{"id":12271,"date":"2025-07-09T20:58:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T20:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/?p=12271"},"modified":"2025-07-09T20:58:41","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T20:58:41","slug":"12271","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2025\/07\/09\/12271\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='e-content'><span hidden class=\"__iawmlf-post-loop-links\" data-iawmlf-links=\"[{&quot;id&quot;:668,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/uk.bookshop.org\\\/p\\\/books\\\/fathomless-riches-or-how-i-went-from-pop-to-pulpit-reverend-richard-coles\\\/4373022?ean=9781780226194&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20250625191442\\\/https:\\\/\\\/uk.bookshop.org\\\/p\\\/books\\\/fathomless-riches-or-how-i-went-from-pop-to-pulpit-reverend-richard-coles\\\/4373022?ean=9781780226194&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-03 20:22:28&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-08 14:44:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-12 00:46:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-15 06:50:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-20 18:06:30&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-24 17:46:25&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-27 20:45:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-08 18:18:11&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-17 09:56:45&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-21 19:53:30&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-29 15:52:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-05 14:32:30&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-12 17:21:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-19 00:10:31&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-25 21:48:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-29 18:21:02&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-10 07:17:58&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-15 09:45:09&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-22 12:38:27&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-28 07:30:36&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-03 21:05:28&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-07 16:23:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-11 10:04:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-18 05:45:26&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-22 23:07:36&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403}],&quot;broken&quot;:true,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-22 23:07:36&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:403},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;},{&quot;id&quot;:669,&quot;href&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Lesbians_and_Gays_Support_the_Miners&quot;,&quot;archived_href&quot;:&quot;http:\\\/\\\/web-wp.archive.org\\\/web\\\/20260116121620\\\/https:\\\/\\\/en.wikipedia.org\\\/wiki\\\/Lesbians_and_Gays_Support_the_Miners&quot;,&quot;redirect_href&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;checks&quot;:[{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-03 20:22:30&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-08 14:44:46&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-12 00:46:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-15 06:50:48&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-20 18:06:31&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-24 17:46:25&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-02-27 20:45:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-08 18:18:12&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-17 09:56:47&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-21 19:53:29&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-03-29 15:52:13&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:429},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-06 09:14:24&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-12 17:21:56&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-19 00:13:01&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-25 21:48:19&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-04-29 18:21:02&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:429},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-10 07:17:59&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-18 17:09:41&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:429},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-22 12:38:28&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-05-28 07:30:37&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-03 21:05:28&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-07 16:23:54&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:404},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-11 10:04:08&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-20 06:44:14&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200}],&quot;broken&quot;:false,&quot;last_checked&quot;:{&quot;date&quot;:&quot;2026-06-20 06:44:14&quot;,&quot;http_code&quot;:200},&quot;process&quot;:&quot;done&quot;}]\"><\/span>\n<p>\ud83d\udcda Finished reading <em><a href=\"https:\/\/uk.bookshop.org\/p\/books\/fathomless-riches-or-how-i-went-from-pop-to-pulpit-reverend-richard-coles\/4373022?ean=9781780226194\">Fathomless Riches: Or How I Went From Pop to Pulpit<\/a><\/em> by Richard Coles. An interesting cultural memoir, from the perspective of a young gay man who comes to London and falls into a short but explosive pop career. The memoir is honest; he comes across as super self-involved but also very self-aware. I had no idea about <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Lesbians_and_Gays_Support_the_Miners\">the link between the striking miners and the gay community<\/a> in the early 1980s, and how much of a role it played in progressing LGBT matters in the UK. It was completely shocking to read how Coles lied to his friends about being HIV positive at the height of the AIDS epidemic. It\u2019s difficult to understand, but also difficult for me to judge him too harshly from my perspective in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage-1024x576.png\" alt=\"\u201c Another time we were at an event and one of the other clergy asked me about homosexuality in the Church in Britain. I said it did not bother me, nor any of my friends, and we regarded it as something quite normal. They went quiet. One sucked his teeth. They all melted away except one who said, intending to be kind, 'You must understand there is no homosexuality in Africa. And then a drama group came on stage to entertain us and I could see at once that there was homosexuality in Africa, just like everywhere else.\u201d \u2014 from Fathomless Riches by Richard Coles\" class=\"wp-image-12270\" srcset=\"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage-1024x576.png 1024w, https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage-768x432.png 768w, https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage-700x394.png 700w, https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DraggedImage.png 1300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2025\/07\/09\/12271\/\" rel=\"bookmark\" title=\"Permalink to \"><div class='e-content p-summary'>\ud83d\udcda Finished reading Fathomless Riches: Or How I Went From Pop to Pulpit by Richard Coles. An interesting cultural memoir, from the perspective of a young gay man who comes to London and falls into a short but explosive pop career. The memoir is honest; he comes across as super self-involved but also very self-aware. [&hellip;]<\/div>\n<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"status","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"webmentions_disabled_pings":false,"webmentions_disabled":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12271","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-status","6":"category-snippets","7":"post_format-post-format-status","8":"h-entry","10":"hentry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":12214,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2025\/06\/25\/weeknotes-330-heat-hangover\/","url_meta":{"origin":12271,"position":0},"title":"Weeknotes #330 \u2014 Heat hangover","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"25 June 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"A busy, productive and enjoyable week. It has been super hot and humid in the UK. Our houses are built to keep the heat in, so sleeping can be a challenge, with the only solace being that it is generally a shared experience. You pass people in the street and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Weeknotes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Weeknotes","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/weeknotes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\u201cNot far from our flat \u2014 renamed Wee Nooke \u2014 was Gay's the Word, London's first and only gay bookshop, in the middle of Marchmont Street at the council end of Bloomsbury. It stocked everything that you now find in mainstream bookshops on the shelves marked 'gay and lesbian interest', from scholarly works on Magnus Hirschfeld to histories of the Hollywood musical. At the back there was a coffee shop, really just a table surrounded by chairs, and it was there I first met Jimmy Somerville. Well, where I first met Jimmy Somerville by name and in daylight.\u201d \u2014 from Fathomless Riches by Richard Coles","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DraggedImage-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DraggedImage-4.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DraggedImage-4.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DraggedImage-4.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/DraggedImage-4.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12662,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2025\/11\/02\/12662\/","url_meta":{"origin":12271,"position":1},"title":"\ud83d\udcda Finished reading The Secret\u2026","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"2 November 2025","format":"status","excerpt":"\ud83d\udcda Finished reading The Secret Public: How LGBTQ Resistance Shaped Popular Culture (1955\u20131979). An epic book in five parts, covering the mid-1950s, the early and late 1960s, and the early and late 1970s. This period is transformational for gay rights, moving from a hidden and illegal world to one of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Snippets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Snippets","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/snippets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"\u201c'Be Fabulous, Be the Party, Look Good': on the fold-out cover of Living Proof, Sylvester is depicted in male drag \u2014 a bright blue jacket and shirt, with magenta trousers and tie. Pouring champagne into a glass, he is the perfect party host, inviting you in. Around him, on the steps up to a nightclub, framed by the marquee roof, are upwards of thirty-five celebrants: a mixture of ages, genders and races \u2014 Black brothers, boa-clad disco models, older women in furs and tiaras. Packed tight together, they are all smiling with pleasure and anticipation. Gay men are prominent: clones in jeans and moustaches, men in dinner suits and bow ties, disco dancers in white suits - a whole gamut of contemporary types, in all their difference and diversity. They, too, are smiling and laughing, signifying joy and togetherness. They are relaxed, open and confident in who they are; they no longer have to hide. It's going to be the best night ever. Let's leave them there, frozen in their fabulousness, with no thought of what is to come.\u201d \u2014 Jon Savage, The Secret Public","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DraggedImage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DraggedImage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DraggedImage.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DraggedImage.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DraggedImage.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/DraggedImage.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":10008,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/04\/03\/10008\/","url_meta":{"origin":12271,"position":2},"title":"\ud83d\udcda Finished reading Fingers In\u2026","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"3 April 2023","format":"status","excerpt":"\ud83d\udcda Finished reading Fingers In The Sparkle Jar by Chris Packham. I\u2019ve never read a memoir quite like this. It took a few chapters for me to orient myself. School years can be hard; as a neurodivergent child in the 1970s they were even harder. I\u2019d love to read a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Snippets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Snippets","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/snippets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/DraggedImage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/DraggedImage.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/DraggedImage.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/DraggedImage.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/DraggedImage.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/DraggedImage.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9930,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2023\/02\/16\/9930\/","url_meta":{"origin":12271,"position":3},"title":"\ud83d\udcda Finished reading The Pianist\u2026","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"16 February 2023","format":"status","excerpt":"\ud83d\udcda Finished reading The Pianist by W\u0142adys\u0142aw Szpilman. An incredible memoir of a Jewish man who somehow survives years in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War 2. I saw the film years ago; his encounter with Wilm Hosenfeld, a merciful German soldier who keeps him alive through his kindness, is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Snippets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Snippets","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/snippets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6612,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2020\/12\/30\/6612\/","url_meta":{"origin":12271,"position":4},"title":"\ud83c\udfac Watched The Gay Divorcee\u2026","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"30 December 2020","format":"status","excerpt":"\ud83c\udfac Watched The Gay Divorcee (1934) for the first time. Night And Day was magical, The Continental went on forever (I\u2019ve always felt that the song is terribly contrived) but my favourite scene was Eric Blore as a waiter serving Edward Everett Horton. Plenty of giggles.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Snippets&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Snippets","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/snippets\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":149,"url":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/2005\/09\/19\/office-monkey\/","url_meta":{"origin":12271,"position":5},"title":"Office Monkey","author":"Andrew Doran","date":"19 September 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"By chance I've just watched one of the funniest things I've ever seen on TV - ITV2's Office Monkey. Basically what happens is that two employees in an office are given a series of challenges to do, such as 'model your friend's fashion garment and try to sell it' or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV&quot;","block_context":{"text":"TV","link":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/category\/tv\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12271"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12271\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12275,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12271\/revisions\/12275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andrewdoran.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}