Humphrey Lyttleton, musician, raconteur, all-round virtuoso, has died.

He was a man of immense talent, not to mention his equally immense comic
timing. He was one of two people who inspired me to pick up a trumpet (the
other was Louis Armstrong). More importantly, he showed me the value of deadpan
delivery, of straightfacedness in the face of the undeniably silly and, most
importantly, of the ability to laugh and to have fun, whatever life throws at
you.

He once said:

"As we journey through life, discarding baggage along the way, we should keep
an iron grip, to the very end, on the capacity for silliness. It preserves
the soul from dessication."

And now he’s gone. Like I said on Twitter: the world’s going to be a lot less
funny from here-on in.