04/04/2021
Alan Titchmarsh welcomes Reverend Richard Coles on Easter Sunday morning to his ITV programme at 10.00am. The Reverend Coles is one of the most prominent gay clergymen in the Anglican Communion and is a regular guest on many BBC and ITV programmes with his wit and insight into the vagaries of the human condition. Rev Coles started his career in the left wing, classically trained pop band The Communards, where the vocalist was gay activist Jimmy Somerville. Coles and Somerville scored the biggest selling single of 1986, the euphoric classically influenced disco hit Don't Leave Me This Way, with additional vocal work by Sarah Jane Morris, who incidentally is the cousin of gay American author Armistead Maupin. Reverend Coles discovered a new found faith in the early part of the nineties and studied for the priesthood. After a period aligned to Catholicism, he rediscovered his love the Anglican Church and today is the parish priest at St Mary's in rural Lincolnshire. A man of warmth and faith, Reverend Coles is beloved not just of LGBTQ Christians but also millions of fans of his broadcast and musical work.
