3 Review(s)

'The most extraordinary clergyman in the Church of England.' The Times, 'A Visionary with Attitude.' Jack Dee, 'A very dangerous man.' Baroness Thatcher Donald Reeves is a cult figure in religious and political circles, the former Rector of St James' Piccadilly, is a man of action and vision who lives out his religious belief through political activity and struggle. He is charismatic with enormous personal charm and persuasiveness. Reeves started his clerical life as Chaplain to the notorious Anglican bishop Mervyn Stockwood. He was thus trained in an atmosphere of socialist politics with a strong tinge of sexual ambivalence. Stockwood is just one of the figures about whom Reeves writes with relish and acuity in this volume of memoirs. John 'Honest to God' Robinson comes in for something of a drubbing in these pages. Reeves heyday was as Rector of St James' Church in Piccadilly and space he filled with unorthodox worship, celebrated pulpit dialogues, a coffee shop, shops and stalls and through which there was an endless march of eccentric cleric and politicians.He had several brushes with Margaret Thatcher who detested him but he has also been an adviser to Rio Tinto, The BBC, ITV and Mittal Steel on ethical issues. Today he devotes himself to working for peace in Bosnia and the Balkans, an area he argues which could so easily descend into open warfare once again. He is very critical of Paddy Ashdown and many so-called experts. He spent many years in the USA working for civil rights and setting up the Urban Training Center in Chicago. Reeves never lets the grass grow under his feet. His energy is inexhaustible (even in his seventies) and this energy pulsates through the pages of this fascinating book.