---

Sympathy for the vicar
Christopher Sandford says that Keith Richards - 60 next month - is a secret conservative: he eats shepherd's pie, loves his mum and even goes to church
He doesn't exactly look like your average squire, Keith Richards, with his piratical swagger and a complexion that's been compared to old cat litter. But Keith, who turns 60 next month, is emerging as one of the most shockingly normal, and English, of rock stars, as well as one of the most self-aware. "I can be the cat on stage any time I want," he said some years ago. "I like to stay in touch with him.... But I'm a very placid, nice guy - most people will tell you that. It's mainly to placate this other creature that I work." ...

...Richards married for the first and only time on his 40th birthday in 1983, and it probably saved his life. His bride was the 27-year-old Patti Hansen, a home-town girl from Staten Island, New York, and a devout Lutheran. His in-laws gave a startling interview in which they portrayed Keith as an "enthusiastic disciple of Christ" and that he "embraced Christ as a way of life". Under Patti's influence, Richards cut back on drugs, attended church from time to time and even started a gentle exercise regime. "She's a wonderful girl; I ain't letting the bitch go!" he confirmed in a speech at his wedding reception. Keith may have written "Sympathy For The Devil" back when, but these days much of his life is spent with a woman who attends a weekly Bible study group and who won't stand for swearing around the house....