The Bricklayer's Lament - by Gerard Hoffnung

I was bought up with this piece, by my dad, and I will never forget it!

Brilliant - first heard this many years ago but it is every bit as funny now. Thanks for uploading.
The other funny one I remember was his ironic guide for foreign tourists - "Upon entering a railway carriage it is the British custom to shake every passenger by the hand" and "every brothel displays a blue lamp" (from the days when police stations did so, of course!) Lovely stuff, I shall seek out more!

Have you tried the famous echo in the Reading Room of the British Museum?

The first time I ever ached with laughter was the first listen to this as a child

OMG THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH! i HAVE BEEN TRYING TO FIND THIS FOR AGES! I remember I heard this delightedly for the first time as a kid, when my dad returned with it from an Open University summer course in engineering-The physics of pulley's! Thx

Thanx to Murray Charters in the Brantford Expositor for exposing this gem to his readers!

Excellent. Hoffnung was brilliant. A real polymath. We need his like today. It's 50 years this year (2009) since his early death. It was good to see him recognised at the BBC's Last Night of the Proms, with a concerto for vacuum-cleaners and orchestra.

I wonder if there's a link to that on Youtube - I missed the Last Night!

There is indeed - search "Last Night of the Proms 2009" and you'll see, amongst other search results, "The Grand, Grand Overture".

Regards,

LS

several painful CUTS