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Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin

Kirsty Young talks to the Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin, chaplain to the Queen and the speaker of the House of Commons, as well as a minister of two churches in Hackney, east London.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin.

The first black woman to be chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen and also to the Speaker of the House of Commons, she's also kept busy with her work in less rarefied surroundings - ministering to two churches in the east London borough of Hackney.

It's all a long way from the crystal waters and swaying palms of her birthplace, Montego Bay, where brought up by her Auntie Pet she coped with poverty and separation from her mother. She did however have a sense, from the age of just 14, that her future lay in faith.

She wasn't wrong and the combination of her belief and dynamism has taken her to as close to the top as The Church of England will currently allow. If they do eventually permit women bishops it's easy to imagine she'd be a shoe in.

She says "Oh I have lots of ambition. You can't be Jamaican and not be ambitious. My ambition is to enjoy life. My ambition is to do everything I do to the best of my ability."

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 24 Jan 2014 09:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 FM

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Music Played

  • Arrow

    Hot, Hot, Hot

    • Capital Gold Reggae Classics.
    • UNIVERSAL.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Zadock the Priest

    Performer: Choir of Westminster Abbey. Performer: Trevor Pinnock. Performer: Simon Preston.
    • Handel: Coronation Anthems.
    • ARCHIV.

  • Jimmy Cliff

    Many Rivers to Cross

    • 20 Reggae Classics.
    • TROJAN.

  • Aretha Franklin

    Respect

    • 60 Number Ones of the Sixties.
    • WARNER.

  • Barry White

    You're The first, The Last, My Everything

    • Barry White: All-Time Greatest Hits.
    • MERCURY.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Adventist Vocal Ensemble & Ken Burton

      There is a Balm in Gilead

      • Up Above My Head.
      • AVE International.

  • Labi Siffre

    (Something Inside) So Strong

    • The Best Of Labi Siffre.
    • EMI.

  • Harry Belafonte

    Island In The Sun

    • 16 Top Tracks from Harry Belafonte.
    • RCA.

  • Book Choice

    • Complete Works - Maya Angelou

  • Luxury Choice

    • Large selection of earrings

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Rose Hudson-Wilkin
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 19 Jan 2014 11:15
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 24 Jan 2014 09:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4 FM

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