Alan Coren: in his own words

How do you find the right words to pay tribute to such a distinguished columnist as Alan Coren? Alan, who died last night, was able to draw on such a seemingly bottomless bag of fancy or obscure words, of literary allusions and popular references, and of styles and parodies, that anything I write will feel flat-flooted. Nonetheless, I'll just say that his colleagues on the Comment Desk will miss him, his sense of fun and his column. So the best way to pay tribute to Alan is to let his words do the talking.

AC invents the perfect yuletide gift: The Digital Aftershave Necktie Phoneslippers

AC awakes from unconsciousness and demands a handgrenade

AC tells you 13 thirteen things you didn't know about Harry Potter

AC introduces Jim Bnod, one of the new generation of spies

AC discovers a new EU measurement, the huddersfield

AC celebrates Whopper of the Year and hefty ladies

Robbie Millen

Comments

[TonyS]

Quite the funniest moment on The News Quiz came in 1982 when the team was discussing John DeLorean's arrest for using the proceeds of his car company to fund drug dealing. One could sense AC biding his time as the other panelists had their say. Just as the conversation was dying, he chipped in: "DeLorean's main problem was that he kept putting his business into other peoples' noses." I've never heard such long and loud laughter from the audience.

He'll be sadly missed by millions.

[Blendi Progri]

He was charming, witty and always smiling. Truly one of the good guys writing in The Times.

My sympathy is with his family, especially his son, Giles.

R.I.P. Alan.

[Maggie Snook, Wool]

Alan seemed to be a brilliant wit, charming and what a wordsmith!!
He didn't look as if he possessed even a sour line on his face.
Another great who has caught up with the others !! There will be a few witty
remarks when he meets St Peter , I am sure! Thankyou, Alan. RIP

[Steve Hopper]

Thank you Alan for all the smiles you gave me. RIP Mate.
Steve

[manuel escott]

One of the greatest in a stable of great British humourists. His stuff for Punch when I lived in Britain was, I think, his best product. By the way, a relative, Michael Coren, works a talk-show on TV here in Toronto, but he's not funny at all. Manuel,Toronto

[Chubnut]

His rapier wit combined with the cheeky smile is a great loss to the British Nation. I remember the times he made me smile when all hope was gone.Are there any good lads left?

[Clifford Bury]

I remember reading an article in 'Punch' magazine on a 'plane about 25 years ago.
I was laughing out load and everyone was wondering if I was OK, drunk or just nuts.
The author was,of course, Alan Coren.
His contributions to the news quiz were nearly as good.

The world of satire and humour loses another irreplaceable talent. His name will long be remembered after most of his targets have been forgotten.

One of the few to be able to give Oscar Wilde and Whistler a run for their money

[Alan, Germany]

Alan Coren has given me hours of pleasure over many years and I am truly saddened to read of his death.
A master of the english language, a writer of superb british humour - and, it has always seemed to me from his columns, a gentleman in the true sense of that word.
My condolences to his family.
R.I.P Alan

[Allan]

Whether on radio on in print, whenever you saw the name Alan Coren, or heard those mellifluous tones which covered such gentle but needle-sharp barbs you knew you were in for a good time.

Thank you, Mr Coren. You made me laugh a lot.

[Chris Greaves]

My world has become smaller.

[Charles Bockett-Pugh]

Good-bye Mr. Coren, sir! You were an inspiration. Funnier than Tommy Cooper, wittier than Oscar Wilde, more sarcastic than Noel Coward, more inventive than Clive Sinclair and more literate than Winston Churchill.

I kept your article on forgetfulness, the one were you had a piece of paper in your dressing gown pocket and got distracted looking for it, for years but now I seem to have put it somewhere safe.

May the memory of you last for ever!

[Chris Gillibrand]

The EU has never taken kindly to the idea of the huddersfield into their weights and measures system. Having scoured the Commission website, I have discovered that all references to the huddersfield have been removed, if they were ever there at all. Enquiries among my friends in the corridors of power in Brussels have drawn a polite “no comment”. Mindful, however, that the people of Huddersfield would at some stage have to be bought off, the EU did give the University of Huddersfield 720,000 pounds in 1999 to investigate means of stopping joghurt going runny. When this piece of news was revealed the Commission issued a very serious press release explaining the importance of this research to the common good of humanity. To his eternal honour and memory, Mr Coren had a complete inability to take people and the institutions in which they work as seriously as themselves.

[wilhelm]

What a great man, what a wit, but what a rich legacy he leaves behind.

[Bernard Boyland]

My deepest sympathy to Alan's family. Alan was a very amusing and witty man. One of enland's funniest writers. RIP Alan.

[C S Buckel]

The link to Whopper of the Year is wrongly directed to the same page as the link above it. So that makes it incorrect in one sense and correct in another.