Giles Coren
Encyclopedia
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
.
, London, the son of British humorist Alan Coren
and elder brother of journalist Victoria Coren
. He was educated at The Hall School
in Hampstead
, Westminster School
, and read English at Keble College, Oxford
.
He lives in Kentish Town
, Camden
, London
, with his wife Esther Walker.
for the British newspaper The Times
since 1999, and was named 2005 "Food And Drink Writer of the Year". As well as restaurant reviews, he also contributes a 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 in The Sunday Times
.
as the co-author of his autobiography published in 1997.
In 2005, he published his first novel, Winkler, reviewed in The New Statesman
and The Independent
One section of the novel won the Literary Reviews "Bad Sex in Fiction Award".
's The F-Word
. In June 2006 he presented a programme on the digital channel More4
, entitled Tax the Fat, about clinical obesity and the cost it presents to the NHS
. He co-presented the Channel 4
series Animal Farm with Dr. Olivia Judson
in March 2007. Around the same time, he appeared in a series of television commercials advertising Birds Eye
frozen foods. Also in 2006, Coren presented the film and DVD review programme Movie Lounge
.
With Sue Perkins, Coren starred in Edwardian Supersize Me; the two spent a week on the diet of a wealthy Edwardian couple, for a BBC Four
documentary
shown in December 2007. The pair were reunited for a series (The Supersizers Go...
) broadcast in May 2008 on BBC Two
. From 15 June 2009 the pair hosted The Supersizers Eat..., which began with an episode on the cuisine of the 1980s and went on to look at the 50s, 20s, the French Revolution, Medieval culture, and ancient Rome.
'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, to take issue with a colleague's removal of an indefinite article (an "a") from his piece, which he believed ruined the joke in his last line. The joke was lost in the change from "a nosh
" to "nosh
". The Guardians leak was further covered in other newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph
. The exchange was reprinted in the American magazine Harper's
a few months later.
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 used the racial slur "Polack
" to describe immigrant Poles
, 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".
Coren's piece led to many Times letters protesting against anti-Polish sentiment and detailing the rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
's Prof. Antony Polonsky wrote: "Coren is incorrect to state that there have been no attempts to deal with the complex and painful Polish-Jewish past." Polish ambassador Barbara Tuge-Erecińska
wrote: "the issue of Polish–Jewish relations
has been unfairly and deeply falsified." Coren's comments led to a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission
, an early day motion
in the UK parliament, and a critical editorial in The Economist
.
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
.". He also told The Jewish Chronicle
: "Fuck the Poles". 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
lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights
.
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". 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."
(often incorrectly described as a super-injunction) by posting on his Twitter
feed: "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. The political blog
ger Paul Staines
, who writes under the pen name
"Guido Fawkes", commented: "It is late, you’ve had a few drinks, you tweet something you wouldn’t if you were sober", and added: "This is possibly Coren’s funniest work for ages…"
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. 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." On 23 May 2011, Liberal Democrat
Member of Parliament John Hemming
spoke in the House of Commons and used parliamentary privilege
to identify The Times
journalist Giles Coren as the person involved, leading to an immediate rebuke from Speaker of the House of Commons
John Bercow
. In an interview with The Sunday Times
on 29 May 2011, Hemming revealed 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."
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. The case at the High Court
in London
was TSE & ELP v News Group Newspapers Ltd, with TSE being described as "a married footballer" who been in involved an extra-marital relationship with a woman known as ELP. Neither person had wished The Sun to publish the details of the relationship. 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”.
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...
food critic, television presenter and novelist. He is known for expressing controversial opinions, and for his television appearances with the comedian Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins
Sue Perkins is an English comedienne, broadcaster, actress, and writer.-Education:Perkins was educated at Croham Hurst School, an independent school for girls in Croydon in South London, at the same time as the BBC Breakfast News presenter Susanna Reid...
.
Personal
Coren was born in PaddingtonPaddington
Paddington is a district within the City of Westminster, in central London, England. Formerly a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965...
, London, the son of British humorist 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 elder brother of journalist Victoria Coren
Victoria Coren
Victoria Elizabeth Coren is a British writer, presenter and champion poker player. Coren writes weekly columns for The Observer and The Guardian newspapers and hosts the BBC Four television quiz show Only Connect....
. He was educated at The Hall School
Hall School (Hampstead)
The Hall School is an independent boys' preparatory school in Belsize Park, Hampstead, London, currently teaching boys from the age of four to thirteen.-Description:The school is known for high academic standards...
in Hampstead
Hampstead
Hampstead is an area of London, England, north-west of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Camden in Inner London, it is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations and for Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland...
, Westminster School
Westminster School
The Royal College of St. Peter in Westminster, almost always known as Westminster School, is one of Britain's leading independent schools, with the highest Oxford and Cambridge acceptance rate of any secondary school or college in Britain...
, and read English at Keble College, Oxford
Keble College, Oxford
Keble College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its main buildings are on Parks Road, opposite the University Museum and the University Parks. The college is bordered to the north by Keble Road, to the south by Museum Road, and to the west by Blackhall...
.
He lives in Kentish Town
Kentish Town
Kentish Town is an area of north west London, England in the London Borough of Camden.-History:The most widely accepted explanation of the name of Kentish Town is that it derived from 'Ken-ditch' meaning the 'bed of a waterway'...
, Camden
Camden
- Australia :* Camden, New South Wales** Camden Council ** Electoral district of Camden- England :* London Borough of Camden** Camden Town, an area in the borough* Camden School for Girls- United States :* Camden, Alabama* Camden, Arkansas...
, 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...
, with his wife Esther Walker.
Newspapers
Coren has been a columnistColumnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
for the British newspaper The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
since 1999, and was named 2005 "Food And Drink Writer of the Year". As well as restaurant reviews, he also contributes a column to The Times, the subjects of which range from personal life to politics. Under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
'Professor Gideon Garter', he wrote The Intellectual's Guide to Fashion in The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times (UK)
The Sunday Times is a Sunday broadsheet newspaper, distributed in the United Kingdom. The Sunday Times is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News International, which is in turn owned by News Corporation. Times Newspapers also owns The Times, but the two papers were founded...
.
Books
Coren is credited by inventor James DysonJames Dyson
Sir James Dyson is a British industrial designer and founder of the Dyson company.He is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. His net worth in 2011 was said to be £1.45 billion.-Early life:Dyson was born in...
as the co-author of his autobiography published in 1997.
In 2005, he published his first novel, Winkler, reviewed in The New Statesman
The New Statesman
The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time...
and The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
One section of the novel won the Literary Reviews "Bad Sex in Fiction Award".
Television
In autumn 2005 Coren appeared as a regular correspondent on Gordon RamsayGordon Ramsay
Gordon James Ramsay, OBE is a Scottish chef, television personality and restaurateur. He has been awarded 13 Michelin stars....
's The F-Word
The F-Word
The F Word is a British food magazine and cooking show featuring chef Gordon Ramsay. The programme covers a wide range of topics, from recipes to food preparation and celebrity food fads. The programme is made by Optomen Television and aired weekly on Channel 4...
. In June 2006 he presented a programme on the digital channel More4
More4
More4 is a digital television channel, run by British broadcaster Channel 4, that launched on 10 October 2005. It is carried on Freeview, on satellite broadcasters Freesat and Sky, UK IPTV broadcaster TalkTalk TV and on UK cable network Virgin Media and in the Republic of Ireland cable networks...
, entitled Tax the Fat, about clinical obesity and the cost it presents to the NHS
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
. He co-presented the Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
series Animal Farm with Dr. Olivia Judson
Olivia Judson
Doctor Olivia P. Judson is an evolutionary biologist and science writer.- Career :Judson, who is the daughter of science historian Horace Freeland Judson,was a pupil of W.D. Hamilton....
in March 2007. Around the same time, he appeared in a series of television commercials advertising Birds Eye
Birds Eye
__FORCETOC__Birds Eye is an international brand of frozen foods owned by Pinnacle Foods in North America and by private equity group Permira in Europe....
frozen foods. Also in 2006, Coren presented the film and DVD review programme Movie Lounge
Movie Lounge
Movie Lounge was a movie and DVD review television show, presented by newspaper columnist and food critic Giles Coren. It was shown on the British terrestrial channel Five.-Celebrity guests:...
.
With Sue Perkins, Coren starred in Edwardian Supersize Me; the two spent a week on the diet of a wealthy Edwardian couple, for a 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....
documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
shown in December 2007. The pair were reunited for a series (The Supersizers Go...
The Supersizers Go...
The Supersizers Go... and The Supersizers Eat... are BBC television series about the history of food, mainly in Britain. Both are presented by journalist and restaurant critic Giles Coren and broadcaster and comedian Sue Perkins....
) broadcast in May 2008 on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
. From 15 June 2009 the pair hosted The Supersizers Eat..., which began with an episode on the cuisine of the 1980s and went on to look at the 50s, 20s, the French Revolution, Medieval culture, and ancient Rome.
Leaked e-mail to subeditors
On 23 July 2008 The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
's media blog published an email from Coren to sub-editors at The Times. Coren's internal Times email used profanity
Profanity
Profanity is a show of disrespect, or a desecration or debasement of someone or something. Profanity can take the form of words, expressions, gestures, or other social behaviors that are socially constructed or interpreted as insulting, rude, vulgar, obscene, desecrating, or other forms.The...
, the use of which he defends, to take issue with a colleague's removal of an indefinite article (an "a") from his piece, which he believed ruined the joke in his last line. The joke was lost in the change from "a nosh
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
" to "nosh
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
". The Guardians leak was further covered in other newspapers, including The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
. The exchange was reprinted in the American magazine Harper's
Harper's Magazine
Harper's Magazine is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts, with a generally left-wing perspective. It is the second-oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. . The current editor is Ellen Rosenbush, who replaced Roger Hodge in January 2010...
a few months later.
Polish controversy
In his next article, on 26 July 2008, Coren said his Jewish ancestors had been persecutedPersecution
Persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or group by another group. The most common forms are religious persecution, ethnic persecution, and political persecution, though there is naturally some overlap between these terms. The inflicting of suffering, harassment, isolation,...
by Poles
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
. He stated that Poles used to burn Jews in synagogues for entertainment at Easter
Easter
Easter is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
; and that Poland is in denial about its role in the Holocaust. He used the racial slur "Polack
Polack
The noun Polack , in the contemporary English language, is a derogatory reference to a person of Polish descent. It is an Anglicisation of the Polish language word Polak, which means a Polish male person...
" to describe immigrant Poles
Polish British
Polish migration to the United Kingdom describes the temporary or permanent migration of Poles to the United Kingdom . Most Polish migrants to the UK emigrated after two major events, the Polish Resettlement Act 1947 and the 2004 enlargement of the European Union...
, 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".
Coren's piece led to many Times letters protesting against anti-Polish sentiment and detailing the rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
Rescue of Jews by Poles during the Holocaust
Polish Jews were the primary victims of the German Nazi-organized Holocaust. Throughout the German occupation of Poland, many Polish Gentiles risked their own lives—and the lives of their families—to rescue Jews from the Nazis. Grouped by nationality, Poles represent the biggest number of people...
. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is the United States' official memorial to the Holocaust. Adjacent to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., the USHMM provides for the documentation, study, and interpretation of Holocaust history...
's Prof. Antony Polonsky wrote: "Coren is incorrect to state that there have been no attempts to deal with the complex and painful Polish-Jewish past." Polish ambassador Barbara Tuge-Erecińska
Barbara Tuge-Erecinska
Barbara Krystyna Tuge-Erecińska is the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland to the United Kingdom, appointed by President Lech Kaczyński on 24 October 2006....
wrote: "the issue of Polish–Jewish relations
History of the Jews in Poland
The history of the Jews in Poland dates back over a millennium. For centuries, Poland was home to the largest and most significant Jewish community in the world. Poland was the centre of Jewish culture thanks to a long period of statutory religious tolerance and social autonomy. This ended with the...
has been unfairly and deeply falsified." Coren's comments led to a complaint to the Press Complaints Commission
Press Complaints Commission
The Press Complaints Commission is a voluntary regulatory body for British printed newspapers and magazines, consisting of representatives of the major publishers. The PCC is funded by the annual levy it charges newspapers and magazines...
, an early day motion
Early day motion
An Early Day Motion , in the Westminster system, is a motion, expressed as a single sentence, tabled by Members of Parliament for debate "on an early day" . Controversial EDMs are not signed by Government Ministers, PPS or the Speaker of the House of Commons and very few are debated on the floor...
in the UK parliament, and a critical editorial in The Economist
The Economist
The Economist is an English-language weekly news and international affairs publication owned by The Economist Newspaper Ltd. and edited in offices in the City of Westminster, London, England. Continuous publication began under founder James Wilson in September 1843...
.
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
Responsibility for the Holocaust
Historians differ as to where the responsibility for the Holocaust lies. Intentionalist historians such as Lucy Dawidowicz argue that Adolf Hitler planned the extermination of the Jewish people from as early as 1918, and that he personally oversaw its execution...
.". He also told The Jewish Chronicle
The Jewish Chronicle
The Jewish Chronicle is a London-based Jewish newspaper. Founded in 1841, it is the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world.-Publication data and readership figures:...
: "Fuck the Poles". 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
Federation of Poles in Great Britain
The Federation of Poles in Great Britain is an organisation established to promote the interests of the Polish ethnic minority in Great Britain, and to promote Polish history and culture among the British people....
lodged a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights
European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...
.
Mediawatch complaint over Twitter posting
On 14 January 2010 Coren attracted criticism after he posted on his TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
feed
Web feed
A web feed is a data format used for providing users with frequently updated content. Content distributors syndicate a web feed, thereby allowing users to subscribe to it. Making a collection of web feeds accessible in one spot is known as aggregation, which is performed by an aggregator...
: "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". 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."
Privacy injunction and alleged contempt of court
On 13 May 2011, Coren attracted more controversy after joking about an anonymised privacy injunctionGag order
A gag order is an order, sometimes a legal order by a court or government, other times a private order by an employer or other institution, restricting information or comment from being made public.Gag orders are often used against participants involved in a lawsuit or criminal trial...
(often incorrectly described as a super-injunction) by posting on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
feed: "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
Gareth Barry
Gareth Barry is an English footballer who plays for Manchester City and the England national football team.Barry moved to Aston Villa from Brighton & Hove Albion as a youngster, and spent 12 years at the club. He captained Aston Villa, and, at the end of his career with the club, lay eighth in...
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. The political blog
Political blog
A political blog is a common type of blog that comments on politics. In liberal democracies the right to criticize the government without interference is considered an important element of free speech...
ger Paul Staines
Paul Staines
Paul Staines is an English-born Irish right-wing political blogger. Writer of the pseudonymous "Guido Fawkes' blog of parliamentary plots, rumours & conspiracy", which had as of February 2009, 118,000 visitors per month, his political blog has been described as "one of Britain's leading political...
, who writes under the pen name
Pen name
A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...
"Guido Fawkes", commented: "It is late, you’ve had a few drinks, you tweet something you wouldn’t if you were sober", and added: "This is possibly Coren’s funniest work for ages…"
On 22 May 2011, it was reported that lawyers at Schillings
Schillings
Schillings Media Boutique , is a British full-service law firm based in London. It employs over fifteen lawyers and is particularly known for obtaining anonymised gagging orders to protect clients' privacy....
acting for an England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
footballer had persuaded the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
judge Mr Justice Tugendhat
Michael Tugendhat
Sir Michael George Tugendhat , styled The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat, in legal writing Tugendhat J, is a High Court judge in England and Wales. He is the UK's senior media judge, taking over that role from Justice Eady on 1 October 2010...
to ask the Attorney General for England and Wales
Attorney General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known simply as the Attorney General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown. Along with the subordinate Solicitor General for England and Wales, the Attorney General serves as the chief legal adviser of the Crown and its government in...
, Dominic Grieve
Dominic Grieve
Dominic Charles Roberts Grieve, QC MP is a British Conservative politician, barrister and Queen's Counsel.He is the Member of Parliament for Beaconsfield and the Attorney General for England and Wales and the Advocate General for Northern Ireland.-Early life:Grieve was born in Lambeth, the son of...
, to consider the criminal prosecution of "a top journalist" over a matter that breached a privacy injunction. Coren acknowledged on Twitter that he could face jail for contempt of court
Contempt of court
Contempt of court is a court order which, in the context of a court trial or hearing, declares a person or organization to have disobeyed or been disrespectful of the court's authority...
, 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." On 23 May 2011, Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Member of Parliament John Hemming
John Hemming (politician)
John Alexander Melvin Hemming is a British politician, the Member of Parliament for Birmingham Yardley and Group Chair of the Liberal Democrats on the city council of Birmingham, England....
spoke in the House of Commons and used parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege
Parliamentary privilege is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of certain legislatures, in which legislators are granted protection against civil or criminal liability for actions done or statements made related to one's duties as a legislator. It is common in countries whose constitutions are...
to identify The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
journalist Giles Coren as the person involved, leading to an immediate rebuke from Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the House of Commons
Speaker of the House of Commons can refer to:*Speaker of the House of Commons *Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada*Speaker of the Northern Ireland House of Commons...
John Bercow
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....
. In an interview with The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times
The Sunday Times is a British Sunday newspaper.The Sunday Times may also refer to:*The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times *The Sunday Times...
on 29 May 2011, Hemming revealed 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."
According to the Daily Telegraph, the Premier League footballer identified by Coren in the tweets was not Ryan Giggs
Ryan Giggs
Ryan Joseph Giggs OBE is a Welsh professional footballer who plays for Manchester United. Giggs made his first appearance for the club during the 1990–91 season and has been a regular player since the 1991–92 season...
, and was known in the privacy injunction by the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
TSE. The case at the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
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...
was TSE & ELP v News Group Newspapers Ltd, with TSE being described as "a married footballer" who been in involved an extra-marital relationship with a woman known as ELP. Neither person had wished The Sun to publish the details of the relationship. The injunction was granted on 13 May 2011 by Mr Justice Tugendhat
Michael Tugendhat
Sir Michael George Tugendhat , styled The Hon. Mr Justice Tugendhat, in legal writing Tugendhat J, is a High Court judge in England and Wales. He is the UK's senior media judge, taking over that role from Justice Eady on 1 October 2010...
, 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
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
”, but added: "the fact that these publications have occurred does not mean that there should be no injunction in this case”.
External links
- Giles Coren articles on Times Online
- Giles Coren reviews on Times Online
- Giles Coren (Byliner: Writers)