[1][2] He had special knowledge of Eastern religions (especially Buddhism) and languages, which he used in his interfaith work,[2][3] and was particularly concerned with education.
[3] Born in Poona, then in the Bombay Presidency of British India, the son of an Indian Army brigadier, David Young returned to the UK for his education at Wellington College, Berkshire.
[1] He then did National Service in the Royal Engineers, being commissioned as a second lieutenant on 21 October 1950,[4] He completed his active duty on 15 October 1951 when he transferred to the Supplementary Reserve of Officers,[5] and went up to Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied Mathematics, gaining a first class degree.
[8] Young worked in industry as a research mathematician with Plessey before deciding to take Holy Orders via study at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford.
[9][10] In 1975, he was appointed Archdeacon of Huntingdon, and vicar of Great Gidding, then in 1977, briefly rector of Hemingford Abbots and an honorary canon before his nomination as Bishop of Ripon.