An Audience With

From pop music to pulpit - an evening with a thoroughly modern vicar!

The Rev Richard Coles is one of the few celebrities to have successfully bridged the gap between pop music and the pulpit, but whatever the medium, the message he broadcasts is essentially witty, thought-provoking and always interesting.

A multi-instrumentalist who partnered Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band The Communards - achieving three Top Ten hits, including the biggest selling hit of 1986 Don't Leave Me This Way - Richard subsequently left the pop world to train for a priesthood in the Church of England, becoming what can only be described as a thoroughly modern vicar. He was Curate at St Boltoph's in Lincolnshire before moving to St Paul's Knightsbridge and becoming Chaplain to the Royal Academy of Music. He is currently the parish priest at Finedon near Peterborough.

Richard frequently appears on radio and television, as well as in newspapers. He is probably best known as the regular host of BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live programme, and also appears regularly on Newsnight and TV panel shows such as QI and Have I Got News For You, where his quick and inventive verbal humour is always to the fore. When the motivation is more spiritual, Richard has featured on BBC TV's Songs of Praise specials and as the guest on Pause for Thought on BBC Radio 2.