Bishop of Norwich
The Rt Revd Graham James
Born in 1951, he hails from Cornwall where many members of his family worked in the tin mining industry.
Married to Julie a staff nurse, working at Priscilla Bacon Lodge, the hospice in Norwich. Children: Rebecca (32) Graduated from the University of Warwick, in drama with primary education and now teaching in London. Dominic (27) graduated from the University of Sheffield in criminology and now works as a merchandiser at Monsoon’s headquarters in London.
Bishop Graham was educated at Northampton Grammar School, the University of Lancaster (reading history) and then did his theological training at Cuddesdon, Oxford.
He was ordained in Peterborough in 1975 and later worked in Welwyn Garden City as a team vicar. He then moved to Church House, Westminster where he had responsibility for overseeing the selection procedures for candidates for ordination in the Church of England. In 1987 he was appointed as Chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Robert Runcie). (He preached at Robert Runcie's funeral in St. Albans and maintained close links with him until the day of his death.) He continued to work as Archbishop's Chaplain with George Carey during his first two years in office.
He was consecrated Bishop of St. Germans in 1993, returning to his native Cornwall. He moved to Norwich at the end of 1999 and was enthroned as Bishop of Norwich on January 29th 2000.
The Diocese of Norwich had 577 parishes and 648 churches covering nearly all Norfolk and a part of Suffolk.
Bishop Graham has been an active member of the House of Lords since 2004. He is currently Chair of the Ministry Division which is responsible for the selection and training of all candidates for ordination.
Bishop Graham has also been a Board Member of the Countryside Agency and been much involved in rural issues. In 2011 he was invited to join the Lords Select Committee on Communications and took up the responsibility as the Church of England’s lead spokesman on media issues. He is patron or president of over thirty organisations and a regular guest on BBC Radio 4’s Thought for the Day.
Among his interests are amateur dramatics (he has appeared on stage at the Theatre Royal and, more recently, with Stephen Fry in Twelfth Night), cricket and rugby union.
Contact the Bishop's Office:
- E-mail: bishop@norwich.anglican.org
- Tel: 01603 629001
- Post: Bishop's House, Norwich NR3 1SB