Richard Coles has been both a chart-topping pop star and a Church of England vicar. He had a number one hit single with The Communards in the 1980s and now Richard Coles is a successful broadcaster and author who has just published his debut novel Murder Before Evensong. He is as his beloved husband David, who died in 2019, used to say a  “borderline national trinket”.   But his life hasn’t always been so rosy. Rachel and Alice sit down with Richard to talk about his father’s business collapsing when he was 13, his “mental crisis” after coming out to his mother at the age of 16 and how he was never allowed to have a church wedding to the man he loved.      Cruse: www.cruse.org.uk NAT: www.nat.org.uk Stonewall: www.stonewall.org.uk   This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org   Producers: Anya Pearce and Lucy Dichmont   Series producer: Ben Mitchell See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.