Reverend Richard Coles: All Singing, All Dancing

What is your favourite thing about Autumn? For me, the list includes crunchy leaves and warm jumpers. But also the return of Saturday Night entertainment, Strictly Come Dancing.

Included in this year’s lineup, swapping his dog collar for sequins and his pulpit for the promenade: Church of England priest, Reverend Richard Coles.

The Reverend Richard Coles is the only UK vicar to have had a hit single, having first found fame with the Communards and their hit single, “Don’t Leave Me This Way”. It topped the charts for four weeks and was the biggest selling single of the year (1986)!Now, he is the vicar of St Mary’s Church in Finedon, Northamptonshire, presents BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live and is a contributor to Pause for Thought on Chris Evans’ Radio 2 show, as well as being a frequent guest on Have I Got News For You.

In his autobiography, Fathomless Riches, he documents his journey from pop to the pulpit. It is a deeply personal and illuminating account of a transformation from hedonistic self-abandonment to 'the moment that changed everything'.

This month, as he wows viewers with some impressive dance steps, he also releases the follow-up, Bringing in the Sheaves: Wheat and Chaff from my Years as A Priest. Written with extraordinary charm and erudition, Bringing in the Sheaves features a multitude of characters and events from parish life against a backdrop of the Christian calendar.

For centuries the Church calendar - and the Church minister - gave character and personality to British life. Today, however, as the shape of the year has become less distinct and faith no longer as privileged or persuasive, that figure has become far more marginal.

With this in mind, Reverend Coles answers the question: what is life like for the Parson in Britain today?From his ordination during the season of Petertide, through Advent and Christmas to Lent and Easter, he gives us a unique insight into his daily experience in the ministry, with all the joy, drama, difficulty and humour which life - and indeed death - serves up in varying measures.

Bringing in the Sheaves by The Reverend Richard Coles is available to buy from Eden.co.uk

You can catch Reverend Richard Coles dancing up a storm on the ballroom floor on BBC1 each Saturday.