I saw my favourite singer, the eminently fabulous Mr Darren Hayes, formerly one half of Savage Garden, at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester last night. I’m still taking it all in; I’m still suffused with emotion from the experience.

I lived every moment of that 90 minutes for all it was worth. I cried, laughed, danced, shouted and shouted until I could shout no more, clapped my hands sore, sang along quietly to nearly all the songs, and felt distinctly unsteady on my feet when it was over.

And when he sang ‘Affirmation’ and got to the line ‘I believe you can’t control or choose your sexuality’, I screamed for all I was worth (as did several other people). For me, that was everything. I’ve been inspired in a million ways by this man, but that was the first. All those years ago, if he could say something like that in a pop song, I could find the courage to live my life openly and without fear. And all these years later, that’s what I’ve done.

So thank you, Darren, thank you with all my heart, for a magical show last night, and for all the years your music has been there for me. But thank you most of all for that little spark of passion and inspiration you’ve transmitted to me.