Giles Coren Biography

(Food Writer)

Birthday: July 29, 1969 (Leo)

Born In: Paddington, London, Eng;and

Giles Coren is a British food writer, a restaurant critic and a television and radio presenter. Since 1993, he has worked as a columnist and restaurant critic for The Times newspaper. He won the ‘Food and Drink Writer of the Year’ award at the 2005 British Press Awards and was named the restaurant writer of the year at the 2016 Fortnum and Mason Awards. Apart from The Times, he has also written, as a restaurant critic, for various other publications like The Independent and Tatler. On television, he has presented numerous shows, most notably Back In Time series, Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby, Our Food, Million Dollar Critic and The Supersizers Eat series. Coren is also a successful radio show and podcast host. As an author, he has published a novel as well as other nonfiction book, including the best seller How To Eat Out. In his career, he has attracted controversies numerous time – for breaching privacy injunction, writing abusive emails to colleagues and also for his fake Polish Twitter account.

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Quick Facts

British Celebrities Born In July

Also Known As: Giles Robin Patrick Coren

Age: 54 Years, 54 Year Old Males

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Esther Walker (m. 2010)

father: Alan Coren

mother: Anne Kasriel

siblings: Victoria Coren Mitchell

children: Kitty Coren, Sam Coren

Born Country: England

Journalists TV Presenters

Height: 5'9" (175 cm), 5'9" Males

City: London, England

Notable Alumni: Keble College, Oxford

Grouping of People: Jewish Writer

More Facts

education: University Of Oxford, Keble College, Oxford

Childhood & Early Life

Giles Coren was born on 29 July 1969 in Paddington, London to Anne and Alan Coren. He has a younger sister, Victoria Coren Mitchell, who is a journalist.

His father was an English humourist, writer and satirist who was a regular panellist of the BBC Radio quiz show The News Quiz and also worked as the editor of Punch magazine.

For his school education, Giles first attended The Hall School in Hampstead, London and then went to Westminster School in central London. Later, he did graduation in English from Keble College, Oxford University.

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Career

Beginning 1993, Giles Coren began working as a restaurant critic for the British newspaper The Times. He has written columns on personal life and politics for the newspaper as well.

He also wrote The Intellectual’s Guide to Fashion for The Sunday Times under the name of Professor Gideon Garter.

In 1997, British inventor and industrial designer James Dyson, who is known for inventing Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, acknowledged him as the co-author of his autobiography Against the Odds.

He has written for various other publications including Tatler, GQ and Time Out magazine and served as the editor at large for the Esquire magazine.

In 2005, his debut novel Winkler came out. The book is a comic account of one man’s quest for meaning, identity and a suitable response to the burden of history.

In 2005 again, he entered television and began contributing to chef Gordon Ramsay's food magazine and cookery programme The F-Word on Channel 4.

In 2006, he presented television show Tax the Fat which was about clinical obesity and its resultant cost on NHS. The same year he also presented a film and DVD review programme Movie Lounge.

In 2006-2007, he became the series presenter of Greatest Ever Movies countdown on Channel 5. The series comprised six documentaries/specials/miniseries wherein Channel5 viewers and readers of The Times selected the top film in six different genres: scary, romantic, blockbuster, disaster and 80s movies.

In 2007, he co-presented, along with Dr Olivia Judson, a television movie documentary Animal Farm.

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During the same time, he also featured in numerous television commercials promoting Birds Eye frozen foods.

Between 2007 and 2009, he starred in the The Supersizers series wherein he and British comedian Sue Perkins tried to live in different eras to figure out the effect of different lifestyle on their health.

In 2010, the columns that he penned for The Times were compiled and published in a book called Anger Management (For Beginners).

In 2012, Giles Coren’s another book, How To Eat Out, was published and became a bestseller.

In 2012, he presented a television series documentary, Our Food, for BBC UK wherein he went around the country and spoke about different local foods.

In 2013, he presented two shows - Passover - Why is this night different? and 12 Drinks of Christmas (together with Alexander Armstrong) - for BBC1.

In 2014, he became the tasting expert in a cooking competition show Pressure Cooker.

The beginning of 2015 saw him assuming the hosting responsibilities of Million Dollar Critic for BBC America. The series saw him visiting different restaurants in North America to find one that could get his positive approval.

A couple of months later, he presented a television movie documentary Eat to Live Forever with Giles Coren.

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Between 2015 and 2017, Coren and social historian Polly Russell co-presented (except for one) Back in Time television series documentary wherein families travel back in time to find out how, over the period of time, food, leisure and society has changed.

These documentary series include Back in Time for Dinner (6 episodes, 2015), Back in Time for Christmas (2 episodes, 2015), Back in Time for the Weekend (6 episodes, 2016), Back in Time for Brixton (2 episodes co-presented with Emma Dabiri, 2016) and Further Back in Time for Dinner (6 episodes, 2017).

The year 2016 also saw him hosting tv documentary short, My Failed Novel and an eight part series Fake! The Great Masterpiece Challenge (together with art historian Rose Balston) for Sky Arts channel. The same year he presented ITV’s four part game show 500 Questions.

In 2017, he presented a documentary I Hate Jane Austen and began presenting Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby along with Monica Galetti. The latter series has aired 3 seasons till 2020.

In 2018, Giles Coren edited dining guidebook Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery: A Guide to the Truly Good Restaurants and Food Experiences (for the UK as well as World edition).

In 2019 documentary - Heston's Marvellous Menu: Back to the Noughties - he challenged celebrated chef Heston Blumenthal to takes his restaurant back to 2001 and prepare dish inspired by the past.

Since July 2019, Giles Coren has co-hosted, along with his wife journalist Esther Walker, a podcast ‘Giles Coren has no idea’ podcast launched by The Times and Wireless Studios. The podcast became a success and he was hired by talkRADIO to host his own radio show on Sunday nights. In 2020, he began hosting Friday afternoon show on Times Radio.

Over the years, Giles Coren has been embroiled in numerous controversies including expressing anti-Polish sentiment, sending abusive emails to colleagues and breaching privacy injunction.

Awards & Achievements

In 2005, Giles Coren was named Food And Drink Writer of the Year by the British Press Awards.

In the 2016 Fortnum and Mason awards, he bagged the Restaurant Writer of the Year award.

Family & Personal Life

Giles Coren met Esther Walker, a journalist, author and food blogger, in 2007 and the two eventually wedded in 2010. The couple have two children Kitty and Sam. The family lives in Kentish town, north London.

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How To Cite

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- Giles Coren Biography
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