A disgruntled bishop in a dressing gown told a choir at a church concert to stop their ‘terrible racket’ and get out of his house.
A barefooted Jonathan Baker, the Bishop of Fulham, took to the stage and grabbed a microphone to tell bemused performers and a 300-strong audience to leave.
The City Academy Voices choir was coming to the end of their performance at St Andrew’s church in Holborn, central London, on Friday night when all of the lights were suddenly turned on.
Social media footage of the altercation, which has been viewed almost 400,000 times, shows Bishop Jonathan telling the crowd: ‘You are in my house. It’s gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket.’
There are murmurs of disbelief from the crowd before the Bishop, 58, repeats: ‘Goodnight. You are in my house – can you leave it now please. Thank you, it’s over.’
A church employee then asked the crowd to leave quietly and the musicians to depart the stage because ‘this is a residential home’, attracting boos and jeers from the audience.
Before leaving, the choir performed one final song – an a cappella version of Abba’s Dancing Queen – to cheers and applause from the crowd.
The choir was performing a special summer concert last Friday and had booked the venue, which is available to hire, having used it previously with no issue.
A barefooted Jonathan Baker, the Bishop of Fulham, took to the stage and grabbed a microphone to tell bemused performers and a 300-strong audience to leave
Social media footage of the altercation, which has been viewed almost 400,000 times, shows Bishop Jonathan telling the crowd: ‘You are in my house. It’s gone past 10pm and this is a terrible racket’
Benedict Collins, who was attending the concert with his ten-year-old daughter, said he initially thought the interruption was a staged joke.
He told Sky News: ‘The church willingly rents out the premises for performances, for money.
‘They can hardly be surprised if they take bookings for concerts and there is music in the hall.’
Leigh Stanford Thompson, the choir’s director, described the incident as ‘bizarre’.
He said that members of the choir thought at first that it was a ‘comedy act’.
One choir member said: ‘At first, I thought it was a comedy act or some actor doing a scene.
‘But when we realised, oh no, this isn’t an act, this is real, it was just a bit surreal.’
‘We all went out to the pub afterwards and took it all in. Everyone was in astonishment really,’ Mr Stanford Thompson told the Guardian.
The City Academy Voices choir was coming to the end of their performance (pictured) at St Andrew’s church in Holborn, central London, on Friday night when all of the lights were suddenly turned on
‘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.’
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.’
One member of the choir told the Guardian: ‘There were boos and everything, it’s just really disappointing.
‘At the end of these concerts, we always end on a real high and everyone goes home full of joy, but this dampened things.’
They added that Bishop Jonathan’s comments about the ‘racket’ did not sit well because ‘I think we produce a beautiful sound’.
