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Fictional dwarves]]

Diddy Men - Revision history

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