For other 40 years the acclaimed jazz trumpeter, band leader and radio broadcaster Humphrey Lyttleton chaired the perennial antidote to panel games I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue.
Overseeing the antics of regular s including Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden, and Barry Cryer. Chairman Humph as he became affectionately known; was an influential role model and inspiration to numerous musicians and comedians.
Following Humph’s passing in 2008, a tribute concert was instigated by his son Stephen to coincide with the launch of The Humph Trust which lends support to young jazz musicians the stars turned out in force to pay participate.
ISIHAC: Humph Celebration Concert Features Music And Comedy Tributes
The event, which was staged in 2010 at the Hammersmith Apollo was captured for posterity, first as a Radio 4 broadcast and now as an extended audio release from AudioGO.
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue: Humph Celebration Concert not only features music from the likes of Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, Jools Holland, Charlie Watts, The Humphrey Lyttleton Band but also comic interludes from the ISIHAC team.
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue panellist Graeme Garden leads the tributes by reflecting on how much gaiety Humph added to the Nation. Then the ISIHAC team including Graeme Garden, Barry Cryer, Tim Brooke Taylor, Sandi Toksvig, Jeremy Hardy, Andy Hamilton and Jack Dee lead on with laughs aplenty as they launch into some of Humph’s favourite games from the show.
Humphrey Lyttleton: "Never Lose Touch With Silly"
The Uxbridge English Dictionary for instance is designed to improve the listeners understanding of the English language with new definitions of familiar words. Among the examples are the words arsenic (to steal buttocks), ghoulish (Hungarian stew that comes back to haunt you), Uganda (go and have a look) and Ramsgate (a farming scandal).
The team also performs Alien Theatre with Tim Brooke Taylor and Barry Cryer performing an excerpt of The Importance of Being Earnest in the roles of Star Wars' Obi Wan Kenobi as Jack Worthing and Darth Vader as Lady Bracknell.
The comic interludes are as silly as they are funny but as Barry Cryer recalls in his personal tribute to Chairman Humph: ‘He once said "Never lose touch with silly." He never did. I hope we never do!’
Jools Holland And Friends Lead Musical Tributes To Humphrey Lyttleton
As well as the comedy from the ISIHAC team there is lots of fabulous performances of Lyttleton’s music compositions.
Several tunes are performed by permutations of the Humphrey Lyttleton band past and present and in some cases some of the most fabulous vocalists step in to add vocal magic including Louise Palmer, Elkie Brooks, Sue Richardson and Tina May.
Jools Holland, Tony Fisher, Dave Green and Charlie Watts also put in a magical performance of the Humphrey Lyttleton Band’s popular 1950s hit Bad Penny Blues.
Download I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue: Humph Celebration Concert
The I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue: Humph Celebration Concert is not only an affectionate and truly entertaining tribute to a Humphrey Lyttleton’s magnificent career, but also serves as a strong reminder of his musical and broadcasting legacy.
I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue: Humph Celebration Concert has a total running time of 1 hour and 55 minutes spread across 2 CD’s. Like other classic episodes of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, it is available on both CD and audio download formats from AudioGO and iTunes.
