Andreas Whittam Smith | |
---|---|
First Church Estates Commissioner | |
In office 6 March 2002 –June 2017 | |
Succeeded by | Loretta Minghella |
Personal details | |
Born | Macclesfield,Cheshire,England | 13 June 1937
Profession | Journalist newspaper editor |
Sir Andreas Whittam Smith, CBE (born 13 June 1937) [1] is an English financial journalist,who was one of the founders of The Independent newspaper,which began publication in October 1986 with Whittam Smith as editor. He is a former president of the British Board of Film Classification.
Whittam Smith was born in Macclesfield,son of Rev. Canon J. E. Smith,a vicar at Macclesfield;the family moved to Birkenhead in 1940 when his father took over a dockland parish. [2] J. E. Smith was from a working-class family from Manchester,going from there to St John's College,Durham;his wife was daughter of a mill owner. [3] Smith was educated at Birkenhead School,and Keble College,Oxford.
Most of his career has been spent in the city in journalism,including as city editor of The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph, and as editor of the Investors Chronicle from 1970 to 1977, [4] and Stock Exchange Gazette. With Matthew Symonds,he was a co-founder of The Independent newspaper and was its first editor from 1986 to 1993. [5] He still contributes articles on a regular basis.
Whittam Smith was chairman of the Financial Ombudsman Service from 2001 to 2003. He is also a director of Independent News and Media (UK),Vice Chairman of Tunbridge Wells Equitable Friendly Society,and a vice-president of the National Council for One Parent Families. He was appointed president of the British Board of Film Classification in 1998,instigating liberalisation of film and video censorship,a post from which he resigned in 2002. [6] He has been on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation.
Whittam Smith was interviewed by National Life Stories (C467/08) in 2007 for the 'Oral History of the British Press' collection held by the British Library. [7]
On 6 March 2002,Whittam Smith was appointed the First Church Estates Commissioner,a senior lay person in the Church of England. [2] As such,he is Chairman of the Church Commissioners' Assets Committee (an investment portfolio of £7 billion),and a member of the Church Commissioners' Board of Governors,the General Synod of the Church of England,and the Archbishops' Council. [8] It was announced in September 2016 that he would be stepping down as First Church Estates Commissioner in June 2017. [8]
In 2012 Whittam Smith started the Democracy 2015 movement to attempt to reform how British democracy functions. [9] The movement's stated aim was to achieve a House of Commons majority in 2015 and form a reformist government independent of parliamentary parties and composed of non-politicians volunteering to stand for a single term only. The movement said that politics should be public service,not a career move. [10] The movement stood a candidate,Adam Lotun,in the Corby by-election on 15 November 2012. He came 13th out of 14 candidates,with 35 votes. [11]
In 1988 Whittam Smith was awarded the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Laws (LL.D) by the University of Bath. [12]
In the 2003 New Year Honours,he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) "for services to the Film Industry." [13] In the 2015 Birthday Honours,he was knighted "for public service,particularly to the Church of England",and therefore granted the title "Sir". [14]
In July 2017,he was awarded the Canterbury Cross for Services to the Church of England by the Archbishop of Canterbury,Justin Welby. [15]
Ælfheah,more commonly known today as Alphege,was an Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Winchester,later Archbishop of Canterbury. He became an anchorite before being elected abbot of Bath Abbey. His reputation for piety and sanctity led to his promotion to the episcopate and,eventually,to his becoming archbishop. Ælfheah furthered the cult of Dunstan and also encouraged learning. He was captured by Viking raiders in 1011 during the siege of Canterbury and killed by them the following year after refusing to allow himself to be ransomed. Ælfheah was canonised as a saint in 1078. Thomas Becket,a later Archbishop of Canterbury,prayed to Ælfheah just before his murder in Canterbury Cathedral in 1170.
The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England,the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justin Welby,who was enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral on 21 March 2013. Welby is the 105th person to hold the position,as part of a line of succession going back to the "Apostle to the English",Augustine of Canterbury,who was sent to the island by the church in Rome and arrived in 597. Welby succeeded Rowan Williams.
Rowan Douglas Williams,Baron Williams of Oystermouth is a Welsh Anglican bishop,theologian and poet,who served as the 104th Archbishop of Canterbury from 2002 to 2012. Previously the Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales,Williams was the first Archbishop of Canterbury in modern times not to be appointed from within the Church of England.
The Independent is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the Indy,it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was published on Saturday 26 March 2016,leaving only the online edition.
Æthelnoth was the archbishop of Canterbury from 1020 until his death. Descended from an earlier English king,Æthelnoth became a monk prior to becoming archbishop. While archbishop,he travelled to Rome and brought back saint's relics. He consecrated a number of other bishops who came from outside his archdiocese,leading to some friction with other archbishops. Although he was regarded as a saint after his death,there is little evidence of his veneration or of a cult in Canterbury or elsewhere.
The order of precedence in the United Kingdom is the sequential hierarchy for Peers of the Realm,officers of state,senior members of the clergy,holders of the various Orders of Chivalry,and is mostly determined,but not limited to,birth order,place in the line of succession,or distance from the reigning monarch. The order of precedence can also be applied to other persons in the three legal jurisdictions within the United Kingdom:
Macclesfield is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East,Cheshire,England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain,with Macclesfield Forest to its east;the town lies 16 miles (26 km) south of Manchester and 38 miles (61 km) east of Chester.
Birkenhead is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral,Merseyside,England;It was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula,along the west bank of the River Mersey,opposite Liverpool. At the 2011 census,it had a population of 88,818.
George Leonard Carey,Baron Carey of Clifton is a retired Anglican bishop who was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1991 to 2002,having previously been the Bishop of Bath and Wells.
John Moore was Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.
George Kennedy Allen Bell was an Anglican theologian,Dean of Canterbury,Bishop of Chichester,member of the House of Lords and a pioneer of the ecumenical movement.
Peter Bryan Price is a retired English Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Bath and Wells in the Church of England from 2001 to 30 June 2013. He sat in the House of Lords as one of the Lords Spiritual from 2008 until his retirement. He became chair of the board of trustees for the NGO Conciliation Resources in August 2013 but as of August 2024 is not listed as a trustee of that organisation. In 2015,he and his wife Dee co-founded the Burns Price Foundation,and as of August 2024 they both serve as trustees.
The Church Commissioners is a body which administers the property assets of the Church of England. It was established in 1948 and combined the assets of Queen Anne's Bounty,a fund dating from 1704 for the relief of poor clergy,and of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners formed in 1836. The Church Commissioners are a registered charity regulated by the Charity Commission for England and Wales,and are liable for the payment of pensions to retired clergy whose pensions were accrued before 1998.
Anthony Michael Arnold Turnbull is a retired Church of England bishop. He was ordained in 1961 and in 1988 he was consecrated as the Bishop of Rochester. In 1994,he became the Bishop of Durham until he retired in 2003. In his retirement,Turnbull continues "preaching and teaching and writing".
Justin Portal Welby is a British Anglican bishop who,since 2013,has been the 105th archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England. Welby was previously the vicar of Southam in Warwickshire,and later served as Dean of Liverpool and Bishop of Durham. As Archbishop of Canterbury he is the Primate of All England and the symbolic head primus inter pares of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
Michael Francis Perham was a British Anglican bishop. From 2004 to 2014,he served as the Bishop of Gloucester in the Church of England.
The Archbishops' Council is a part of the governance structures of the Church of England. Its headquarters are at Church House,Great Smith Street,London.
Peter Ball CGA was a British bishop in the Church of England and convicted sex offender. In 1960 he and his twin brother established a monastic community,the Community of the Glorious Ascension,through which Ball came into contact with many boys and young men.
Loretta Caroline Rose Minghella is a British academic administrator and former charity executive. Since 2021,she has served as Master of Clare College,Cambridge,her alma mater. Previously,she was the Chief Executive Officer of Christian Aid,and served as the First Church Estates Commissioner,one of the most senior lay people in the Church of England.
The Lambeth Awards are awarded by the Archbishop of Canterbury. In addition to the Lambeth degrees,there are a number of non-academic awards. Before 2016,these awards consisted of the Lambeth Cross,the Canterbury Cross,and the Cross of St Augustine. In 2016,these awards were expanded with six new awards named after previous Archbishops of Canterbury.