Humphrey Lyttleton, RIP

This will only make sense if you’ve lived in Britain or, failing that, if you’re a BBC fan and happen to have discovered Humphrey Lyttleton, sometimes British jazz great and chairman-for-life of that very British institution, the quiz show I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue. Clue, “the antidote to panel games,” aestheticized silliness with items like “One song to the tune of another” and “name that barcode.” The capstone, which developed a life of its own, was “Mornington Crescent,” the very unreal game (no one has ever been found who could claim to know the rules) named for a very real London tube station.

Humph died last week at 86. Flowers are said to be showing up, you guessed it, outside Mornington Crescent. Courtesy, we assume, of the lovely Samantha.