There’s often a traffic jam in front of the Battle of Britain window in Westminster Abbey and I recently found myself jockeying for position with a man wearing a baseball cap. A hat, in church! I thought I ought to say something, but as I was with an official guide, I decided it perhaps wasn’t my place. A very English cop-out, I confess.

Then I saw a second man in a cap and, hat-radar activated, I started counting. And stopped at seven. Clearly, it was impossible that seven male hat wearers had all slipped unnoticed past the Abbey’s considerable security and, equally clearly, there must be a new attitude to hats in church and I hadn’t received the memo.

I thought I’d check with the Very Reverend Dean. He replied, and I quote: ‘We are increasingly encountering people who have strong views and good reasons for not wanting to take a hat off. It was an issue that was becoming very problematic for our staff. We do our best to ensure that male members of our congregations remove hats for our services, but even then, there are exceptions.’

I was agog to know what manner of strong views and good reasons these might be, but Dr Hoyle is a busy man and declined to explain. I cast my net wider.

‘We are encountering people who........

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