The death of Humphrey Lyttelton is sad news indeed. The world will be that bit darker for the lack of his continuing presence, especially as the sublimely insouciant (and gloriously mucky) chairman of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue. So long as that show was there, and Humph in charge, it seemed the world couldn't be half as grim as it otherwise seemed. And now he's gone. Barry Cryer, in one of many heartfelt tributes, spoke of his 'style and grace' - exactly so, and those are increasingly rare qualities. With his death coming so soon after that of Alan Coren, two truly irreplaceable figures are gone, the gaiety of the nation takes another blow. It feels as if the lights are going out...
Here are almost the last words Humph spoke at the end of the last broadcast episode of ISIHAC: 'I wish I could tell you how much I've enjoyed it [pause] But I'm not allowed to before 9pm.' RIP.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Well said Nige, a truly remarkable man, he will be greatly missed. Surprisingly, not a word about his passing on the Ronnie Scott website yet, although it may be a tad early for them.
ReplyDeleteHaving just emerged from Peter Hitchens' splenetic 'Abolition of Britain', and realizing that it is indeed true, that all the qualities I have held dear in Albion for the last 50 years have been diluted or destroyed, it was doubly shocking while driving to work this morning to learn of the passing of one of the few who, by dint of just being there, among us, in a pub in Barnes, or exercising his unhoned skills on the steam radio, made facing-up to life in modern Britain, just that little bit easier. Miss him? I do already.
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