Archbishop runcie biography

The nd Archbishop of Canterbury was born in in Crosby, Liverpool, the son of Robert Dalziel Runcie, a Scottish electrical engineer, and his wife Ann.

Educated at Coronation Road council school in Liverpool, he won a scholarship to Oxford University and attended Brasenose College for a year before WWII intervened.

He served with the Scots Guards, fighting across northern France and into Germany, being amongst the first British soldiers into the concentration camp at Belsen.

In March he was awarded the Military Cross for bravery, rescuing, under fire, a wounded comrade from a burning tank and also for bravery whilst engaging the enemy.

After the war he continued his studies, gaining a first in Greats at Oxford and then training for the ministry at Westcott House in Cambridge.

He was ordained deacon in , priest a year later and served two years as a curate in Gosforth, Tyneside, before returning t