Editing Alan Coren (section)

==Early life and education==
Alan Coren was born into an [[Orthodox Judaism|Orthodox Jewish]] family in [[East Barnet]], Hertfordshire, in 1938, the son of builder and plumber Samuel Coren and his wife Martha, a hairdresser.<ref name="auto">{{Cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alan-coren-395092.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091017112744/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/alan-coren-395092.html |archive-date=2009-10-17 |url-access=limited |url-status=live |title=Alan Coren |date=20 October 2007 |newspaper=The Independent |language=en |access-date=2019-12-19}}</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-99146|title=Coren, Alan (1938–2007), humorous writer|year=2004|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/99146}}</ref> In the introduction to ''Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks: The Essential Alan Coren'', Alan's children [[Giles Coren|Giles]] and [[Victoria Coren Mitchell|Victoria Coren]] conclude that their grandfather Samuel Coren was "an odd job man really" and had also apparently been a debt collector.<ref name="Barnet">{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r7pVyVt56vMC&pg=PA6 |last=Coren |first=Alan |title=Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks |chapter=Foreword by Giles and Victoria Coren |date=2008 |location=Edinburgh |page=6 |isbn=978-1-921520-65-5}} There is some uncertainty regarding the father's occupation: the source describes him as "A plumber?... That's what they said... He was an odd job man really."</ref>

Coren was educated at Osidge Primary School and [[East Barnet School|East Barnet Grammar School]].<ref name="Barnet"/> Having gained a scholarship, he studied English at [[Wadham College, Oxford]]. He graduated from the [[University of Oxford]] with a [[British undergraduate degree classification|first class]] Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in 1960: as per tradition, his BA was promoted to a [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] (MA Oxon) degree.<ref name="Tele Obit">{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1566736/Alan-Coren.html |title=Obituary – Alan Coren |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=20 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="BBC Obit">{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7052749.stm |title=Obituary: Alan Coren |publisher=BBC |date=19 October 2007}}</ref><ref name="WWW">{{cite web |title=Coren, Alan, (27 June 1938–18 Oct. 2007), writer and broadcaster |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whoswho/U11891 |website=[[Who Was Who]] |publisher=Oxford University Press |access-date=12 October 2023 |language=en |date=1 December 2016}}</ref> Having won a [[Harkness Fellowship]], he then studied for a doctorate in [[American literature|modern American literature]] at [[Yale University]] and the [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name="Tele Obit"/> He did not complete his PhD.<ref name="WWW" />