HUMPHREY Lyttelton, presenter of the BBC Radio 4 comedy show I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, has died aged 86.

Lyttelton, who had hosted the programme since 1972, was admitted to hospital earlier this week for surgery to repair an aortic aneurysm.

Best known as a musician, Lyttelton began playing the trumpet in 1936 and still toured with his band up until earlier this month.

In 1956, Lyttelton's Bad Penny Blues was the first British jazz record to enter the top 20.

Lyttelton is featured in today's Weekend Magazine, free with the Daily Echo.

In an interview done at The Concorde Club in Eastleigh earlier this month, he told reporter Duncan Eaton that he still woke up in the middle of the night with tunes in his head.

Click here to read Humphrey Lyttelton's last interview

Duncan said: "He was a wonderful engaging man who was full of vitality and looking forward to going into the recording studios later this year. Sadly now that won't happen."

Lyttelton was a regular at The Concorde Club having first played there in the 1960s.

BBC bosses paid tribute to the musician turned broadcaster.

Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer last night described Lyttelton as "an extraordinarily modest man".

He said: "Humphrey Lyttelton was a great and towering figure in the history of Radio 4 comedy.

"Of course he was fabulously funny and sharp: but more than that he was the definition of a certain sort of wit - self-deprecating, mordant and linguistically brilliant.

"It was a wonderful combination - allied to a natural human warmth.'' "I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue has been the most successful Radio 4 comedy - and Humphrey its centrepiece.

"We have lost a giant and we are immeasurably grateful for all he gave to Radio 4 listeners, young and old alike, for so long.'' The spring series of I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue was cancelled this month after Lyttelton, who had presented the show since 1972, was admitted to hospital.

In 1993 he received a Sony Gold Award for services to broadcasting.

In 2006 he published an 'autobiographical scrapbook' called It Just Occurred to Me.

A statement on the website of Calligraph Records, the label set up by Lyttelton and named after his love of calligraphy, said: "It is with the deepest regret that we announce the death of Humphrey Lyttelton.

"Humph died peacefully with his family and friends around him on April 25 at 7pm following surgery.

"We would like to thank everyone for their support and express our deep gratitude to the staff of Barnet General for the care that they gave Humph."