Alan Coren dies at 69
Humourist Alan Coren dead at 69, BBC announces
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Friday, 19, Oct 2007 01:44
Newspaper columnist and broadcaster Alan Coren has died from cancer at the age of 69, the BBC has announced.
The renowned humourist, who was editor of Punch magazine between 1978 and 1987, died at home with his family around him.
He juggled editing duties at Punch with a television critic's role at the Times, while also writing for both the Daily Mail and the Mail on Sunday.
And he was a regular panellist on Radio 4's The News Quiz and BBC1's Call My Bluff.
Times editor Robert Thomson told the newspaper that Coren, whose long-running column was a hit with readers, had been a "witty and thoughtful tour guide through life".
He went on to say: "Times readers found great inspiration in his irreverence, and irreverence and insight that will be cherished and rediscovered in decades to come."
BBC Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer said that Coren had been the "heartbeat" of The News Quiz.
"It was not only that he was consistently brilliantly funny, but above and beyond that, his humour burst with humanity and warmth," he said.
Coren leaves behind a wife and two children, who are both journalists themselves.