Alan Connor

Connor's voice
recorded August 2014
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Alan Connor (born 1972) is a British writer, journalist and television presenter. First seen on Channel 4's youth entertainment programme The Word in 1995,[1] he later appeared on The Big Breakfast and BBC Radio Five Live and was a BBC News correspondent, appearing on BBC News 24 and The Daily Politics.[2]

His scriptwriting credits include the comedy-drama A Young Doctor's Notebook, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Jon Hamm,[3] the mockumentary Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back[4] and the BBC film The Rack Pack.[5] He was also the "puzzle consultant" for Ludwig (2024).[6]

Connor has worked as a writer for programmes including Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, The Jonathan Ross Show and This Week and writes journalism for BBC News[7] and The Guardian.[8] He was the question editor for BBC Four's lateral thinking quiz Only Connect for series 9–12, having taken over from David J. Bodycombe at the start of series 9.[citation needed] He is also the crossword editor for The Guardian and sets the Everyman cryptic crossword for The Observer.[9][10]

Books

In 2013, Penguin published Two Girls, One on Each Knee: A History of Cryptic Crosswords.[11] In 2014 Gotham Books published The Crossword Century: 100 Years of Witty Wordplay, Ingenious Puzzles, and Linguistic Mischief.[12] In 2016 Penguin Books published The Joy of Quiz.[13]

References

  1. ^ The Word Archived 28 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine, imdb.com; retrieved 11 January 2017.
  2. ^ "Tips For The Technically Terrified" Archived 5 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine, BBC News, 5 July 2006.
  3. ^ "A Young Doctor's Notebook: from the operating table to the screen" Archived 17 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, theguardian.com, 4 December 2012.
  4. ^ "Nigel Farage Gets His Life Back" Archived 31 October 2023 at the Wayback Machine, bbc.co.uk, 30 October 2016.
  5. ^ The Rack Pack Archived 10 April 2024 at the Wayback Machine, bbc.co.uk, 17 January 2016.
  6. ^ Connor, Alan (7 October 2024). "Ludwig, the Guardian's genius new crossword setter". the Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2024.
  7. ^ BBC News: Smashed Hits Archived 21 February 2024 at the Wayback Machine, bbc.co.uk; retrieved 25 January 2017.
  8. ^ Profile, The Guardian; retrieved 25 January 2017.
  9. ^ Connor, Alan (4 December 2023). "Crossword blog: time to take stock". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  10. ^ Connor, Alan (26 November 2022). "Meet the setter: The Observer's Everyman". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 May 2024.
  11. ^ Connor, Alan. Two Girls, One on Each Knee: The Puzzling, Playful World of the Crossword. London: Penguin Books, 2016; ISBN 9781846148415
  12. ^ Connor, Alan. The Crossword Century: 100 Years of Witty Wordplay, Ingenious Puzzles, and Linguistic Mischief. New York: Gotham Books, 2014; ISBN 9781592408580
  13. ^ Connor, Alan. The Joy of Quiz. London: Penguin Books (2016); ISBN 9781846148682


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