Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Monk and former Bishop of Stepney who campaigned against apartheid in South Africa and served as President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement.
On the island
Eight records
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:19Which of the three vows – poverty, chastity, and obedience – has been the most difficult to observe?
Oh, I think without any question obedience is the most difficult. The others have got their difficulties, because they spring surprises on you.
Presenter asks
5:46What about chastity? How has that vow surprised you?
Well, that's the one that I think... brought a great surprise. I can remember when I was a novice... He took me for a walk, and he suddenly stopped, and said, You know, the thing you're going to miss most. Is children. I didn't believe him then. I was in my early twenties. I thought, that doesn't I don't believe that.
Presenter asks
9:35When did you decide you wanted to be a man of God?
I think I decided that I ought to be a priest when I was very, very young, perhaps four or five. I mean, I can remember perhaps this was very precocious, but I can remember preaching with my friends, putting on a I don't know what served as a surplus, something or other, but anyhow we did.
The keepsakes
The book
The Oxford Book of English Verse (modern edition)
various
I think the only sensible book for me would be a book of poetry, but I would, I think, get rather tired of one particular poet, and so I would like the Oxford Book of English Verse, or its equivalent, the modern edition of it, because then I could choose the kind of poem that I really love
The luxury
my desert island would certainly have birds around, and also I think I'd need binoculars to see that little puff of smoke signalling the arrival of the ship to take me home again.
Presenter asks
What kind of South Africa greeted you then?
Well, remember it was in the war. Remember that General Smuts was then Prime Minister, and he was a member of the War Cabinet in Britain. And of course, the first thing one noticed I travelled out in convoy like everybody else. We were bombed off Portugal. I can remember that very well. It took seven weeks to get to Cape Town. And so arriving at Cape Town, I arrived in a land bathed in sunlight and full of good things which we'd not seen in England since the war started in'thirty nine. So in that sense, it was you know a tremendous sense of liberation. But it was very soon followed by the exact opposite of this because I was appointed... to be parish priest of Sophiartown and Orlando...
Presenter asks
30:36You're seventy-five now and apartheid seems as strong as ever. Do you still believe you will see its end?
I do hope to see the end of [apartheid] before I am dead, and I know that I could. If those in power in the Western democracies did what they ought to do, it could end it could end within a year.
Presenter asks
31:01You're officially retired but have always been a man of action. Have you now done your share of standing up, or will that real day of retirement never arrive?
Well, I think the only effective way of preparing for death is to enjoy life, and to live life to the full. I can't conceive I mean, it may well be I'll be struck down by some fatal illness to morrow, or even as I go home to day. But let's live life to the full. That's the best preparation for death, after all.
“Oh, I think without any question obedience is the most difficult. The others have got their difficulties, because they spring surprises on you.”
“He took me for a walk, and he suddenly stopped, and said, You know, the thing you're going to miss most. Is children.”
“I mean, every single day, every hour, every second matters because [apartheid] is basically evil and it's destructive of people.”
“I do hope to see the end of [apartheid] before I am dead, and I know that I could. If those in power in the Western democracies did what they ought to do, it could end it could end within a year.”
“Well, I think the only effective way of preparing for death is to enjoy life, and to live life to the full. I can't conceive I mean, it may well be I'll be struck down by some fatal illness to morrow, or even as I go home to day. But let's live life to the full. That's the best preparation for death, after all.”