Victoria Coren
Encyclopedia
Victoria Elizabeth Coren (born 18 August 1972) is a British
writer
, presenter
and champion poker
player. Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer
and The Guardian
newspaper
s and hosts the BBC Four
television quiz show Only Connect
.
. She is the daughter of the humorist and journalist
Alan Coren
and the sister of journalist Giles Coren
. She is a graduate of St John's College, Oxford
, and has said that she regularly stays up until 6 am, 'Smoking, and drinking and gambling. But I like cooking and gardening too, which makes me sound like a very strange mix of an old lady and teenage boy.' When asked about this she stated: 'It is still true. I'll grow up one day, but not quite yet.'
actor and comedian David Mitchell
, although neither party has confirmed this.
Her books include Love 16 and Once More, with Feeling
, about her attempt (with co-author Charlie Skelton
) to make the best hardcore
porn
movie ever. This came off the back of their jobs reviewing porn films for the Erotic Review
—a job which led them to believe that most of what they were watching was terrible and that they could make better films themselves.
Coren adapted the newspaper columns of John Diamond
into a play called A Lump In My Throat which was performed at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, the Grace Theatre and New End Theatre in London, before Coren adapted it again for a TV play on BBC2 starring Neil Pearson
.
Victoria and Giles Coren wrote an introduction to Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks, an anthology of the best comic writing by their father Alan Coren, published by Canongate in October 2008.
Her poker memoir
For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker was published in September 2009, and was well reviewed in The Times and the Observer, as well as other places.
in order to trap a group who turned up to memorial services for people they had never actually met. She created the fictitious and recently deceased Sir William Ormerod, and placed an advertisement in the main British newspapers for his memorial service "followed by a drinks reception". Coren reported that the group duly applied for tickets claiming to have known Ormerod.
and the first player to win both a televised professional tournament (EPT London 2006) and a televised celebrity tournament (Celebrity Poker Club 2005). She frequently plays at the Victoria Casino in London's Edgware Road
, where she plays Texas hold 'em
. As a commentator/presenter, Coren has presented Late Night Poker and The Poker Nations Cup for Channel 4, World Poker Tour for ITV2 and commentated on The Monte Carlo EPT, Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (Channel 4), Ultimate Poker Challenge (Channel 5) and William Hill Poker Grand Prix 2 (Sky Sports). During her poker career, Coren has become a close friend of The Hendon Mob
, and mixes weekly home games with frequent visits to two regular casinos. Coren appeared in five episodes of Late Night Poker
, although she never made it to a series grand final. However in Late Night Poker' s spin-off Celebrity Poker Club
, she defeated Willie Thorne
to win the series two grand final before joining Jesse May
as the commentator in series three. In the 2003 Hold-Em 100 tournament in London
she was a guest dealer for the final table.
On 24 September 2006, Coren won the main event of the European Poker Tour
(EPT) London earning a prize of £500,000. After a four-day event she found herself heads up with Australian professional Emad Tahtouh. After only two hands of heads-up play the table saw a flop of 5-3-4. Tahtouh bet out and Coren called. After a 10 on the turn, Tahtouh moved all-in and Coren called instantly. Tahtouh showed 8-6, and Coren had 6-7. Having flopped the straight and avoiding a seven on the river to give Tahtouh a higher straight, she defeated her opponent. As of 2008, her total live tournament winnings exceeds $1,200,000. Coren is a member of Team PokerStars
Pro.
On 20th November, 2011, Coren finished 2nd in the International Federation of Poker's inaugural The Table World Championship, eventually losing heads-up with 29-year-old Spaniard Raul Mestre. She received $100,000 for 2nd place, $10,000 of which she donated to Age UK.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
and champion poker
Poker
Poker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
player. Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
newspaper
Newspaper
A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...
s and hosts the BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
television quiz show Only Connect
Only Connect
Only Connect is a quiz show programme first shown on BBC Four on 15 September 2008, presented by Victoria Coren. In the series, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Radio Timess listings usually describe it as "a game of patience and lateral...
.
Early life and education
Coren was born in North LondonNorth London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
. She is the daughter of the humorist and journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Alan Coren
Alan Coren
Alan Coren was an English humorist, writer and satirist who was well known as a regular panellist on the BBC radio quiz The News Quiz and a team captain on BBC television's Call My Bluff...
and the sister of journalist Giles Coren
Giles Coren
Giles Coren is a British food critic, television presenter and novelist. He is known for expressing controversial opinions, and for his television appearances with the comedian Sue Perkins.-Personal:...
. She is a graduate of St John's College, Oxford
St John's College, Oxford
__FORCETOC__St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, one of the larger Oxford colleges with approximately 390 undergraduates, 200 postgraduates and over 100 academic staff. It was founded by Sir Thomas White, a merchant, in 1555, whose heart is buried in the chapel of...
, and has said that she regularly stays up until 6 am, 'Smoking, and drinking and gambling. But I like cooking and gardening too, which makes me sound like a very strange mix of an old lady and teenage boy.' When asked about this she stated: 'It is still true. I'll grow up one day, but not quite yet.'
Personal life
Coren lives in London and has been romantically linked to Peep ShowPeep Show (TV series)
Peep Show is a British sitcom starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb. The television programme is written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, with additional material by Mitchell and Webb themselves, amongst others. It has been broadcast on Channel 4 since 2003. The show's seventh series makes it...
actor and comedian David Mitchell
David Mitchell (actor)
David James Stuart Mitchell is a British actor, comedian and writer. He is half of the comedy duo Mitchell and Webb, alongside Robert Webb, whom he met at Cambridge University. There they were both part of the Cambridge Footlights, of which Mitchell became President. Together the duo star in the...
, although neither party has confirmed this.
Writing
Aged 14, she won a competition in the Daily Telegraph to write a column about teenage life for their "Weekend" section, which she continued writing for several years.Her books include Love 16 and Once More, with Feeling
Once More, with Feeling (book)
Once More, with Feeling: How We Tried to Make the Greatest Porn Film Ever is a book by Victoria Coren and Charlie Skelton published in 2003. The authors, whose only experience of the porn industry was as journalists for the Erotic Review magazine, set out to make a porn movie which would differ...
, about her attempt (with co-author Charlie Skelton
Charlie Skelton
Charlie Skelton is a comedy writer and actor from Suffolk, England.An Oxford University graduate, he started out as a journalist, writing features for the Evening Standard and The Guardian...
) to make the best hardcore
Hardcore pornography
Hardcore pornography is a form of pornography that features explicit sexual acts. The term was coined in the second half of the 20th century to distinguish it from softcore pornography. It usually takes the form of photographs, often displayed in magazines or on the Internet, or films. It can also...
porn
PORN
Porn is a common short form for pornography. It may also refer to:* Progressive outer retinal necrosis, a disease of the retina* PORN, a French industrial rock band...
movie ever. This came off the back of their jobs reviewing porn films for the Erotic Review
Erotic Review
Erotic Review is a monthly UK-based lifestyle publication. Covering eroticism and sex-related topics, it was first published in 1995 as a print magazine, migrating to an eZine format in June, 2010...
—a job which led them to believe that most of what they were watching was terrible and that they could make better films themselves.
Coren adapted the newspaper columns of John Diamond
John Diamond (journalist)
John Diamond was a British broadcaster and journalist.- Education and training :Diamond was the son of a biochemist and a fashion designer. He grew up in Upper Clapton and Woodford Green, he then attended the City of London School and trained as an English teacher at Trent Park College of...
into a play called A Lump In My Throat which was performed at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh, the Grace Theatre and New End Theatre in London, before Coren adapted it again for a TV play on BBC2 starring Neil Pearson
Neil Pearson
Neil Joshua Pearson is a British actor best known for his work on television.-Biography:Pearson grew up in Battersea, London, the son of a panel beater, who left home when he was five, and a legal secretary, and was educated at Woolverstone Hall School, Suffolk, a boarding school, where he first...
.
Victoria and Giles Coren wrote an introduction to Chocolate and Cuckoo Clocks, an anthology of the best comic writing by their father Alan Coren, published by Canongate in October 2008.
Her poker memoir
Memoir
A memoir , is a literary genre, forming a subclass of autobiography – although the terms 'memoir' and 'autobiography' are almost interchangeable. Memoir is autobiographical writing, but not all autobiographical writing follows the criteria for memoir set out below...
For Richer, For Poorer: A Love Affair with Poker was published in September 2009, and was well reviewed in The Times and the Observer, as well as other places.
Ormerod hoax
In December 2008, Coren revealed that in 2007 she had instigated a hoaxHoax
A hoax is a deliberately fabricated falsehood made to masquerade as truth. It is distinguishable from errors in observation or judgment, or rumors, urban legends, pseudosciences or April Fools' Day events that are passed along in good faith by believers or as jokes.-Definition:The British...
in order to trap a group who turned up to memorial services for people they had never actually met. She created the fictitious and recently deceased Sir William Ormerod, and placed an advertisement in the main British newspapers for his memorial service "followed by a drinks reception". Coren reported that the group duly applied for tickets claiming to have known Ormerod.
Poker
Coren was the first woman to win an event on the European Poker TourEuropean Poker Tour
The Pokerstars European Poker Tour is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour , created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity...
and the first player to win both a televised professional tournament (EPT London 2006) and a televised celebrity tournament (Celebrity Poker Club 2005). She frequently plays at the Victoria Casino in London's Edgware Road
Edgware Road (London)
Edgware Road is a major street which passes through the west of central London, England, starting at Marble Arch in the City of Westminster and working its way up to Edgware in the London Borough of Barnet. It is also the divider of several North London boroughs...
, where she plays Texas hold 'em
Texas hold 'em
Texas Hold 'em is a variation of the standard card game of poker. The game consists of two cards being dealt face down to each player and then five community cards being placed face-up by the dealer—a series of three then two additional single cards , with...
. As a commentator/presenter, Coren has presented Late Night Poker and The Poker Nations Cup for Channel 4, World Poker Tour for ITV2 and commentated on The Monte Carlo EPT, Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (Channel 4), Ultimate Poker Challenge (Channel 5) and William Hill Poker Grand Prix 2 (Sky Sports). During her poker career, Coren has become a close friend of The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob
The Hendon Mob are a group of four professional poker players from London, England:* Joe Beevers* Barny Boatman* Ross Boatman* Ram VaswaniThe name of the group was first publicised by the Evening Standard newspaper in September 2000....
, and mixes weekly home games with frequent visits to two regular casinos. Coren appeared in five episodes of Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker
Late Night Poker is the pioneering television show that helped pave the way for the explosion of interest in poker in the 2000's. With it's ground breaking use of "under the table" cameras that enabled the viewer to see each player's cards, the show became a cult hit on Channel 4 UK when it first...
, although she never made it to a series grand final. However in Late Night Poker
Celebrity Poker Club
Celebrity Poker Club was a British television series featuring celebrities playing poker. It aired on Challenge from 2003 to 2005 as a spin-off to Channel 4's popular Late Night Poker series...
, she defeated Willie Thorne
Willie Thorne
William Joseph "Willie" Thorne , is a former English professional snooker player and now a sports commentator.Thorne became national under-16 champion at both snooker and English billiards in 1970...
to win the series two grand final before joining Jesse May
Jesse May
Jesse May is an American poker commentator and player.Jesse May was raised in Madison, New Jersey, where he first became hooked on poker playing with friends. In 1988 he started attending The University of Chicago, but he found that classes were clashing with his poker games, and so dropped out...
as the commentator in series three. In the 2003 Hold-Em 100 tournament in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
she was a guest dealer for the final table.
On 24 September 2006, Coren won the main event of the European Poker Tour
European Poker Tour
The Pokerstars European Poker Tour is a series of poker tournaments similar to those in the World Poker Tour , created by John Duthie, winner of the inaugural Poker Million tournament. It began in 2004 as part of the worldwide explosion in Texas Hold 'em popularity...
(EPT) London earning a prize of £500,000. After a four-day event she found herself heads up with Australian professional Emad Tahtouh. After only two hands of heads-up play the table saw a flop of 5-3-4. Tahtouh bet out and Coren called. After a 10 on the turn, Tahtouh moved all-in and Coren called instantly. Tahtouh showed 8-6, and Coren had 6-7. Having flopped the straight and avoiding a seven on the river to give Tahtouh a higher straight, she defeated her opponent. As of 2008, her total live tournament winnings exceeds $1,200,000. Coren is a member of Team PokerStars
PokerStars
PokerStars is the largest online poker cardroom in the world. PokerStars' satellite tournaments produced the 2003 World Series of Poker champion, Chris Moneymaker. 1983 champion Tom McEvoy, 2005 champion Joe Hachem, 2009 champion Joe Cada and 2010 champion Jonathan Duhamel and others also represent...
Pro.
On 20th November, 2011, Coren finished 2nd in the International Federation of Poker's inaugural The Table World Championship, eventually losing heads-up with 29-year-old Spaniard Raul Mestre. She received $100,000 for 2nd place, $10,000 of which she donated to Age UK.
TV and radio credits
- Off The Page - Presenter
- Fourth Column - Presenter
- The Pedants' Revolt - Herself
- I Love the 80sI Love the '80s (U.K. TV series)I Love the '80s is a BBC television mini-series that examines the pop culture of the 1980s. It was commissioned following the success of I Love the '70s and is part of the I Love... series. I Love 1980 premiered on BBC Two on 13 January 2001 and the last, I Love 1989, on . Unlike with I Love the...
- Herself (2001) - Double Entry - Judge (2003)
- Balderdash and PiffleBalderdash and PiffleBalderdash and Piffle was a British television programme made by Takeaway Media for the BBC. Presented by Victoria Coren, it was a companion to the Oxford English Dictionary's Wordhunt, in which the writers of the dictionary asked the public for help in finding the origins and first known citations...
- Presenter (2006–2007) - Only ConnectOnly ConnectOnly Connect is a quiz show programme first shown on BBC Four on 15 September 2008, presented by Victoria Coren. In the series, teams compete in a tournament of finding connections between seemingly unrelated clues. Radio Timess listings usually describe it as "a game of patience and lateral...
- Host (2008–present) - HeresyHeresy (radio series)This article is about the British talk show, for other uses see heresy Heresy is a comedy talk show on BBC Radio 4, now presented by Victoria Coren and formerly by David Baddiel...
- Presenter (2008–present) - You Have Been WatchingYou Have Been WatchingYou Have Been Watching is a British comedy panel game presented by Charlie Brooker, produced by Zeppotron for Channel 4 and filmed at BBC Television Centre and Riverside Studios in London. It first aired on Tuesday 7 July 2009, for a weekly eight-episode run...
- Guest (2009–2010) - The Wright StuffThe Wright StuffThe Wright Stuff is a British television chat show, hosted by Matthew Wright, and currently airing on Channel 5 each weekday morning from 9:15 to 11:10am....
- Guest panellist (2009, 2010) - The BubbleThe Bubble (UK TV series)-Further reading:*...
- Herself (2010) - Question TimeQuestion Time (TV series)Question Time is a topical debate BBC television programme in the United Kingdom, based on Any Questions?. The show typically features politicians from at least the three major political parties as well as other public figures who answer questions put to them by the audience...
- Guest panellist (2010) - Have I Got News for YouHave I Got News for YouHave I Got News for You is a British television panel show produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC. It is based loosely on the BBC Radio 4 show The News Quiz, and has been broadcast since 1990, currently the BBC's longest-ever running television panel show...
- Guest panellist (2010-2011) - My Teenage Diary - Herself (2010)
- Frank Skinner's OpinionatedFrank Skinner's OpinionatedFrank Skinner's Opinionated is a British television comedy talk show hosted by comedian Frank Skinner and produced by Avalon for the BBC. The show focusses on various topics in the previous week's news, with Skinner joined by two celebrity guests, also interacting with the studio audience. Each...
- Herself (2011) - Would I Lie to You - Herself (2011)