Regular BBC Radio 4 panellist on The News Quiz Alan Coren has died at the age of 69. Alan suffered from Cancer and was the only original surviving member of the Radio 4 programme. Mark Damazer has said his death was a "terrible loss".
Mark, Controller of Radio 4, said: "Alan was the heartbeat of The News Quiz – the man around whom so much turned for nearly 30 years. It was not only that he was consistently brilliantly funny. He was, but above and beyond that his humour burst with humanity and warmth.
"He could pick out the foibles of the mighty — and his own — with pinpoint accuracy, and yet at the same time he evoked sympathy for the human condition. He was fabulously well read and there was no subject which was ever beyond his wit. It's a terrible loss for his family and Radio 4."
In addition to his Radio 4 appearances he wrote both his own and the Notebook columns for The Times. He was editor of Punch from 1978 to 1987, and of The Listener from 1987 to 1989.
He had also written for Penthouse and The Daily Mail. In addition, he wrote an unsuccessful vehicle for Leonard Rossiter in 1978, The Loser, about a boxing promoter.
His son Giles Coren and daughter Victoria Coren both followed him into journalism. Alan Coren was born on 27 June 1938 and died on 19 October 2007.