PERHAPS it should not surprise us that Peter Tatchell's parents were evangelical Christians, with a strong sense of right and wrong.

This interesting fact came out during the "Desert Island Poems" session in the Ledbury Community Hall, an event which was one of the highlights of this year's Ledbury Poetry Festival.

The famous gay rights and human rights activist also has a clear sense of right or wrong, and he once tried to carry out a citizen's arrest on Robert Mugabe, whom he accused of torture.

Speaking from the stage of the Community Hall, where he was being interviewed by poet Nicholas Murray, the slender, almost heron-like Mr Tatchell revealed he had been beaten up 30 times in 30 years, "not least by Robert Mugabe's bodyguards".

Mr Tatchell, then, has pluck; and he is also a man of certainties, with a strong evangelical drive, even though he is no longer a Christian.

He said: "Although I'm no longer religious, those basic values pushed me to where I am now."

Perhaps the world needs more people like Peter Tatchell. But does he really have all the answers?

When a member of the audience asked him what should be done about an apparent rise in racism, following the Brexit vote, Mr Tatchell suggested a candlelit vigil under Ledbury's Market House.

He believes the UK should shoulder its burden of responsibilities, when it comes to refugees.

Mr Tatchell said: "We are one of the richest countries in the world. We should make the effort to provide and to ensure they have a place of refuge."

But when Mr Tatchell, in an impassioned closing speech, pointed out the hypocrisy involved when some activists condemn American and British imperialism while failing to condemn Putin, he failed to convey how exactly the West can oppose Russian aggression and expansion without setting the world on fire.

Mr Tatchell hates war, although he believes "the Second World War was justified". His grandfather fought in the First World War, which led into a very moving reading of Wilfred Owen's great anti-war poem, Dulce Et Decorum Est.

Mr Tatchell read clearly, and with great feeling.

He left his native Australia in the 1960s, to escape the Vietnam draft. He could not morally support that conflict. But due to his undoubted moral and physical courage, one cannot help but suspect that, in other circumstances and with another war, he would have became a decorated soldier.

At the moment, his argument is with the so-called Islamic State. He read out two ancient erotic poems, from "the golden age of Islam", which each celebrated the beauty of a boy, and he insisted that homosexuality has always been present in the Islamic world, despite the modern-day rash of bigoted executions by fundamentalists.

But perhaps poetry isn't such a strong interest for Mr Tatchell?

He also decided to read out the lyrics of the rap song "Invincible" by Tinie Tempah, but he took three or four attempts to get it right. Finally, he used his mobile phone to play the song in full to the audience, holding it up to the microphone while standing almost to attention, insisting we get it, - insisting, perhaps, that we should agree with him, that the lyrics are comparable to the love poetry of Shakespeare.

It was, when all is said, a surreal but memorable moment.