[2] He was a skilled rower and was in the Oxford crews that beat Cambridge in the Boat Races of 1937 and 1938.
In 1946 he was appointed a member of the military division of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)[5] for his leadership in the PoW camps.
After this he was a missionary priest in Korea[7] and then (his final post before elevation to the episcopate[8]) Anglican chaplain to overseas peoples in Birmingham.
During this time he brought together a successful Trinidadian steel band and enabled them to find engagements, including a regular annual performance at the summer ball of his alma mater, St Edmund Hall, Oxford.
On his return to England, he was Rector of Empingham and an honorary assistant bishop in the Diocese of Peterborough, 1981–1985.