Milestones Apr. 4, 1994

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DIED. DONALD SWANN, 70, composer and performer; of cancer; in London. Quieter half of the British comedy duo Flanders and Swann, Swann wrote the eclectic music for Michael Flanders' gently satirical lyrics in a pair of revues, At the Drop of a Hat and At the Drop of Another Hat. They toured throughout the '60s, with Flanders providing dry commentary and lead vocals and Swann at the keyboard, adding his thin but enthusiastic tenor to such whimsy as The Gasman Cometh, Song of Reproduction (a jab at stereo enthusiasts) and The Hippopotamus Song, an ode to "mud, mud, glorious mud" that somehow became a plea for international peace, complete with a verse in Russian delivered by Swann.