Swann, Donald Ibrahim

▪ 1995

      British entertainer and composer (b. Sept. 30, 1923, Llanelli, Wales—d. March 23, 1994, London, England), with his partner and lyricist, Michael Flanders, delighted audiences in England, Australia, the U.S., and Canada with satiric, often nonsensical songs and lively banter in their long-running two-man revues At the Drop of a Hat (1956-61) and At the Drop of Another Hat (1963-67). Swann, the son of a Russian-born doctor and his Muslim wife, was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. An accomplished pianist, he was in great demand for school musical revues. After serving in the Friends Ambulance Unit during World War II, he teamed up with his old schoolmate Flanders, by then confined to a wheelchair by polio, to write songs for such revues as Penny Plain (1951), Airs on a Shoestring (1953), and Fresh Airs (1956). At the Drop of a Hat opened in London in 1956, with the bespectacled Swann playing the piano with amateurish enthusiasm. The popularity of the team's songs, including "The Hippopotamus Song" (a paean to mud), "I'm a Gnu," "The Gas Man Cometh," and "Have Some Madeira, M'Dear," continued long after they retired from performing in 1967. Swann continued to compose after Flanders' death in 1975. He also wrote several books, including an autobiography, Swann's Way (1991).

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