Just back from Spain to hear the sad news that the doyen of satirical journalism and one of the classic voices of the BBC Alan Coren has died.
A gem of a man, his astute wit and acerbic writing skills made a success out of the rejuvenated Punch magazine in the 60s and 70s, when it (almost) rivalled Private Eye in capturing the gossip on the politics of the day.
One of Britain's most prolific humorists, he was a much-loved panellist on Radio 4's The News Quiz, a fore-runner to Have I Got News For You, and latterly was a regular on the sadly now demised Call My Bluff. Alan's long journalistic career saw him as star columnist in The Times, Observer, Tatler, The Listener, Mail on Sunday and Sunday Express, among others, and his brilliant self-deprecating humour earned him the nickname "The Sage of Cricklewood", an epithet he would take great pride in all his life.
A nation has lost yet another great writer and intellectual, and for that we should all feel very sad.
Alan Coren's obituary in The Times
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