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ST MARY’S, Putney High Street

The church where Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army debated notions of political freedom in 1647 was the setting for one of the most dramatic incidents in London’s recent religious history. On Sunday 13 July 2008 the Right Revd Gene Robinson, the world’s first openly gay Anglican bishop, was preaching, remarking how sad it was that the Anglican Communion was ‘tearing itself apart’ over the issue of gay priests, when a heckler rose and interrupted with the taunt ‘because of heretics like you’.

The congregation turned to stare at the source of the cry. It was a long-haired man clutching a motorcycle helmet, who continued: ‘Go back, go back. Repent, repent, repent.’ Some began to boo and slow handclap until the vicar, Dr Giles Fraser, stepped in to calm down proceedings, urging everyone to open their hymn sheets. The singing drowned out the barracking, and when Bishop Robinson resumed his sermon he urged the congregation to ‘pray for that man’, who by that time had been escorted outside back to his bike.