Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
The Archbishop of Canterbury and primate of all England, who rose from a working-class East End background without formal education.
On the island
Eight records
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:12How surprised were you when the call came?
I was very surprised to when the invitation came. As you said a moment ago, I've never run away from any challenge, and this was certainly a challenge.
Presenter asks
4:20Does that mean that in a sense war was quite fun for you? Because for a boy of that age and onwards, there were sort of fine times to be had.
Yes, I have to say there were aspects to it that were very exciting indeed, you know, looking out at night and seeing the searchlights scan the sky and the noise and so on, and the call to get down into the shelter and down in the shelter you went and you peered outside. But as well as that, of course, there was the sadness that went with it, going to school, perhaps the following morning to find your friend was not there, or someone had been killed in the bombing before.
Presenter asks
7:42So do you think that that lack of academic background has fostered this determination that you obviously have to succeed, a kind of 'I'll show 'em' kind of approach?
I have no doubt about that, actually. There's a sense in which those early war years I think I grew up in a community which had a strong sense of class distinction. And I was aware, as I grew into my teens and later, that if I was going to get anywhere, then of course I had to fight for it.
The keepsakes
The book
T.S. Eliot
I'm very fond of the writings and poetry of TS Eliot, and I would love to take the complete works away with me, and go back again and again to that wonderful poem East Coca, because East Coker was in my diocese of Bath and Wells.
The luxury
a computer and an empty bottle
I would like to type up a book because I love writing and the book will be How to Cope with Loneliness.
Presenter asks
11:21What happened? Can you describe it?
No, I can't really tell you that, Sue. It's just a strong, overwhelming feeling that I had found something deeply important. It was intellectual, it was a discovery, it was also very mystical and spiritual at the same time. It doesn't really matter so much about how it happened, the very fact it did happen.
Presenter asks
18:46So what are you saying? Are you saying if you open your doors and let the fresh air come in, and if you have modern music and dancing and activities and non-religious things, that at some point so many people will have come in that you can then bring God into play, religion into play?
All that, but at the same time not ditching and jettisoning the good things, the old things, the traditional things. We still have the Book of Common Prayer as a regular feature of our life, but we were trying to relate the Christian faith to all sorts and conditions of people.
Presenter asks
30:58You're an optimist. Not just a man who meets a challenge head on, but somebody who is essentially and deep down optimistic, yes?
Yes, I am basically optimistic. Although my wife will at times say to me when we go on holiday that I will always say we will never get everything in that case and she is usually proved right. But basically I'm optimistic about human nature. I'm optimistic about the universe because it's God's universe and he will have the last word.
“I was very surprised to when the invitation came. As you said a moment ago, I've never run away from any challenge, and this was certainly a challenge.”
“There's a sense in which those early war years I think I grew up in a community which had a strong sense of class distinction. And I was aware, as I grew into my teens and later, that I if I was going to get anywhere, then of course I had to fight for it.”
“No, I can't really tell you that, Sue. It's just a strong, overwhelming feeling that I had found something deeply important. It was intellectual, it was a discovery, it was also very mystical and spiritual at the same time.”
“It gave me a wonderful opportunity, and I want to say together with the congregation, to do something quite new and quite exciting, and that was to develop a seven day a week approach to the Christian faith and serving the wider community.”
“All that, but at the same time not ditching and jettisoning the good things, the old things, the traditional things. We still have the Book of Common Prayer as a regular feature of our life, but we were trying to relate the Christian faith to all sorts and conditions of people.”
“Do you know, I think I could find it quite difficult. On the one hand, maybe the spiritual truths that I value that's very much at the heart of my life would give me the resources to cope, I'm sure it would. But at the same time, I'm a very gregarious person. I love having family and people around me. So perhaps I could put up with it, Sue, for a week or two. After that it could get very stressful indeed.”