David Hope

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 11 December 2005

⏱️ 38 minutes

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Summary

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the former Archbishop of York, David Hope. For a decade he was the second most important prelate in the Church of England but, earlier this year, he handed in his notice to return to life as a parish priest. As a young boy growing up in Wakefield, it was his cousin Muriel who would take him along to the town's cathedral to worship - he was captivated by the ritual and atmosphere of the place and 35 years later he returned as its Bishop. A traditionalist himself, he opposed the ordination of women and believes the church should resist pressure to ordain practising homosexuals, but he fears that both issues will continue to divide Anglicans across the world for the rest of his lifetime. He says he has never been happier than he is as a parish priest - and that throughout his ministry, he has been someone who preferred people to paper. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vespers by Sergei Rachmaninov Book: Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Luxury: A case of selected malt whiskies

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Cresti Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive for
0:05.4	rights reasons we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.6	The program was originally broadcast in 2005, and the presenter was Sue Lolley.
0:14.6	My cast away this week is a priest, until very recently he was the second most important
0:34.5	prelet in the Church of England, but he's thrown it all up to return to the life of a local
0:39.2	vicar.
0:40.2	Yorkshireman, he rose rapidly through the ranks of the Church, where his talent for solving
0:44.3	problems and soothing conflicts was much admired.
0:47.7	An intellectual conservative, he was personally opposed to the ordination of women and to
0:52.3	Sunday trading.
0:53.9	As Bishop of London in the 90s, he was urged by a gay pressure group to out himself as
0:58.3	gay.
0:59.3	He responded by publishing the letter they'd sent him, calling a press conference and telling
1:03.2	the world that he led a single, celibate life.
1:06.5	A few weeks later, he was promoted to Archbishop of York.
1:10.0	The post he left behind earlier this year, tired of the politics and bureaucracy, to become
1:14.6	once again a simple pastor among his flock.
1:17.8	My focus, he explains, is much more on people than it is on paper.
1:22.3	He is David Hope.
1:24.0	So practically a year in, David, to St Margaret's Ilkley, is it living up to expectations?
1:29.7	Are you feeling fulfilled by the move?
1:31.6	Oh, very much so.
	...

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