Giles Coren

Coren was born in Paddington, London, the only son of Anne (née Kasriel) and English journalist and humourist Alan Coren.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/food/why-food-critic-giles-coren-loves-to-eat-cholent-1.473885 |title=Giles Coren: 'I could eat cholent all day, every day'|website=www.thejc.com|date=13 December 2018 |access-date=2019-12-19}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/features/9113/giles-coren-moves-to-the-country/|title=Giles Coren Moves To The Country|last=Leaf|first=Chris|date=2015-11-13|website=Esquire|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-12-19|archive-date=18 January 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160118172431/http://www.esquire.co.uk/culture/features/9113/giles-coren-moves-to-the-country/|url-status=dead}} His parents had been brought up in an Orthodox Jewish household, but his own upbringing was less Orthodox.{{cite news |title=Giles Coren: 'My great-grandad probably bullied Ben Gurion at cheder' |url=https://www.thejc.com/news/giles-coren-my-great-grandad-probably-bullied-ben-gurion-at-cheder-nkf9u1zi |access-date=27 May 2024 |work=The Jewish Chronicle |date=28 July 2023}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.jewishtelegraph.com/prof_342.html|title=A Jewish Telegraph Newspaper|website=www.jewishtelegraph.com|access-date=2019-12-19}} He is the elder brother of journalist Victoria Coren Mitchell and is also related to journalist Michael Coren."I seldom hear about her [Heather Mallick], but did when she wrote an obsessively fawning piece after the British author and journalist Alan Coren died. The reason was that the noted editor and TV personality was my cousin, and a dear man who helped me more than I can say and whom I miss very much." Opinion column by Michael Coren entitled [http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/12/05/canada-a-rogue-state-hardly "Canada: A rogue state?" Hardly] Ottawa Sun 5 December 2013.

Coren was educated at The Hall School, an independent boys' junior school in Hampstead, London,{{cite web|url=http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/etcetera/expletive-deleted-does-giles-coren-just-want-to-be-loved-1-628884|title=Expletive deleted - does Giles Coren just want to be loved?|work=Hampstead & Highgate Express (hamhigh.co.uk)|date=2 October 2008|access-date=11 April 2018|archive-date=11 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180411155254/http://www.hamhigh.co.uk/etcetera/expletive-deleted-does-giles-coren-just-want-to-be-loved-1-628884|url-status=dead}} and at Westminster School, an independent boys' senior school in Central London,{{cite news | url = https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/ruth-kelly-at-3am-i-know-what-happened-9vkz0hx60nx | first = Giles | last = Coren | date = 27 September 2008 | title = Ruth Kelly at 3 am: I know what happened |work = The Times | quote = ...I was at both school (Westminster) and university (Oxford) with her}}{{subscription required}} followed by Keble College at the University of Oxford, where he was awarded a first-class degree in English.{{cite news | url = https://www.thetimes.com/culture/books/article/university-is-for-sex-but-i-failed-miserably-c2gdnqp0dhs | quote = "In three years at Oxford..." and "What I was thinking of, of course, was getting a stonking degree. And I did." and "...having, as I said, had plenty of time to work extremely hard at my English degree..." | title = University is for sex. But I failed miserably | first = Giles | last = Coren | work=The Times | date = 26 September 2009}}{{subscription required}}

Coren has been a restaurant critic for The Times since 2002, having previously been restaurant critic for Tatler magazine and The Independent on Sunday. He was named "Food And Drink Writer of the Year"{{cite news| url=https://nypost.com/2015/03/08/food-critics-are-out-of-touch-with-what-people-really-eat/ | work=New York Post | first=Steve | last=Cuozzo | title=Food critics are out of touch with what people really eat | date=8 March 2015}} at the 2005 British Press Awards and in 2016 was named Restaurant Writer of the Year at the Fortnum and Mason Awards.{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/columnists/article/judges-toast-times-online-writers-nlztr58tx29 |title=Judges toast Times Online writers |date=16 March 2005 |access-date=30 September 2008 |last=McLennan |first=Louisa |work=The Times |url-access=subscription }}{{cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/f-word/series-1/q-and-a-giles-coren_p_1.html |title=Giles Coren Tells All |publisher=Channel 4 |date=6 September 2007 |access-date=30 September 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518005309/http://www.channel4.com/food/on-tv/f-word/series-1/q-and-a-giles-coren_p_1.html |archive-date=18 May 2008 }} As well as his restaurant work, he also contributes a regular column to The Times, the subjects of which range from personal life to politics. Under the pseudonym Professor Gideon Garter he wrote The Intellectual's Guide to Fashion for The Sunday Times.{{cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/authors/giles-coren|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131112163104/http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/authors/giles-coren|archive-date=12 November 2013|title=Author: Giles Coren|work=Random House|access-date=18 April 2018}}

According to a paper published in Journalism Practice by Dr. Peter English and Dr. David Fleischman, Coren is "a sharp, witty columnist who can write with tongue in cheek". According to an English study, the average grade in Coren's reviews in The Times was 6.86. Coren claims his average score is actually 6.3, but should be 5; however, he produces "no more than half a dozen really bad" reviews a year.English, Peter, and David Fleischman. "Food for Thought in Restaurant Reviews: Lifestyle journalism or an extension of marketing in the UK and Australian newspapers." Journalism Practice 13.1 (2019): 90-104.

Coren has contributed articles to publications including Tatler and GQ. In November 2014, he joined Time Out as a columnist, writing weekly on city life.{{cite web|title=Time Out hires Giles Coren as columnist|url=http://www.mediaweek.co.uk/article/1320240/time-hires-giles-coren-columnist|website=Media Week|date=3 November 2014|access-date=20 December 2014}}

Coren is credited by inventor James Dyson as the collaborator on his autobiography published in 1997.{{cite book |last=Dyson |first=James |author-link=James Dyson |url=https://archive.org/details/againstoddsautob0000dyso/page/n9/mode/2up |title=Against The Odds: An Autobiography |publisher=Orion Business |year=1997 |isbn=0-7528-0981-4 |publication-place=London |at="acknowledgements" page |quote=...I was flattered when he agreed to collaborate on this book. His clear synthesis of my long hours of rambling is nothing short of miraculous.

|url-access=registration}}

In 2005, he published his first novel, Winkler, reviewed in the New Statesman{{cite news |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/node/162733|title=Fiction – Fockn' funny |work=New Statesman |last=Sooke |first=Alistair |date=29 August 2005 |access-date=30 September 2008}} and The Independent.{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/winkler-by-giles-coren-319424.html |title=Winkler, by Giles Coren |last=Bywater |first=Michael |work=The Independent |date=14 October 2005 |access-date=30 September 2008 }} One section of the novel won the Literary Review's "Bad Sex in Fiction Award".{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4488848.stm |title=Bad sex book prize for journalist |date=1 December 2005 |access-date=30 September 2008| work = BBC News }}{{cite news |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/generalfiction/story/0,6000,1652812,00.html |title=The longlisted passages for the Bad Sex in Fiction award |work=The Guardian|date=28 November 2005 |access-date=30 September 2008}}

Coren has also written two non-fiction books: the first, Anger Management (For Beginners), a compilation of columns he had written for The Times, which was published in 2010;{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/what-makes-coren-so-cross-1986723.html | work=The Independent | title=What makes Coren so cross? | date=30 May 2010}} and his second, How To Eat Out, which was published in 2012.

Coren is the editor of the dining guide Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery: A Guide to the Truly Good Restaurants and Food Experiences of the UK.{{cite web|url=https://truthloveandcleancutlery.com/our-mission |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120180257/https://truthloveandcleancutlery.com/our-mission |url-status=usurped |archive-date=20 November 2018 |title=Our Mission - Ethical & Sustainable Restaurant Practices |work=Truthloveandcleancutlery.com |access-date=23 November 2018}}

In 2005, Coren appeared as a regular correspondent on Gordon Ramsay's The F Word. In June 2006, he presented a programme on More4, entitled Tax the Fat, about clinical obesity and the cost it presents to the NHS.{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} He co-presented the Channel 4 series Animal Farm with Dr Olivia Judson in March 2007.{{cite news |url=http://www.channel4.com/programmes/animal-farm |title=Animal Farm |publisher=Channel 4 |access-date=26 May 2012}} Around the same time, he appeared in a series of television commercials advertising Birds Eye frozen foods.{{cite news |url=http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/interview-giles-coren-author-and-restaurant-critic-1-476136 |title=Interview: Giles Coren, author and restaurant critic |work=The Scotsman|publisher=Johnston Publishing|date=23 May 2010 |access-date=26 May 2012}} Also in 2006, Coren presented the film and DVD review programme Movie Lounge.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2006/feb/03/channel5.broadcasting |title=Coren to host movie show on Five |work=The Guardian|date=3 February 2006 |access-date=26 May 2012 |first=Ben |last=Dowell}}

With comedian Sue Perkins, Coren co-starred in a series of documentaries known as The Supersizers.... In the first, Edwardian Supersize Me (BBC Four, 2007), the two spent a week on the diet of a wealthy Edwardian (i.e. pre-WWI) couple.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0074tp9|title=Edwardian Supersize Me |publisher=BBC Two|access-date=26 May 2012 |date=22 December 2007 }} The second series (The Supersizers Go...) broadcast in May 2008 on BBC Two.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00bvr0t/episodes/2008 |title=The Supersizers Go... |access-date=30 September 2008|publisher=BBC Two|year=2008}} The 2009 series, The Supersizers Eat..., covered the cuisine of the 1980s, the 1950s, 1920s, the French Revolution, Medieval culture, and ancient Rome.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lbttj |title=The Supersizers Eat... |access-date=16 June 2009 |publisher=BBC |year=2009}}

In 2012, Coren presented Our Food on the BBC, travelling the country talking about various local foods.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01flrfl|title=Our Food|date=11 April 2012|publisher=bbc.co.uk|access-date=22 March 2014}} In 2013, he presented Passover - Why is this night different? for BBC1 and co-presented (alongside Alexander Armstrong) 12 Drinks of Christmas for the same channel. In 2014, Coren ventured to North America. First, he filmed Pressure Cooker, a cooking competition show co-hosted by Anne-Marie Withenshaw and Chuck Hughes, produced by Jamie Oliver’s Fresh One Productions and Bristow Global Media, and broadcast on Canada's W Network and the US FYI Network.{{cite web|title=Did You Catch the Debut of Pressure Cooker?|url=https://montreal.eater.com/2014/10/7/6943195/did-you-catch-the-debut-of-pressure-cooker-food-television|website=Eater Montreal|date=7 October 2014|access-date=3 April 2018}} Coren followed that up with Million Dollar Critic for BBC America, which premiered on 22 January 2015 directly after Gordon Ramsay's New Kitchen Nightmares.

In 2015, Coren began a new BBC series, co-presented with social historian Polly Russell. Back in Time for Dinner, six-hour-long programmes broadcast from March 2015{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-03-17/giles-coren-on-taxing-the-fat-being-an-urban-food-ponce-and-why-life-wasnt-better-in-the-1950s|title=Back in Time for Dinner: Food critic Giles Coren on his new BBC2 series, fad diets, and why the government should get involved in the obesity problem|first=Ellie |last=Austin|work=RadioTimes|date=17 March 2015|access-date=3 October 2015}} Back in Time for Dinner achieved a BAFTA nomination in the 'Features' category. Back in Time for Christmas (Christmas food) and Back in Time for the Weekend (leisure activities) followed. In 2016, Coren filmed Back in Time for Brixton and Further Back in Time for Dinner and the two were released in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Eat to Live Forever was shown in March 2015.{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05n2csc|title=BBC Two - Eat to Live Forever with Giles Coren|work=BBC|access-date=3 October 2015}}

In 2016, Coren fronted the one-off documentary My Failed Novel for Sky Arts. For the same channel, he co-hosted eight-part series Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge alongside art historian Rose Balston. In 2016, he presented 500 Questions, a four-part primetime game show on ITV.{{Cite web|url=https://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/giles-coren-host-500-questions-itv|title=Press Releases|website=Press Centre}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/itv-asks-500-questions-with-major-format-deal/5097403.article|title=ITV asks 500 Questions with major format deal|first=Peter|last=White|date=27 November 2015|website=Broadcast}} The series is taken from the US where it aired on ABC. Created by Mark Burnett, it was described as "an intense battle of brainpower that will test even the smartest of contestants".{{Cite news|url=http://www.itv.com/presscentre/press-releases/giles-coren-host-500-questions-itv|title=Giles Coren to Host 500 Questions on ITV|access-date=20 July 2016}}

In 2017, he presented Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby alongside Monica Galetti.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/mar/28/amazing-hotels-life-beyond-the-lobby-review-giles-coren-does-his-dirty-laundry-badly|title=Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby review … Giles Coren does his dirty laundry – badly|first=Sam|last=Wollaston|date=28 March 2017|work=The Guardian}} A second series aired in 2018, a third in 2020 and a fourth in 2021–22.{{Cite web|url=https://www.radiotimes.com/travel/2018-02-27/giles-coren-on-his-favourite-hotels-and-the-worst-hotel-in-the-world/|title=Giles Coren on his favourite hotels - and the worst hotel in the world|website=Radio Times}} Coren's departure from Amazing Hotels was announced in 2022.{{Cite web |title=BBC 'sorry to see Giles Coren go' as scandal-hit presenter exits show |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/20589817.bbc-sorry-see-giles-coren-go-scandal-hit-presenter-exits-amazing-hotels-life-beyond-lobby/ |access-date=2022-08-03 |date=30 July 2022|first=Stewart|last=Ward|website=The National |language=en}}

Between September 2019 and July 2020, Coren presented a weekly programme on Talkradio, on Sundays from 7pm to 10pm.{{cite web |last1=Walker |first1=James |title=Giles Coren promises 'no Brexit' and 'no Trump' with new Sunday night Talkradio show |url=https://pressgazette.co.uk/giles-coren-new-sunday-night-talkradio-show/ |website=Press Gazette |access-date=2 November 2022 |date=5 September 2019}} Between July 2020 and December 2021, he presented a weekly programme on Times Radio, on Friday afternoons.{{Cite news|url=https://radiotoday.co.uk/2020/06/launch-date-and-schedule-revealed-for-times-radio/|title=Launch date and schedule revealed for Times Radio|work=RadioToday|last=Lerone|first=Toby|date=2 June 2020|access-date=3 June 2020}}

On 23 July 2008, The Guardian{{'s}} media blog published an email from Coren to sub-editors at The Times. Coren's internal Times email used profanity, the use of which he defends,{{cite news |last=Coren |first=Giles |date=1 October 2008|title=Potty-mouthed and proud |work= The Spectator|volume= 308|issue=9397 |page=20 |url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2008/10/pottymouthed-and-proud/ |access-date=22 August 2016}} to take issue with a colleague's removal of an indefinite article (an "a") from his piece, which he believed ruined a joke in his last line. Coren said a joke was lost in the change from "a nosh" (meaning fellatio) to "nosh"—a word derived from Yiddish meaning "food", which he doubted his editors knew better than he.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jul/23/mediamonkey |title=Read Giles Coren's letter to Times subs |work=The Guardian | author = Media Monkey |date=23 July 2008 |access-date=30 September 2008 }} The Daily Telegraph said the incident was "not the first time the critic has been caught out writing abusive emails to colleagues".{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/2455076/Restaurant-reviewer-Giles-Coren-abuses-colleagues-in-leaked-email.html |title=Restaurant reviewer Giles Coren abuses colleagues in leaked email |date=24 July 2008 |access-date=30 September 2008 |work =The Telegraph |last=Moore |first=Matthew }} The exchange was reprinted in the American magazine Harper's in October 2008.{{cite magazine |url=http://www.harpers.org/archive/2008/10/0082195 |title=The joke is gone |date=October 2008 |access-date=18 November 2010 |magazine =Harper's Magazine}}{{subscription required}}

In his next article, dated 26 July 2008, Coren said his Jewish ancestors had been persecuted by Poles. He stated that Poles used to burn Jews in synagogues for entertainment at Easter; and that Poland is in denial about its role in the Holocaust. He referred to immigrant Poles as "Polacks", arguing that "if England is not the land of milk and honey it appeared to them three or four years ago, then, frankly, they can clear off out of it".{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/giles_coren/article4399669.ece |title=Two waves of immigration, Poles apart |last=Coren |first=Giles |work= The Times|date=26 July 2008 |access-date=30 September 2008}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{subscription required}}

Coren's comments led to a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission,{{cite news |last=Conlan |first=Tara |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/aug/08/pressandpublishing.thetimes |title=Giles Coren Times article prompts Polish complaints to PCC |work=The Guardian |date=8 August 2008 |access-date=30 September 2008}} an early day motion in the Parliament of the United Kingdom,[http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=36946&SESSION=891 Early day motion 2529 – Press Complaints Commission and Giles Coren] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100805031238/http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=36946&SESSION=891 |date=5 August 2010 }} UK Parliament, 19 November 2008 and a critical editorial in The Economist.{{cite news |url=http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=11918619 |title=Unacceptable prejudice |newspaper=The Economist |date=14 August 2008 |access-date=6 January 2009}} Coren responded: "I wrote in passing that the Poles remain in denial about their responsibility for the Holocaust. How gratifying, then, to see so many letters in The Times in the subsequent days from Poles denying their responsibility for the Holocaust."{{cite news |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/giles_coren/article4445423.ece |title=The winner's version of history. That's original |work=The Times|last=Coren |first=Giles |date=2 August 2008 |access-date=30 September 2008}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{subscription required}} He also told The Jewish Chronicle: "Fuck the Poles".{{cite news | url = http://thejc.thejc.com/articles/coren-launches-his-own-assault-poland | title = Coren launches his own assault on Poland | work = The Jewish Chronicle | date = 14 August 2008 | first = Candice | last = Krieger | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://archive.today/20120716134323/http://thejc.thejc.com/articles/coren-launches-his-own-assault-poland | archive-date = 16 July 2012 | df = dmy-all }} After the Press Complaints Commission rejected their complaint because the criticism had been of a group rather than an individual, the Federation of Poles in Great Britain (FPGB) lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.{{cite news |url=http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/poles-take-coren-fight-european-court |title=Poles take Coren fight to European Court |first=Jan |last=Shure |work=The Jewish Chronicle|date=5 March 2009| access-date=26 September 2010}}

Professor Gábor Halmai of the EU Fundamental Rights Agency said "I completely share the criticisms" of the piece made by The Economist. He said that amid an internal debate about an FRA response, a colleague had said "it is not even certain that what Coren stated with regard to his past had taken place at all". Halmai responded that while the generalisation used by Coren was unacceptable, it was protected under freedom of expression, conceding the existence of the Jedwabne, Krakow and Kielce pogroms. [http://fundamentum.hu/sites/default/files/08-e-07.pdf] The Neighbours’ Fear. Anti-Semitism in Poland Before and After World War II. Fundamentum, English Edition, 5/2008. 82-87, Gábor Halmai

On 14 January 2010, Coren attracted criticism after he posted on his Twitter feed: "Next door have bought their 12-year-old son a drum kit. For fuck's sake! Do I kill him then burn it? Or do I fuck him, then kill him then burn it?" Vivienne Pattison, director of watchdog Mediawatch UK, condemned the remark as "very bad taste".{{cite news |url=http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23794706-giles-corens-twitter-tirade-at-neighbours-boy-for-playing-drum-kit.do |title=Giles Coren's Twitter tirade at neighbour's boy for playing drum kit |work=London Evening Standard |date=13 January 2010 |first=Mark |last=Prigg |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100116104919/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23794706-giles-corens-twitter-tirade-at-neighbours-boy-for-playing-drum-kit.do |archive-date=16 January 2010}}{{cite news |title=What makes Coren so cross? |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/what-makes-coren-so-cross-1986723.html |access-date=30 April 2019 |work=The Independent |date=30 May 2010}} Coren later posted: "Oh hell's bells. Look, can I just say I didn't kill the kid, or have sex with him. And anyway he's not real. And I live in Vienna."

{{See also|2011 British privacy injunctions controversy}}

On 13 May 2011, Coren attracted controversy after joking about a privacy injunction by posting on his Twitter account: "god, ANOTHER injunction tonight. another footballer. and SUCH a boring one. fucking shit midfielder... he's yet another very ugly married man who's been carrying on with a gold-digging flopsie he should have seen coming a MILE away". Then on 14 May he tweeted "Gareth Barry looks remarkably relaxed when you consider that... first touch for Gareth Barry... not according to what I've heard... time for a bet. what chance Barry to score? tiny fiver on barry to score at 22–1. wdv been nice to get a double with Giggs in the match before... Barry's been pulled off...". This was later deleted but was archived.{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/jimwaterson/status/72247272087367680|title=How bizarre!|author=Jim Waterson|publisher=Twitter| access-date=25 May 2011 | date=22 May 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.information-britain.co.uk/tweeters.php?offset%3D26%26user%3D47583067|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526145231/http://www.information-britain.co.uk/tweeters.php?offset=26&user=47583067|url-status=dead|archive-date=26 May 2011|title=Giles Coren on Twitter (archived)|access-date=23 May 2011}}

On 22 May 2011, it was reported that lawyers at Schillings acting for an England footballer had persuaded the High Court judge Mr. Justice Tugendhat to ask the Attorney General for England and Wales, Dominic Grieve, to consider the criminal prosecution of "a top journalist" over a matter that breached a privacy injunction.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/8530076/Journalist-could-be-jailed-over-Twitter-comments-about-injunctions.html|title=Journalist could be jailed over Twitter comments about injunctions| work=The Daily Telegraph|first=Martin|last=Evans |date= 23 May 2011 | access-date=23 May 2011}} Coren acknowledged on Twitter that he could face jail for contempt of court, saying: "A funny fucking day. The support of twitter has been almost tear-jerking. But I am afraid there won't be room for all of us in the cell. xxx."{{cite web|url=https://twitter.com/gilescoren/status/72405246630047744|title=A funny fucking day|author=Giles Coren|publisher=Twitter| access-date=23 May 2011 | date=22 May 2011}} On 23 May 2011, Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament John Hemming spoke in the House of Commons and used parliamentary privilege to identify Coren as the person involved, leading to an immediate rebuke from Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow.{{cite news|url=http://www.buckinghamtoday.co.uk/news/business/bercow_at_centre_of_giggs_naming_controversy_1_2707730|work=Buckingham Advertiser|publisher=Johnston Publishing|title=Bercow at centre of Giggs naming controversy|date=24 May 2011|access-date=25 May 2011|archive-date=30 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110530081839/http://www.buckinghamtoday.co.uk/news/business/bercow_at_centre_of_giggs_naming_controversy_1_2707730|url-status=dead}}Sky News [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWEEiz19LSI Giggs Named In Commons As Footballer Identified On Twitter In Context Of Injunctions] YouTube, 23 May 2011 In an interview with The Sunday Times on 29 May 2011, Hemming stated that he considered naming both footballers in the Coren controversy, before the Speaker stopped him. Hemming commented that the Speaker was "probably right to do so", and added: "I couldn't be guaranteed his family didn't know, whereas Giggs' name had been chanted on the terraces."{{cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/john-hemming-try-beating-my-26-giggsy-783s20jrk85|title=John Hemming: Try beating my 26, Giggsy|work=The Sunday Times|author=Camilla Long|date=29 May 2011|access-date=23 April 2018}}

According to The Daily Telegraph, the Premier League footballer identified by Coren in the tweets was not Ryan Giggs, and was known in the privacy injunction by the pseudonym TSE.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8532057/Giles-Coren-named-as-journalist-accused-of-breaking-an-injunction.html|title=Giles Coren named as journalist accused of breaking an injunction| work=The Telegraph|date= 23 May 2011 | access-date=25 May 2011}} The case at the High Court of Justice was TSE & ELP v News Group Newspapers Ltd, with TSE being described as "a married footballer" who had been involved in an extra-marital relationship with a woman known as ELP. Neither person had wished The Sun to publish the details of the relationship.{{cite BAILII |litigants=TSE & Anor v News Group Newspapers Ltd|court= EWHC |division=QB |year=2011 |num=1308 |date=19 May 2011 |courtname=auto |juris=England and Wales}} The injunction was granted on 13 May 2011 by Mr. Justice Tugendhat, who accepted claims from the footballer that publication of the details of the relationship "would provoke the cruel chants of supporters." Tugendhat said that aspects of the case had been published on "various electronic media, including Twitter", but added: "the fact that these publications have occurred does not mean that there should be no injunction in this case".{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/8530757/Footballer-granted-injunction-to-avoid-boos-and-cruel-chants-at-Premier-League-games.html|title=Footballer granted injunction to avoid 'boos and cruel chants' at Premier League games|first=Gordon|last=Rayner| work=The Daily Telegraph|date= 23 May 2011 | access-date=25 May 2011}}

In 2012, Coren responded to criticism from then Huffington Post journalist Alice Vincent with the words, "go fuck yourself, you barren old hag."{{Cite news |date=2012-05-19 |title=Just accept it Giles, your new baby has made you go all soft |language=en-GB |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/just-accept-it-giles-your-new-baby-has-made-you-go-all-soft/28750705.html |access-date=2023-09-27 |issn=0307-1235}} Vincent had said a recent column by Coren about his newborn daughter was a "yawn" and "one step up from a mumsnet blogpost."{{Cite news |date=2012-05-19 |title=Just accept it Giles, your new baby has made you go all soft |language=en-GB |work=BelfastTelegraph.co.uk |url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/just-accept-it-giles-your-new-baby-has-made-you-go-all-soft/28750705.html |access-date=2023-09-27 |issn=0307-1235}} Coren's response sparked accusations of misogyny and sexism.{{Cite web |last=Cuddeford |first=Callum |date=2021-11-30 |title=Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby: Giles Coren's famous TV presenter sister |url=https://www.mylondon.news/news/tv/amazing-hotels-giles-coren-life-22314090 |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=MyLondon |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2012-05-14 |title=Diary: How sandwich celebrations were left with a bitter taste |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/diary/diary-how-sandwich-celebrations-were-left-with-a-bitter-taste-a1965751.html |access-date=2023-09-27 |website=The Independent |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Ditum |first=Sarah |date=2012-05-15 |title=Five steps to becoming a heavyweight Twitter fighter |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/may/15/five-steps-heavyweight-twitterfighter-giles-coren |access-date=2023-09-27 |issn=0261-3077}}

In December 2018, it was discovered that Giles Coren had an alternative Twitter account that "he once used to suggest people critical of him were motivated by antisemitism".{{Cite news|url=https://www.indy100.com/article/giles-coren-twitter-alternative-account-pavel-pilnik-jonathan-nunn-wife-antisemitism-8703366|title=Giles Coren made a fake Polish Twitter account to send antisemitic message to critics|date=29 December 2018|website=indy100}} The account stated to be of a Polish plumber with a bio composed in broken English and Coren's book cover as avatar.{{Cite web|title="It gives you the freedom to be violent to other people": what has the alt account become?|url=https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/social-media/2019/01/how-alt-anonymous-account-became-mainstream-trend-what-is-anon|access-date=2020-09-03|date=24 January 2019 |website=www.newstatesman.com|language=en}}

In July 2021, following the death of the journalist Dawn Foster, Coren tweeted the following:

{{cquote|"When someone dies who has trolled you on Twitter, saying vile and hurtful things about you and your family, is it okay to be like, 'I am sorry for the people who loved you, and any human death diminishes me, but, HA HA HA HA HA HA'?"{{Cite tweet |author=Giles Coren |user=gilescoren |number=1417458339894730770 |title=When someone dies who has trolled you on Twitter, saying vile and hurtful things about you and your family, is it okay to be like, "I'm sorry for the people who loved you, and any human death diminishes me, but, HA HA HA HA HA HA"? |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720134712if_/https://twitter.com/gilescoren/status/1417458339894730770 |archive-date=July 20, 2021}}}}

An earlier version of this tweet included the words, "you can fuck off on to hell now where you belong" in place of, "HA HA HA HA HA HA".{{cite web |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/bbc-presenter-giles-coren-deletes-24583750 |title=BBC presenter Giles Coren deletes two 'sick' tweets mocking death after huge backlash |last=Hill |first=Rose |date=July 21, 2021 |work=Daily Mirror |access-date=July 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721175053/https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/bbc-presenter-giles-coren-deletes-24583750 |archive-date=21 July 2021 |url-status=dead }}

Both tweets were quickly deleted but were screen-grabbed and widely shared online.{{cite news |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/family-ties-are-strangling-too-many-talented-youngsters-in-britain-pkfgqdc8z |title=Family ties are strangling too many talented youngsters in Britain|last=Syed|first=Matthew|date=July 25, 2021 |work=The Times|access-date=July 25, 2021}} There was speculation that Coren was upset because of a tweet Foster had written about him that read, "Giles Coren a prime example of how the “if I’ve heard of yer da, I don’t need to hear from you” rule holds for almost every man bar Jesus."{{Cite web |title=Dawn Foster: a voice from the sharp end |url=https://www.redpepper.org.uk/dawn-foster-a-voice-from-the-sharp-end-journalist-tribute-friend/ |access-date=2023-10-13 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2021-07-24 |title=Giles Coren's home hit with graffiti and dog poo protest in row over 'sick' tweets - Mirror Online |website=Daily Mirror |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/giles-corens-home-hit-graffiti-24594294 |access-date=2023-10-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724114050/https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/giles-corens-home-hit-graffiti-24594294 |archive-date=24 July 2021 }} Coren's comments stirred considerable controversy, with several figures in the media criticising him, and some calling for him to lose his jobs with The Times and Times Radio.{{cite web |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/19457975.giles-coren-slammed-sickening-comment-death-journalist-dawn-foster/ |title=Giles Coren slammed for 'sickening' comment after death of journalist Dawn Foster |last=Meighan |first=Craig |date=July 21, 2021 |publisher=The National |access-date=July 21, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721133136/https://www.thenational.scot/news/19457975.giles-coren-slammed-sickening-comment-death-journalist-dawn-foster/ |archive-date=July 21, 2021}} The press regulator IPSO received several complaints but took no action{{cite web |url=https://www.thenational.scot/news/19462738.complaints-ipso-giles-coren-accused-mocking-dawn-fosters-death/ |title=Complaints to IPSO after Giles Coren accused of mocking Dawn Foster's death |last=Nutt |first=Kathleen|date=July 22, 2021 |publisher=The National |access-date=July 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722201953/https://www.thenational.scot/news/19462738.complaints-ipso-giles-coren-accused-mocking-dawn-fosters-death/ |archive-date=July 22, 2021}} and Coren's home in North London was daubed in graffiti paying tribute to Foster. It read: "Dawn Foster Forever".{{cite web |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/graffiti-giles-coren-death-dawn-foster-tweets-b947105.html |title=Giles Coren's home graffitied after he 'mocked journalist's death' |date=July 23, 2021 |publisher=The Evening Standard |access-date=July 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210722141427/https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/graffiti-giles-coren-death-dawn-foster-tweets-b947105.html |archive-date=22 July 2021}} Dog excrement was reportedly left at his property.{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/giles-coren-journalist-dawn-foster-tweet-b1888721.html |title=Giles Coren's home is daubed with 'Dawn Foster Forever' after he was accused of mocking her death in tweets |last=Middleton|first=joe |date=July 23, 2021 |work=The Independent |access-date=July 24, 2021}}

In January 2022, The Times magazine published Coren's review of a new Popeyes branch in Stratford, East London. Coren wrote that "exploiters" of fried chicken recipes in chain restaurants had brought "obesity, sloth, waste, [and] high street degradation" to white communities. In the article Coren wrote:

Isn't fried chicken, in a weird way, a form of race revenge? The thrusting young economies of West Africa now must surely look at a KFC bargain bucket and high-five themselves that their ancestors had the forethought, all those years ago, to provide the means by which white culture would one day poison itself to death.{{Cite news |last=Coren |first=Giles |title=Giles Coren reviews Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, London |newspaper=The Times |language=en |url=https://www.thetimes.com/life-style/food-drink/article/giles-coren-reviews-popeyes-louisiana-kitchen-london-3kths52sr |access-date=2022-08-02 |issn=0140-0460}}

Coren married Esther Walker in 2010,[https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/21388980.giles-coren-will-volcano-ruin-wedding/ www.hamhigh.co.uk]{{Cite web|url=https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/my-kentish-town-journalist-esther-walker-i-married-giles-coren-3452058|title=My Kentish Town: Journalist Esther Walker - 'I married Giles Coren because he had a house in north London'|date=31 August 2013|website=Hampstead Highgate Express}} after courting for three years. A journalist, author and food blogger,{{cite web|url=http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-03-17/giles-coren-on-taxing-the-fat-being-an-urban-food-ponce-and-why-life-wasnt-better-in-the-1950s-2|author=Ellie Austin|work=Radio Times, London|date=17 March 2015|access-date=18 April 2018|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418214125/http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-03-17/giles-coren-on-taxing-the-fat-being-an-urban-food-ponce-and-why-life-wasnt-better-in-the-1950s-2|title=Giles Coren on taxing the fat, being an "urban food ponce" and why life wasn't better in the 1950s|archive-date=18 April 2015}} she is the elder daughter of Angus Walker, Chairman of Hampstead Garden Suburb Trust.[https://hgs.org.uk/suburbnews/sn96/sn-7.pdf www.hgs.org.uk]

The couple have a daughter and a son and live in Kentish Town.Giles Coren, Simpson's Tavern, Times Magazine, London, 22 January 2022, pp. 59-61.{{cite news|url=http://www.thetimes.com/sport/cricket/article/giles-coren-travel-wales-bentley-bentayga-ewb-lbzq2vc23|last=Coren|first=Giles|title=My road trip with my son in a 250,000 pound Bentley|newspaper=The Times|location=London|date=1 September 2023|accessdate=24 October 2024}} He drives a Jaguar I-Pace, which has been stolen more than once.{{cite tweet |last=Coren |first=Giles |author-link=Giles Coren |user=gilescoren |number=1415578950907138051 |date=15 July 2021 |title=They've stolen my fucking car AGAIN!!!! Cost me three grand to reset the keys and put in a new tracking system after last time and what good does it do? FUCK ALL. If you see a black Jaguar ipace reg ending JVN could you tell me? I'll give you a million pounds. |language=en |access-date=26 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210720181946/https://twitter.com/gilescoren/status/1415578950907138051 |archive-date=20 July 2021 |url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=https://uk.sports.yahoo.com/news/giles-coren-blasts-met-police-123942202.html|title=Giles Coren's £65,000 eco-jag stolen for second time|website=uk.sports.yahoo.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/showbiz-tv/giles-coren-livid-65000-jaguar-21061987|title=Giles Coren livid as £65k Jaguar stolen for second time in three months|first=James|last=Rodger|date=15 July 2021|website=BirminghamLive}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/giles-coren-metropolitan-police-jaguar-car-theft-highgate-london-crime-b946136.html|title=Giles Coren's £65,000 eco-jag stolen for second time|first=Abbianca|last=Makoni|date=16 July 2021|website=www.standard.co.uk}}

Coren, who had grown up in a secular Jewish family and had previously embraced atheism early in his life, converted to Anglicanism in 2025.{{cite news |last1=Coren |first1=Giles |title=This Lent I will turn atheism to ashes |url=https://anglican.ink/2025/03/15/this-lent-i-will-turn-atheism-to-ashes/ |access-date=16 April 2025 |work=Anglican Ink |date=16 March 2025}}

• Coren, Giles Winkler; London: Jonathan Cape Ltd, 2005
• Coren, Giles Anger Management for Beginners: A Self-Help Course in 70 Lessons; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010
• Coren, Giles How to Eat Out: Lessons from a Life Lived Mostly in Restaurants; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2012

{{Reflist|30em}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070210125009/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/giles_coren/ Giles Coren articles] – Times Online {{subscription required}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080513101812/http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/eating_out/giles_coren/ Giles Coren reviews] – Times Online {{subscription required}}
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20797918 "Five Minutes With: Giles Coren"] – interview with BBC News, 20 December 2012

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Category:1969 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Paddington

Category:People educated at The Hall School, Hampstead

Category:English people of Polish-Jewish descent

Category:Jewish British writers

Category:People educated at Westminster School, London

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Giles