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Press Releases
Tributes to Humphrey Lyttelton
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Tributes have been paid to much-loved jazzman and broadcaster Humphrey Lyttelton, who died last night at the age of 86.
Humphrey Lyttelton retired from BBC Radio 2's The Best Of Jazz last month after 40 years presenting the show.
He hosted BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue from 1972, appearing with regular panellists Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer and Tim Brooke-Taylor.
Graeme Garden said: "We are all shattered by the news. Humph was funny and charming and always full of energy.
"He couldn't bear to be idle and it was typical that at the age of 86 he gave up his regular Best Of Jazz programmes on Radio 2, 'in order to spend more time on other projects'.
"He was a great musician, band leader and broadcaster, and whatever he did was done with perfect timing. But, above all, he was an immensely lovable man.
"Humph once wrote: 'As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way, we should keep an iron grip, to the very end, on the capacity for silliness. It preserves the soul from desiccation'.
"When I last spoke to him, on the day before his operation, he had just been watching a DVD of the crazy 1940s movie Hellzapoppin. He'd been worried that it might seem dated but he'd enjoyed it enormously – so it's comforting to know that his own sense of silliness and fun never left him."
Mark Thompson, BBC Director-General, said: "Humphrey Lyttelton will leave an enormous gap not just in British cultural life as a whole but in the lives of many millions of listeners.
"One of the towering figures of British jazz, he excelled too as a writer, cartoonist, humorist and of course as a broadcaster on television and radio.
"On I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, all of his gifts were on show - his warmth and conviviality, his wit, his mischievousness. He was a unique, irreplaceable talent.
"Like his many fans, we owe him an enormous debt of gratitude. Like them, all of us at the BBC feel a tremendous sense of loss."
Jenny Abramsky, Director of BBC Audio and Music, said: "Humphrey Lyttelton has been one of the wonders of radio broadcasting for years.
"He championed British jazz with his weekly programme on Radio 2 introducing millions of listeners to the glories of the British jazz scene.
"At the same time his deadpan stewardship of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, the unique ringmaster of an anarchic world, ensured the programme became the jewel of radio comedy.
"Humph was warm, erudite, funny and scurrilous. His audience loved him. He was an irreplaceable voice on British radio."
Mark Damazer, Controller, Radio 4, said: "Humphrey Lyttelton was a great and towering figure in the history of Radio 4 comedy.
"Of course he was fabulously funny and sharp, but more than that he was the definition of a certain sort of wit - self-deprecating, mordant and linguistically brilliant. It was a wonderful combination allied to a natural human warmth.
"I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue has been the most successful Radio 4 comedy and Humphrey its centre piece.
"We have lost a giant and we are immeasurably grateful for all he gave to Radio 4 listeners - young and old alike - for so long."
And Sir Michael Lyons, BBC Chairman, said: "Humphrey Lyttelton was a great entertainer and, along with many other listeners, I mourn the loss of his great wit and saucy humour.
"His legacy as a true public service broadcaster will be long lasting."
BBC Press Office
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