Richard Ingrams, co-founder of Private Eye and editor of the Oldie, has said that he became a Catholic so that he could have a Catholic funeral - but ended up getting a Catholic wedding. In an interview with The Catholic Herald published this week, Mr Ingrams said: "If anything my reason for converting was that the Catholic Church is better than the Church of England at funerals. They take it more seriously." He said: "I joined to get a Catholic funeral. Instead, I got a Catholic wedding." He married medical researcher Sara Soudain earlier this year. Mr Ingrams also said he liked "the strong sense in Catholicism of being encouraged to pray for the dead". He explained that his mother was a Catholic but his father was Anglican. They agreed to baptise and educate two of their children as Anglicans, and two as Catholics. Mr Ingrams, who is 74, was raised Anglican, attending Shrewsbury public school. In the end, all three of his brothers became Catholic, as well as their wives. "My mother had a most curious effect on her daughters-in-law. They all converted due entirely to her influence". Read the full interview in this week's print edition of The Catholic Herald. You can read it online by subscribing to our digital edition here.