Snakes and Ladders

Born in 1919, Stephen Verney, was an unconventional Bishop of Repton, in the diocese of Derby, from 1977 to 1985. When the war started Verney was a pacifist and registered conscientious objector. But as the war intensified he changed his mind and joined the Army and worked in the resistance movement on German-occupied Crete He was ordained in in 1950 and in 1964 he was appointed to one of the residentiary canonries of the newly rebuilt Coventry Cathedral. He became Bishop of Repton in 1977. He has published several books including Into The New Age (1976), Water into Wine (1985) and The Dance of Love (1989) - all of them a combination of romanticism, vision and insight. He died in 2009.