The beautiful sound of a traditional hymn echoing around an ancient church may not have been what everyone would expect at a book launch by an author, well-known for his scathing wit and the ability to take the ‘good and great’ down a peg or two.

However, How Caple Church was the setting Quentin Letts chose for the Herefordshire launch of his latest book, Patronising Bastards How The Elites Betrayed Britain.

The choice of the church should come as no surprise to Quentin’s many fans, He attends regularly, and his wife, Lois plays the organ. He also recently appeared in the Waitrose magazine, with the church choir, in a feature about ‘How the spirit of a community comes alive at Christmas’.

He told the Ross Gazette that going to church gives him a sense of perspective, he said, “To sit in the pew at How Caple you can focus on bigger horizons than politics.”

Obviously extremely popular in his home village there was a large crowd of eager purchasers hoping to get their books signed by Mr Letts at the launch on Saturday, December 2nd.

After mingling with the ever growing crowd, Mr Letts addressed a few words to the audience. Mr Letts said that he was a proud member of the Church of England - but that it was ‘too wet’. He loves traditional hymns, not happy clappy songs and he asked everyone to join in singing Abide With Me as it was written by a relative of someone living in the village.

His daughter, Honor, started the hymn with a solo, accompanied by his wife, Lois, before everyone joined in.

His opinions about the new elite, might not be everyone’s cup of tea, He said, “Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee is not a fan,” but he can certainly attract more people to a country church on a chilly December morning than many vicars, so perhaps there is something in what he says, and even if you don’t always agree with him, he always manages to raise plenty of laughter.

One local resident I spoke to said that Quentin is so popular because he says want they think.

Jo Scrivin