From http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/humphs-diaries-reveal-he-tired-of-clue-30-years-ago-973819.html:

Humph's diaries reveal he tired of 'Clue' 30 years ago

Lyttelton, host of Radio 4's long-running comedy game show, thought it had run its course by 1975

By Emily Dugan
Sunday, 26 October 2008

Although he was a world-class jazz trumpeter, witty writer and talented cartoonist, it is as the much-loved chair of the BBC Radio 4 comedy quiz I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue that Humphrey Lyttelton will be remembered. Now publication of his memoirs and new film footage reveal his scepticism about the show and his reluctance for it to be his memorial.


When he died in April, many fans feared that was the last they would hear from him. But an autobiography and a never-before-seen video recording to be released in coming weeks offer new insight into the reluctant star known affectionately as Humph. Last Chorus: An Autobiographical Medley, published next month, contains a series of diary entries in which Lyttelton bemoans the quality of the show.

From the outset, he wrote, he had his doubts: "The story of ISIHAC is an extraordinary one – we did the pilot show in 1972, everyone agreed that it was too self-indulgent and dreadful to get off the ground. Months later a BBC 'high-up' heard the pilot, fell about and insisted it should go on." And it did.

In 1975, three years into the programme's 36-year run, he wrote: "I'm not sure that this game show hasn't finally run its course – this has been a good series with better games than before, but there have been moments when it floundered. I shan't be sorry if it expires. I'm rather tired of people coming up and saying 'I enjoyed your programme the other day' and finding out they mean this bit of nonsense!"

In a foreword to the book, his son Stephen Lyttelton recounts his father's unease at his celebrity status. "Every now and then the constant recognition would get the better of Dad," he writes, describing one occasion when his father was stared at for so long in a restaurant that he "very calmly pulled his tie up under his glasses and put one of his size 13 desert boots on his head".

The first-ever official footage of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, released on DVD next month, shows Lyttelton saying to the audience: "Listen, I'll tell you something. If I'd known at seven o'clock in the morning on the 23rd of May 1921 [his date of birth] that I would ever live to sit on the stage in Salford reading this codswallop, I would have turned around and crawled back in." The audience roared with laughter. His diaries reveal he was not joking.

His writings give an insight into the work he did want to be remembered for. The book features many of the cartoons he produced, including several of his "Humph" self-portraits, one of which (bottom left) was drawn a month before he died.

Fellow panellist Graeme Garden said yesterday: "If you dip into Humph's books you'll see he had a vastly richer life than I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue." He said that although a new series is likely to begin in April next year, the DVD was a record "of something that will sadly not be seen in the same form again".

'Last Chorus: An Autobiographical Medley', published by J R Books. 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' is released on DVD on 10 November