Sam Beaver King

We don't have to look very far.

Sam King arrived in Britain aboard the Empire Windrush in 1948.

He had already served in the RAF.

He settled here in Southwark, worked for the Royal Mail for decades, became a councillor and in 1983 became Southwark's first black mayor.

But I like a particularly different part of that story.

In 1985, Sam King helped organise a Songs of Praise broadcast from this very cathedral, which helped bring gospel music onto one of the BBC's most flagship programmes.

So even the sound of British Christianity has been changed by black communities.

And the leadership of the church has been changed too.

We don't have to look very far.

Sam King arrived in Britain aboard the Empire Windrush in 1948.

He had already served in the RAF.

He settled here in Southwark, worked for the Royal Mail for decades, became a councillor, and in 1983 became Southwark's first black mayor.

But I like a particularly different part of that story.

In 1985, Sam King helped organise a Songs of Praise broadcast from this very cathedral, which helped bring gospel music onto one of the BBC's most flagship programmes.

So even the sound of British Christianity has been changed by black communities.

And the leadership of the church has been changed too.