THE man who has announced his retirement as the second most senior position in the Church of England made a name for himself not just as Britain’s first senior black bishop, but for his strongly held views on social issues.

The sixth of 13 children, the Rt Rev Dr John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu was born in Uganda in 1949, where he suffered life-threatening injuries after being beaten up on the orders of former dictator Idi Amin.

The 69-year-old, a former lawyer, was also once arrested for speaking out against Amin’s human rights record, leaving the country at the height of the leader’s reign of terror in 1974 to train as a priest in Cambridge.

His outspokenness earned him a reputation in the Church of England, and he increased the congregation of the Holy Trinity Church in Tulse Hill, south London, tenfold during his 13 years as a vicar there.

After serving in a succession of London parishes, he was appointed Bishop of Stepney in 1996 and Bishop of Birmingham in 2002, making him the first black senior bishop appointed.

He was vocal in support of campaigns to rid areas of the diocese of gun and other violent crime, particularly in the wake of the deaths of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in 2003.

As police continued their investigations to find the girls’ killers, he became personally involved to the extent of giving out his home telephone number for potential witnesses to get in touch. About 200 people called him.

At the height of the Iraq crisis in 2003, the bishop led church-wide protests against the conflict, denouncing the British and American-led invasion as having “no moral basis”.

In 2005, around 3,500 invited guests watched his inauguration as Archbishop of York in the city’s Minster.

It was in the same cathedral that he erected a tent to sleep in as part of a “public witness” to encourage peace in the Middle East a year later.

His penchant for voicing his opinions has continued throughout his time in the role, exemplified by his decision to wear a hoodie in 2007 in a bid to encourage people not to judge others by their choice of fashion.

In the same year, the bishop made a vow on the BBC One’s Andrew Marr Show not to wear his dog collar until Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe was out of office, cutting it into pieces.

He kept his promise and, during an interview with Marr in 2017, he put a collar back on again.

In the same year, he held an 11-hour vigil by the coffin of seven-year-old Katie Rough prior to her funeral.

IN 2016, the Archbishop completed an epic, six-month long Pilgrimage of Prayer which saw him trek the length and breadth of the Diocese of York in a series of stages.

Data from his smart phone showed he took well over 1.5 million steps and covered nearly 1,600 miles.

“The longest walk on the Pilgrimage was a 16-mile trek along the route from Wilton to Redcar, and out onto The Gare – the most northerly point of the Diocese of York,” he said.

“In total I have walked 1,578 miles wearing my reliable Chris Brasher boots and with my walking poles.

“I have taken 1,627,226 steps. I have climbed 1,204 floors. I have walked in all weathers, rain, wind, hail, sleet, snow and glorious sunshine.”

The Archbishop added: “I am energised and have been so encouraged by the people that I have met in factories, on farms and on the streets.”

Dr Sentamu, who has two children with wife Margaret, revealed on Monday that he would be stepping down from his position in 2020, having been granted special permission by the Queen to continue beyond the age of 70.

He said: “I am full of joy and expectation to see all that God is doing and will be doing in this diocese and in the Northern Province over the coming months.”