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Jazz great Humphrey Lyttelton dies aged 86

26/04/2008

Jazz musician and Radio 4 presenter Humphrey Lyttelton has died at the age of 86, his website has confirmed.

The presenter of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue was admitted to hospital earlier this week for surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm.

And a notice on the trumpet maestro's website has today confirmed that Lyttelton - affectionately known as 'Humph' - passed away peacefully "with his family and friends around him" at 19:00 BST on Friday night.

Eton-schooled Lyttelton first played the trumpet in 1936 and had continued to regularly tour with his band until recently while his song Penny Bad Blues was the first British jazz record to dent the top 20 of the UK singles charts.

A quick-witted fan of innuendo, the father-of-four had hosted radio comedy show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue - the "antidote to panel games" - since 1972, receiving a Sony Gold Services award for services to broadcasting.

Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer said Lyttleton was "an extraordinarily modest man" and described him as "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. I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue has been the most successful Radio 4 comedy - and Humphrey its centrepiece," he added.

Jenny Abramsky, director of audio and music at the BBC, said 'Humph' had been "one of the wonders of radio broadcasting for years" and lauded his championing of British jazz.

"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," she explained.

And BBC director general Mark Thompson said: "Humphrey Lyttleton will leave an enormous gap not just in British cultural life as a whole but in the lives of many millions of listeners."