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Our Thoughts Go Out To Humphey Lyttelton's Family
And May He Rest In Peace

Humphrey Lyttelton
May 23rd 1921 ~ April 25th 2008
Humphrey Lyttelton, British Jazz patriarc, trumpeter, cartoonist, BBC radio broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio programme 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' has died following heart surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm. The 86 year old legend died peacefully in Barnet Hospital and is survived by a daughter from the first marriage to Patricia Braithwaite, and two sons and a daughter from his second marriage to Jill Richardson in 1952, which sadly ended with her death in 2006.

Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton known to friends and fans as Humph was born at Eton College, UK. He attended Sunningdale Preparatory School and Eton College. Inspired heavily by Louis Armstrong and Nat Gonella, he taught himself the trumpet and in 1936 formed a quartet while at Eton College, which included the future journalist Ludovic Kennedy on drums. He was commissioned in the Grenadier Guards during WW II and saw action, most notably on the beach at Salerno. On VE Day, 8 May 1945, Hump joined in the celebrations by playing his trumpet from a wheelbarrow, inadvertently giving his first broadcast performance; the BBC recording still survives. By 1948, he had formed a band with the clarinet player Wally Fawkes. That year he went to France's Nice Jazz Festival, where he met his idol, Louis Armstrong. In 1949, he joined the Daily Mail as a cartoonist, where he remained until 1956. He was prominent in the British revival of traditional jazz forms from New Orleans, recording with Sidney Bechet in 1949. To do so he had to break with the Musicians' Union restrictive practices which forbade working with jazz musicians from the United States. In the '50s, he opened the Humphrey Lyttelton Club in a basement in Oxford Street in London. In 1956, he had the hit, with the legendary recording of his self penned "Bad Penny Blues", which was in the UK Singles Chart for six weeks. As the trad jazz movement developed, Humph moved to a mainstream approach favoured by American musicians such as trumpeter Buck Clayton; they recorded together in the early 1960s. He also helped develop the careers of many now prominent British musicians, including Tony Coe and Alan Barnes. In 1968, at the request of NASA, hewent to the United States to play a selection of jazz numbers which were broadcast live to the crew of the Apollo 8 space craft. He composed more than 120 original works for his band, although some of his best-known numbers were 'When The Saints Go Marching In', 'Memphis Blues', 'High Society' and the self-penned 'Bad Penny Blues'. His band has also backed several singers, ranging from New Orleans singer Lillian Boutte to Helen Shapiro to Elkie Brookes to Stacey Kent. Humphrey had been offered a knighthood, but he turned it down. In 1993, he was the recipient of the radio industry's highest honour: The Sony Gold Award, and in 2000 he was given a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Post Office British Jazz Awards. The following year he joined rock band Radiohead for a seven-hour session during the recording of their new album, Amnesiac. Playing the music was just part of Humph's