Editing Humphrey Lyttelton (section)

==Radio personality==
From 1967 until April 2007, 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. In 2007 he chose to cut his commitment to two quarterly seasons per year, in order to spend more time on other projects.
[[File:Humphrey Lyttelton and Jon Naismith recording "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue" at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.jpg|right|thumb|Humphrey Lyttelton and producer [[Jon Naismith]] at the 2005 Edinburgh Fringe]]
In 1972 Lyttelton was chosen to host the comedy panel game ''[[I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue]]'' (''ISIHAC'') on [[BBC Radio 4]]. The show was originally devised as a comedic antidote to traditional BBC panel games (both radio and television), which had come to be seen as dull and formulaic, and in keeping with the staid middle-class "Auntie Beeb" image. 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 entendre]]s and [[innuendo]] which, despite always being open to an innocent interpretation, were, according to [[Willie Rushton|William Rushton]], "the filthiest thing on radio".

The programme's success had considerable influence on the manner in which comedy was presented on radio, and Lyttelton's persona was a significant part of that success: he was a [[double act|straight man]] surrounded by mayhem. At the time of his death, Lyttelton was the oldest active panel game host in the UK, being two and a half years older than his closest rival, [[Nicholas Parsons]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.ukgameshows.com/ukgs/Humphrey_Lyttelton | title=Humphrey Lyttelton | publisher=UKGameshows | access-date=25 April 2008 }}</ref>

As well as his other activities, Lyttelton was a keen [[calligraphy|calligrapher]] and President of The [[Society for Italic Handwriting]].<ref name="Callig">{{cite web|url=http://www.calligraph-records.co.uk/humph.htm |title=Humph Biography |date=17 July 2007 |work=Calligraph Records |access-date=7 May 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080416223826/http://www.calligraph-records.co.uk/humph.htm |archive-date=16 April 2008}}</ref> He named his own [[record label]] "Calligraph" after this extracurricular interest. This label, founded in the early 1980s, not only issues his own albums and those of associates, but also re-issues (on [[CD]]) his [[analogue recording]]s for the [[Parlophone]] label in the 1950s. He is reported to have turned down a [[knighthood]] in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/apr/26/radio.bbc|title= Jazzman and radio host Lyttelton dies at 86|first=Thair|last=Shaikh|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=26 April 2008|access-date=28 April 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humphreylyttelton.com/the-doctorate-years/knighthood/|title=Knighthood - Humphrey Lyttelton|website=Humphreylyttelton.com}}</ref>