I refer to the recently departed Humphrey Lyttleton and the wish that I had been an ardent listner rather than a 'once in a blue moon'.
The following 'Humph quotes' are copied from Wikipedia:-
At the start of the programme and when introducing appropriate rounds Humph will tell the listeners what Samantha has recently been doing. These comments have made the show notable for including far more and far ruder
innuendo and
double entendre than the
BBC would ever broadcast on
television in a similar early evening timeslot, although the show's standard response to this is that any humour exists solely in the listener's mind. Early in Samantha's career on
ISIHAC, a letter appeared in the
Radio Times protesting at her sexist and humiliating treatment on the programme.
For example:
"Samantha's going out now for an ice cream with her new Italian gentleman friend. She says she's looking forward to licking the nuts off a large Neapolitan."
And (November 2006):
"She's popped out to visit an old gentleman friend of hers who's a notorious curmudgeon. However, she finds that if she butters him up properly she can sometimes get him to splash out."
Another shows the extent to which the BBC allows these observations of Samantha's activities:
"In her spare time, Samantha likes nothing more than to peruse old record shops. She particularly enjoys a rewarding poke in the country section."
In a programme from 1997, Humph says the following: "It's just occurred to me that Samantha hasn't given us the score...since 1981."
[edit] Correspondence
A regular feature on the programme, always preceding the game
Mornington Crescent is the fictional letters section, invariably containing one letter. This usually begins with Humph sarcastically hyping the number of letters (for example, "I notice from the sheer weight of this week's postbag, we've received a little over no letters" and "I see from the number of letters raining down on us this week that the
Scrabble factory has exploded again"). The letter each week is from a "Mrs Trellis of
North Wales", an idiosyncratic and prolific correspondent to the chairman. Her incoherent letters usually involve her mistaking Humph for another Radio 4 presenter or media personality, and are read out to much amusement.
"A Mrs Trellis of North Wales has written in to complain that the show has 'an enormous fistful of rampant innuendo rammed into every crack', but only a truly filthy-minded person would think such a thing."
"Dear Mr Titchmarsh: This morning I went out to dig up some dandelions and a giant hogweed on my lawn. The filthy beast! Yours faithfully, Mrs Trellis."
"Dear Mrs McCartney: My, what a terrible mess. You must be kicking yourself."
"Dear Mr Melly: Here's a great tip for removing any annoying little hairs that collect in the bath plughole: tempt them up with a carrot and pull them out by their long floppy ears."
"Dear Rolf: They say a dog isn't just for Christmas. How true. You can use it for sandwiches all through January."
RIP, I didn't really know what I was missing until it was too late.