Alan Coren

[West Ender]

This witty, extremely funny, writer and broadcaster has died at the age of 69.

Alan Coren was the editor of Punch magazine for some years and wrote a lot of hilarious articles for the mag. The first I ever read, in about 1970, was about his children's tortoise, Doris/Maurice (they sexed it wrong at first), being boarded out while they were on holiday and appearing to be dead but, in fact, just hibernating a bit too soon. After reading that, I was hooked. He went on to write a column in the Telegraph.

Lately, he was on "The News Quiz" on Radio 4 and his dry and irreverant humour was perfect. He was the son of a plumber from the East End of London and, when he left school, was apprenticed to his dad who felt very let-down when he became a well-known journalist instead of following in his footsteps. He used to say he could still wipe a joint successfully.

[BERNADETTE]

Not someone I'm familar with but his humour sounds just up my street. RIP