Humphrey Lyttleton remembered

Extracts from the interview

"The thing I noticed about Humph on the radio, listening at home even, was how he could get a laugh with silence - dead air, nothing is happening. Only a few seconds, but it's always very conspicuous on a radio show, obviously."

"Of course, the introductions and the references to Samantha, our scorer - I mean, he called it 'blue-chip filth'. Nobody else could have got away with the lines he was getting away with. But he delivered them as if he had no idea what they meant."



"Even then, in the room outside intensive care, there was a lot of laughter, actually - talking about him and remembering things things he'd said. The warmth and the affection he generated! Those old jazzers, musicians, they adored him - and they can be a very cynical breed."

"Whoever he spoke to was the focus of his attention. He had time for everybody. Tireless and patient and endlessly courteous and funny - with anybody. He had no distinction between who they were. That's why people loved him."

Share this article

Send this article to a friend »

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• StumbleUpon

What are these?