Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. racing) anything absolutely simple or easy to achieve.

1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 322/1: since ca. 1920.
1958		F. Norman Bang To Rights 136: I had to get the old bag on the end of a string [...] it was a doddle.
1962		F. Norman Guntz 78: The illusion that working in the theatre is a right doddle.
1970		G.F. Newman Sir, You Bastard 23: One satisfied customer. It was a doddle.
1981		J. Sullivan ‘A Slow Bus to Chingford’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] Don’t worry, it’ll be a doddle.
1993		K. Lette Foetal Attraction (1994) 196: Mastitis makes childbirth a doddle.
1996		P. Howard The Joy (2015) [ebook] T]he paranoia and nightmares were [...] a doddle compared to what I’m feelin now – sheer fuckin emptiness.
1999		Guardian G2 30 June 16: Firewalking’s not a doddle.
2000		Sun (London) 23 Mar. 8: In short, it’s a doddle.
2013		Mail & Guardian (SA) 30 May 🌐 At face value it seemed a doddle; a regular bit of ‘standoeras’.
2019		Ikea UK 29 Jan. 🌐 [advert] With around 50 buses an hour that stop right outside, getting there really is a doddle.

2. (UK prison) a criminal scheme, e.g. an escape (attempt).

1973

T. Lewis Billy Rags [ebook] [T]he fact that anybody on a doddle like this could forget the most important piece of equipment transformed the adrenalin pumping through the rest of us into hysterics.