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TERRY WAITE
Terry Waite is increasingly invited to address audiences worldwide. His honesty and straightforward manner endear him to people of all ages
and many are surprised by his sense of humour.
He was born on 31 May 1939 in Bollington, Cheshire and his formative years were spent in a small village in Cheshire, where his father was the village policeman. His primary and secondary education took place locally.
He served for a brief period with the Grenadier Guards but had to retire on medical grounds. He entered the Church Army College in London in 1958 and studied theology. He then worked closely with the Church of England Board of Education and made a special study of group dynamics, leadership training, conflict resolution and
inter-cultural communication patterns.
He married Helen Watters in 1964. They have three daughters and a son. He was appointed Advisor to the Bishop of Bristol, the Right Reverend Oliver Tompkins, with responsibility for both clerical and lay education.
In 1969 he moved with his family to Africa where he took the position as Advisor to the first Archbishop of Uganda, the Most Reverend Erica Sabiti.
He witnessed the Amin coup, and he and his wife narrowly escaped death on several occasions due to civil violence. The family moved to Rome in 1972 from where he travelled the world advising organisations of the Roman Catholic Church on development
- mainly in the fields of health and education. He travelled widely in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and North and South America.
In 1978 the family moved to London where he continued his work with the Roman Catholic Church for a year. In 1979 he intended to take a sabbatical year, but was asked to assist the British Council of Churches on their African desk, which he did on a
part-time basis.
In March 1980, Terry Waite was appointed by the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Robert Runcie, as Advisor on Anglican Communion Affairs. In this role, he accompanied the Archbishop on his journeys worldwide.
He was also responsible for advising the Archbishop on a wide range of international issues. During the years at Lambeth, Terry Waite was involved with the plight of hostages, especially in Tehran, Libya and Beirut. In January 1987 he was captured in Beirut whilst attempting to secure the release of hostages. He was kept in solitary confinement for four years and kept hostage for almost five years, 1763 days in all.
Terry Waite resigned from Lambeth Palace in April 1992 after serving on the staff for over 12 years. In the same month he was elected a Fellow Commoner at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He was awarded the MBE in 1982 and the CBE in 1992. He holds honorary doctorates from the Universities of the City of London (1986), Kent at Canterbury (1986), Liverpool (1986), Durham (1992), Sussex (1992) and Yale (1992).
He is the Founder Chairman of Y-Care International; a trustee of the Butler Trust; Patron of Strode Park Foundation for the Disabled; Member of Council of Victim Support and an active supporter of many charitable organisations. In 1989 he was awarded the UK Templeton Award. In 1992 he received the Freedom of the London Borough of Lewisham and the Freedom of the City of Canterbury.
Terry's books include Taken On Trust (about his time as a hostage), Footfalls In Memory and his humorous book Travels With A Primate about his global adventures with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
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