Alan Coren has died at the age of 69.

The former editor of Punch was a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4's The News Quiz and became a team captain on Call My Bluff when the show returned to BBC Two in 1996.

In a statement, Radio 4 controller Mark Damazer called Coren's death a "terrible loss" and added:

"Alan was the heartbeat of The News Quiz - the man around whom so much turned for nearly 30 years.

"It was not only that he was consistenly brilliantly funny, but above and beyond that, his humour burst with humanity and warmth.

"He could pick out the foibles of the mighty - and his own - with pinpoint accuracy, and yet at the same time he evoked sympathy for the human condition.

"He was fabulously well-read - and there was no subject which was ever beyond his wit."

Coren is survived by his wife and two children.