It's an unlikely combination, but Rabbi Lionel Blue seems to manage it.

In addition to his roles as Jewish man of the cloth, Religious Director for Europe for Reform and Progressive Synagogues and co-founder of the Standing Conference of Jews, Christians and Moslems in Europe, he's also managed to fit in an extensive TV, radio and writing career.

Even the least religiously-minded have been inspired by his gentle, encouraging Thought for the Day on Radio Four, something he's been doing for 30 years.

During the past few years, this most unlikely of stars has taken his unique style of anecdotal humour to the Edinburgh festival and many other venues in the UK a goal still well out of reach for many a mainstream comedian and raconteur and enjoying every minute of it.

"The thing about radio is that the mike tends to form a barrier, so it's great to do the live shows," he explains. "It's so lovely to go out and meet people to face to face after so much radio, and I feel as though I want to throw my arms around them all and hug them. I can't, of course."

He's been doing these shows for three or four years now. "I tell anecdotes and jokes, and the humour is a kind of therapy. It helps to see what life is about," he says.

"People in the audience can ask me anything they want to and I stay afterwards to talk to people too. Its like having a congregation."

Rabbi Blue's long-standing flirtation with fame came about, as he says, 'quite by accident'. For a long time he was pursuing a perfectly normal, mainstream career as a Rabbi, having studied at the Leo Baeck College.

"I was working on the continent when I got a call to say that one of the synagogues I had been Rabbi at was to be involved in a Down Your Way programme with the BBC, and as they didn't have a Rabbi at the moment they wanted me to go back and stand in," he explains. "I took a very stormy crossing on an old ferry and I was full of Belgian chocolates and they were threatening to come up again!

"So when I got there the BBC man was asking me questions and wanting me to talk so, still feeling very odd, I started talking about the crossing. I told some anecdotes, and you know how it is when you get started it's one thing after another!"

He went on to make his name with such anecdotes in the BBC morning 'God slots', as he terms them, but despite his success he has never allowed it to take over. "I think the trick with radio is that you have to be prepared to say what's on your mind," he says sagely. "So many people say what they think they're expected to say. You've got to stay in touch with what your real message is."

Nevertheless, he won't deny his enjoyment of the limelight. "Being involved with theatre is marvellous. I love the people in theatre they're so enthusiastic!" he says. "I love being a theatre person myself!"

Rabbi Lionel Blue is at the Elliott Hall, Harrow Arts Centre, Uxbridge Road, Hatch End on Sunday (November 18) at 7.30pm. Call 8424 0124 to book tickets (£12.50/£11).

By.Vienna Leigh