The Diddy Men were a mythical race whose invention was often attributed to the Liverpudlian comedian Ken Dodd. However, they have existed in Merseyside

mythology for much longer and, along with the Treacle and Jam Butty Mines of Knotty Ash, had been referred to in the earlier act of another Liverpool comedian, Arthur Askey. 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. The word diddy is an informal British word for "little". The Diddy Men included: Dicky Mint, Mick the Marmaliser, Stephen "Tich" Doyle, Little Evan, Hamish McDiddy and Nigel Ponsonby-Smallpiece to name but e few. The Diddy Men had a song, once released as a single, titled "The Song of the Diddy Men", sung in a high pitched, chipmunk style voice. It included the chorus: "We are the Diddy Men, Doddy's dotty Diddy Men, We are the Diddy Men who come from Knotty Ash".