"I respect Charles not only as a truly wonderful singer, but also as an enthusiastic and first-rate distance cyclist. Since I used to cover a fair amount of ground on two wheels myself when I was younger, but have since been considerably limited by a minor but rather awkward disability, this is something to which I naturally relate, and I am always keen to hear his bike stories when I see him.
In the winter of 2007-8 I went up to Gateshead to hear him in a Messiah at the Sage - a magnificent performance it was, too, from all concerned. It was also absolutely bucketing down outside, and so during the interval it occurred to me to pull Charles' leg gently by enquiring if he had cycled up from London.
'Oh, no,' he replied, very seriously, 'not this time.' While I was still scooping my lower jaw off the floor, he continued earnestly, 'Well, you see, last time I did that, there were 40 mph side winds, and I thought that was rather dangerous, you know.'
I suppose I should not have been so astonished, given the fact that I already knew about his exploits in Canada. As many of you will be aware, Charles regularly sings at the Montreal Baroque Festival, and while he's over there, he usually also does some recording. However, the studio where he does the recording is not in Montreal. There is some dispute over the exact distance; I've been told it's about fifty miles, but Charles himself is sure it's less than that. Be that as it may, when he is recording in Canada, Charles habitually cycles from Montreal to the studio and back, and blithely sings for eight hours in between.
And yet, despite all these long-distance heroics, when I decided to tackle the ten-mile round trip from my hotel to another of his concerts (this one being part of the Stour Music Festival) on foot, it was his turn to be amazed. 'Ten miles?' he said. 'My word, that's quite a walk!'
I can only conclude that Charles has a bicycle in the same way that other people have feet. I'm just waiting for him to pedal gently onto a stage on it. Somehow it wouldn't look out of place."
The Webmaster likes to remain fairly anonymous on the whole, but will admit to living in Sheffield and working as, among other things, an occasional freelance translator.