The duo were top entertainers on both sides of the Atlantic, and further afield, in the 50s and 60s when their clever, witty songs — ranging from animal antics in 'The Gnu', railway closures in 'Slow Train' or a householder's domestic woes in 'The Gasman Cometh' — were showcased to great acclaim in their long-running, two-man revues.

Sunday's audience at the Playhouse were just as appreciative as Tim FitzHigham as Michael Flanders and Simon Townley (deputising for Duncan Walsh Atkins who is conducting 'Half a Sixpence') as the keyboard king Donald Swann, with the approval of the estates of both men, replicated their heroes' dexterity in words and music in their engaging two-hour show 'At the Drop of a Hippopotamus.'

Award-winning comic writer FitzHigham deftly linked the 20--strong song selection together with topical updates, but kept to the original spirit of the works — something that Armstrong and Miller did but with more emphasis on adding their un-PC risque lyrics in their BBC comedy series last year.

But this pleasing show, the first in a short tour visiting Brighton, Greenwich, Chelsea, Poole and Edinburgh, was a delight for all ages, full of madness and mirth, plus for good measure a singalong encore as the full house wallowed in "Mud, mud, glorious mud. Nothing quite like it for cooling the blood" from 'The Hippopotamus.'