Richard Coles Bio | Wiki
Richard Coles is an English musician, journalist, and radio presenter. He serves as the Church of England priest who was the vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire from 2011 to 2022. Coles was the multi-instrumentalist who partnered with Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band the Communards.
They achieved three top ten hits, including the No. 1 record and best-selling single of 1986. Coles frequently appears on radio and television as well as in newspapers. In March 2011, he became the host of BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live program. Moreover, Coles is a regular contributor to QI, Would I Lie to You? and Have I Got News for You.
He is also an author, Chancellor of the University of Northampton, Honorary Chaplain to the Worshipful Company of Leathersellers, and a patron of the social housing project Great well Homes in Wellingborough.
Richard Coles Age
Richard was born on March 26, 1962, in Northampton, United Kingdom. He is 60 years old.
Richard Coles Height
He is a man of average stature and stands at a height of 5 ft 7 in (Approx. 1.70 m).
Richard Coles Family
He was born and raised in Northampton, England. Coles’s elder brother Andy is a former Metropolitan Police officer. His grandfather worked as a prosperous shoe manufacturer. The company failed under Coles’s father because of the increasing popularity of cheaper foreign imports and the family lost much of their wealth.
Richard Coles Brother
His older brother, Andy, a former Metropolitan Police officer, became elected in 2015 as a Conservative councilor in Peterborough and appointed deputy Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner in 2016.
After a mention in Coles’ 2014 autobiography, Andy was accused of having deceived a 19-year-old political activist into a sexual relationship while he was a 32-year-old undercover police officer in the 1990s. He resigned as deputy commissioner on 15 May 2017.
Richard Coles Partner
Coles is gay. He came out first to his mom in 1978 when he was 16 years old. He played her Tom Robinson’s “Glad to Be Gay” four times before she said, “Darling, are you trying to tell me something?”
Coles lived in a celibate relationship with his partner, David Coles. David died in December 2019. After the death, Coles says he had received hate mail claiming that his partner is in hell. The Church of England has allowed priests to enter a civil partnership since 2005 and Coles and David entered into one in 2010.
Richard Coles Education
He attended the independent Wellingborough School where he was a choirboy. Later, Coles enrolled at the South Warwickshire College of Further Education in the Department of Drama & the Liberal Arts in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Subsequently, he attended King’s College London where he studied theology from 1990. Coles was awarded an MA by research from the University of Leeds in 2005 for work on the Greek text of the Epistle to the Ephesians.
Richard Coles Music | Somerville
He learned to play the saxophone, clarinet, and keyboards and moved to London in 1980, where he played in the theatre. In 1983, Coles appeared with Jimmy Somerville in the Lesbian and Gay Youth Video Project film Framed Youth: The Revenge of the Teenage Perverts, which won the Grierson Award. Coles joined Bronski Beat in 1983.
In 1985 Somerville and Coles formed the Communards, who were together for just over three years and had three UK top 10 hits. The biggest-selling single of 1986, a version of “Don’t Leave Me This Way”, was at number one for four weeks. The band split in 1988 and Somerville went solo.
Richard Coles Books
He is the author of the following fiction and no-fiction works:
Lives of the Improbable Saints
Legends of the Improbable Saints
Fathomless Riches: Or How I Went From Pop to Pulpit
Bringing in the Sheaves: Wheat and Chaff from My Years as a Priest
The Madness of Grief: A Memoir of Love and Loss
Waters of Salvation
Richard Coles Lives of the Improbable Saints
On 1 November 2012, Darton, Longman, and Todd published Coles’ book Lives of the Improbable Saints, illustrated by Ted Harrison, a précis of the life stories of nearly 200 lesser-known saints. The following year, Volume two, Legends of the Improbable Saints, followed.
Richard Coles Fathomless Riches
In 2014, the first volume of Coles’ memoirs, Fathomless Riches, was published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. He mentions in the book that he is also the inspiration for the character “Tom” in the Bridget Jones novels. In 2016 a follow-up volume, Bringing in the Sheaves, was published.
Richard Coles Net Worth
He earns his wealth from his career, therefore, he has amassed a fortune over the years. Coles’ estimated net worth is $2 million.
Who Is Richard Coles
Coles is an English musician, journalist, and radio presenter. He serves as the Church of England priest who was the vicar of Finedon in Northamptonshire from 2011 to 2022. Coles was the multi-instrumentalist who partnered with Jimmy Somerville in the 1980s band the Communards.