If there’s a Guinness world record for sermon-giving, then Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis must have come close to achieving it.

Over Yom Kippur he delivered no fewer than 11 addresses to assorted services in three different communities — Hendon, Hampstead Garden Suburb and Finchley.

As he left one synagogue for another, the head of his police detachment remarked that he understood why the chief rabbi was wearing trainers because of the long walk ahead. But how thoughtful, the policeman said, for the whole congregation to wear trainers too, so as not to embarrass him.