Dr. John Sentamu enthroned as Archbishop of York

5.27.22pm GMT Wed 30th Nov 2005

Dr. John Sentamu after his enthronement as Archbishop of York

Today saw Dr. John Sentamu enthroned as Archbishop of York. Dr. Sentamu was most recently Bishop of Birmingham, and whilst I never met him I admired his work and much of what he said.

Dr. Sentamu is also Britain's first black archbishop. The enthronement, which I watched, was quite a spectacular affair with African drumming (with Dr. Sentamu have a drum!) and dancing - not at all what I expected

Dr. Sentamu was born and educated in Uganda, where he became a barrister and then a high court judge. He was forced to flee his homeland after speaking out against the tyrannical regime of the brutal dictator Idi Amin. Dr. Sentamu refused to acquit one of the president's cousins of a crime, and after the then archbishop of Uganda, Janani Luwum, was murdered, he allegedly vowed: "You kill my friend, I take his place." He was previously Bishop of Stepney and Bishop of Birmingham.