1. Humphrey Lyttelton was a cartoonist, collaborating on the long-running Flook series in the Daily Mail, and a calligrapher and president of The Society for Italic Handwriting.
28 Facts About Humphrey Lyttelton
1. 2.
Humphrey Lyttelton was born at Eton College, where his father, George William Humphrey Lyttelton, was a house master.
3.
Humphrey Lyttelton was a first cousin of the 10th Viscount Cobham and of Viola Grosvenor, Duchess of Westminster and a great-nephew of the politician and sportsman Alfred Lyttelton, the first man to represent England at both football and cricket, both of whom attended Eton.
4.
At Eton, Humphrey Lyttelton fagged for Lord Carrington and formed his love of jazz.
5.
Humphrey Lyttelton was inspired by the trumpeters Louis Armstrong and Nat Gonella.
6.
Humphrey Lyttelton taught himself the instrument, and formed a quartet at the school in 1936 that included the future journalist Ludovic Kennedy on drums.
7.
On VE Day, 8 May or 9 May 1945, Humphrey Lyttelton joined in the celebrations by playing his trumpet from a wheelbarrow, inadvertently giving his first broadcast performance; the BBC recording still survives.
8.
Humphrey Lyttelton was one of the collaborators with Wally Fawkes on the long-running cartoon strip Flook.
9.
Humphrey Lyttelton went to Camberwell School of Art, where he met Wally Fawkes, a fellow jazz enthusiast and clarinet-player, known as the cartoonist "Trog".
10.
Over time, Humphrey Lyttelton gradually shifted to a more mainstream approach favoured by American musicians such as trumpeter Buck Clayton.
11.
Humphrey Lyttelton recorded with visiting Americans Al Casey, Buddy Tate, and Kenny Davern.
12.
Humphrey Lyttelton was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1958, when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre.
13.
In 1983, Humphrey Lyttelton formed Calligraph Records, which reissued some of his old recordings, all future recordings by his band, and recordings by band members.
14.
On 23 July 2008, Humphrey Lyttelton was posthumously named BBC Radio 2 Jazz Artist of the Year, voted by radio listeners.
15.
Humphrey Lyttelton had a long established professional relationship with UK singer Elkie Brooks.
16.
From 1967 until April 2007, Humphrey Lyttelton presented The Best of Jazz on BBC Radio 2, a programme that featured his idiosyncratic mix of recordings from all periods of the music's history, including current material.
17.
In 1972 Humphrey Lyttelton was chosen to host the comedy panel game I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue on BBC Radio 4.
18.
Humphrey Lyttelton continued in this role until shortly before he died, and was known for both his deadpan, disgruntled, and occasionally bewildered style of chairmanship, and for his near-the-knuckle double entendres and innuendo which, despite always being open to an innocent interpretation, were, according to William Rushton, "the filthiest thing on radio".
19.
At the time of his death, Humphrey Lyttelton was the oldest active panel game host in the UK, being two and a half years older than his closest rival, Nicholas Parsons.
20.
Humphrey Lyttelton named his own record label "Calligraph" after this extracurricular interest.
21.
Humphrey Lyttelton is reported to have turned down a knighthood in 1995.
22.
Humphrey Lyttelton designed his house in Arkley, Barnet, Greater London, with blank walls on the outside and the windows opening onto an internal courtyard.
23.
Humphrey Lyttelton hated using the telephone and kept his number ex-directory, changing it if anybody else discovered it.
24.
Humphrey Lyttelton twice refused state honours which were offered to him.
25.
Humphrey Lyttelton kept it from all of us, especially my mother who would have exerted a lot of pressure on him to accept, seeing it as recognition for all his work.
26.
Humphrey Lyttelton died following his surgery on 25 April 2008, with his family around him.
27.
Humphrey Lyttelton is survived by his four children: a daughter from his first marriage to Pat Braithwaite, and two sons and a daughter from his second marriage to Jill Richardson.
28.
The event was organised and hosted by his son Stephen Humphrey Lyttelton, who is the founder and Chairman of The Humph Trust, an organisation set up after his death to support young up and coming jazz musicians and to provide sponsorship and support.