Knock knock. Who’s there? The interrupting bishop. The interrupt…. GET OUT OF MY HOUSE
A grumpy bishop has apologised to some of his flock after he ordered them out of his church following a concert.
Barefoot and in his dressing gown, Bishop of Fulham, Jonathan Baker, stormed into St Andrew’s Church, Holborn, grabbed hold of a microphone and told 300 people enjoying City Academy Voices that they had to leave.
He turned the light off and told them: ‘You are in my house. It’s gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket.’
The choir had booked the venue until 11pm, and the concert had only overrun slightly due to earlier technical issues.
But, the bishop didn’t know this when he told them: ‘Good night. You are in my house – can you leave it now, please. Thank you, it’s over.’
Responding to his comment that ‘this is a residential house’, someone can be heard on footage of the incident saying ‘this is God’s house’.
Benedict Collins, who was at the £20-a-head show with his daughter, said he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke. He said: ‘They can hardly be surprised if they take bookings for concerts and there is music in the hall.’
Choir director Leigh Stanford Thompson said some of the choir also thought it was a joke.
He told the Guardian: ‘We all went out to the pub afterwards and took it all in. Everyone was in astonishment really.
‘I do find it funny. I’m not particularly upset. We had a really good concert but I think it’s a real shame that we didn’t get a chance to finish. But now looking back, what a way to go out.’
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A diocese of London spokesman said: ‘Bishop Jonathan reached out to the organisers on Saturday to apologise for his late-night appearance at the concert, which he now understands had overrun due to earlier technical difficulties.’
In the end, the choir – who sing classical, choral and musical theatre – walked out while singing Abba’s Dancing Queen.
Chorister Katie wrote on TikTok under a video of the incident: ‘It was supposed to be our encore, so we started singing that on the way out – to try and leave the concert on a better note after the utterly bizarre behaviour of the interrupting bishop.’
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