From what I hear you always look smart and always wear a bow-tie! Where does your sense of style come from?

Oscar Wilde once said, “You’ve either got to be a work of art or wear a work of art.”

Women wear all kinds of different things, but men tend to be much more conservative and dress safely. A bow-tie gives you a chance to add something extra. I think we should take more, maybe pride’s too strong a word, but we should respect ourselves enough to dress as well groomed as we can. I heard the Reverend D R Thomas, Aberystwyth talking on the radio once about a minister that wouldn’t go up into the pulpit unless he’d combed his hair. Thomas was very critical of this, but he could just as easily have been talking about me, because I wouldn’t dare go up to the pulpit without making myself as presentable as possible – out of respect for the audience as well as myself.

What’s your favourite outfit to wear?

I love to wear suits especially when I can a waistcoat as well. Maybe that’s the most desirable thing to wear, as it feels like it’s moulding around your body shape. Of course controlling the shape is another problem altogether!

This is a wonderful suit.

This is a lovely, heavy tweed suit. Just the thing really! It has a pair of long and short trousers to match. I bought both with each other and I do wear the short trousers. ‘Apple stealing trousers’ we used to call them, years ago. But these ones aren’t as baggy as that. I think that they look quite dapper!

You have a different coloured handkerchief to go with every suit.

The problem is, there are no pockets on these jackets. I like to wear a handkerchief that matches the rest of the outfit, so you have to cheat a little. I’m going to share a secret with you that I’ll probably regret. The way to do it is to pin the handkerchief on with safety-pins on the inside of the jacket. Of course, if a gust of wind opens your jacket then the game’s up as they say.

Do you wear a white collar at all?

Never, ever! The last time I wore a white collar was many years ago – and even then, I didn’t wear it for a legitimate reason! I’d been in north Wales visiting a friend of mine when I realised that only one of the headlamps on my car worked and I had to drive home late through Aberystwyth. I borrowed my friend’s white collar to wear because I thought that if I got stopped by the police that they’d have a little more compassion when they saw the collar. I didn’t get caught so I can’t tell you if it works or not!

I remember being stopped by the police one night. They later confessed that they stopped me because they saw the bow-tie and thought, “hey, he must be coming home from a dinner, we’ll get this one for sure!” Of course, I wasn’t coming from a dinner, just a lecture and as always I was wearing my bow-tie!

Do clothes have a theatrical element for you?

They probably do because clothes create an impression. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I was a post-war child when there was this feeling of euphoria that everyone’s troubles were over. My grandmother was very fond of carnivals and I was dressed up in different costumes for many carnivals – people loved to do that kind of thing back then.

Not many people can wear a cloak like this one!

I love wearing cloaks. But unfortunately it’s unconventional for a nonconformist minister to wear a cloak. I do wear it if it’s an extremely cold winter’s day or for special occasions. It’s a very heavy cloak and it wraps itself around your body. The only problem is, and I’ve done it many times in a concert or something when it’s cold outside, I fall asleep in the cloak! Lloyd George used to wear a cloak and I think that there’s an air of dignity to it. I like to take advantage of every chance I get to wear my cloak.

This is a different bow-tie!

I’m a member of the ‘Ghost Club’ in London, and it’s an old, old club that Dickens and other famous people from the Victorian age founded. Most of the members own regular ties, but because I don’t wear regular ones I had a bow-tie made from my tie. This one’s pre-tied which is something that I would never normally do. It’s quite a hard skill to master. I’ve tried to show people over the years how to tie a bow-tie and it’s very hard. By now of course, after years of practice, it come naturally to me.

Not everyone owns two smoking jackets!

I think that there’s something very grand about a smoking jacket. This one’s very old. It was given to me as a gift when I was in college and I wear it a lot. You have to wear a smart black tie with it, and it looks great with a white shirt. The only time I’ll wear a normal tie is with a wedding tail suit because then it’s a part of the costume. I like the idea of dressing for dinner as well, there’s something about it, it makes it feel more like a special occasion.