text: Ex pop star: Rev Richard coles (pictured) rose to fame as half of the band The Communards . When a high-profile vicar yesterday attacked the Tory plans to sell housing association homes as a ‘right to steal’, it might have sounded like a stern ticking off from the pulpit. But this was the Rev Richard Coles – who sits on the board of Wellingborough Homes, a housing association in Northamptonshire – and he is no ordinary churchman. Known to many for presenting Radio 4’s gentle human interest show Saturday Live, he is the supposed inspiration for the hero of the BBC church sitcom Rev. And while he might now feel free to attack others for seeking the right to buy their own home, he not so long ago felt he had the right to do whatever he chose himself, regardless of the law or anyone else’s feelings. For Coles raised eyebrows by last year publishing a frank memoir which detailed not only his rise to fame as half of the famously gay 1980s pop band The Communards, alongside singer Jimmy Somerville, but also his enthusiasm for ‘dogging’ – having sex with strangers in the open air – and for taking drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines. He also confessed that he falsely told his friends that he was HIV positive, to generate attention and sympathy, and kept up the unpleasant pretence for five years. Coles, 52, is now a regular on TV and radio, but on Sundays he performs at his 14th century parish church, St Mary the Virgin, in Finedon, Northamptonshire. He lives nearby in a ‘rather lovely’ grace and favour vicarage provided by the Church of England. Last October he warned his parishioners to ‘brace themselves’ for the publication of his biography Fathomless Riches, and said shortly after: ‘I hadn’t realised quite how eventful my life had been until I sat down to write about it. The truth is, country parsons often have a more vivid past than you might think.’ Born in Northamptonshire to shoemaker parents, Coles was sent to public school and it was while he was a chorister there that he realised he was gay. Coles, 52, is now a regular on TV and radio, but on Sundays he performs at his 14th century parish church, St Mary the Virgin, in Finedon, Northamptonshire . Within a few years he had taken a drug overdose, saying that in the 1970s being gay ‘was like being a paedophile now – it was a life which seemed to offer only disgrace’. He moved to London, however, met Somerville, and they formed The Communards. Their song Don’t Leave Me This Way went to number one and was the best-selling single of 1986. Money poured in. But Coles remained unhappy, jealous of Somerville’s fame and feeling geeky himself. He took large quantities of drugs, apparently spending a whole year in Ibiza on speed and ecstasy, and taking LSD. He believes the ecstasy was sometimes laced with heroin. He eventually conquered his shyness with other men when he discovered a lay-by where he could meet strangers and have sex in the woods at night. He described the discovery of this dogging spot as ‘one of the great liberations of my life. Having lots of casual and anonymous sex with strangers’. He added: ‘It was extremely healing for me. Would I repudiate it? No. I had a fantastic time.’ After a theology degree Coles was ordained in 2005 and says he now leads a celibate life with his civil partner David Oldham, 37, a curate in a neighbouring parish.
target: Rev Coles sits on the board of Wellingborough Homes housing association .
  Vicar is known for presenting Radio 4's human interest show Saturday live .
  Attacked Tory plans to sell housing association homes as a 'right to steal'
  Confessed in memoir last year that he had taken drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines .