Ken Dodd's hopes of founding the first Comedy Museum in the UK have been brought to a blazing end last week. Dodd had been key in persuading Liverpool City Council not to demolish a historic Vicrtorian mansion in the suburb of Knotty Ash, in which he planned to to launch his tribute to British comedy.

But arsonists appear to have had other ideas, and ventured off of their council estates to light what Police believe to have been deliberate blaze in the building that had dated back to 1848.

The 76-year-old comic said: "I am sad and disgusted at what I have witnessed today. I warned that this would happen but nobody would listen. It is a disgrace."

He said he wanted to establish the museum because "the traditional sense of humour is in danger of becoming diluted".

The blaze took firefighters five hours to control.  Over the weekend Bulldozers began to pull down what remained of the ruined building.