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In some ways, he is a mould-breaking maverick within an ancient institution, willing to speak out and speak up, often in institutionally off-message terms. This year, the tough-talking archbishop called for the brutal regime of Robert Mugabe to be overthrown by military force, told the UK's immigration minister that his policies lacked mercy and compassion, described those in the business world who had made money by deliberately underselling shares in banks as "bank robbers and asset strippers", and challenged the morality of the government's anti-recession policy.

Dr Sentamu has a talent for deploying a telling phrase or compelling gesture with maximum effect. When he speaks, people sit up and listen. Fearing that those wearing hoodies were being stereotyped because of their choice of fashion, the archbishop put on a purple hoodie and preached against the demonization of young people. Last year, he cut up his clerical collar on live television and pledged not to wear it again until Robert Mugabe is out of office. He waded into the public debate about religious symbolism when British Airways told its staff not to wear cross necklaces while on duty. The archbishop said the policy was just "nonsense".

John Sentamu was born and raised in rural Uganda. He studied law, trained as a barrister and served as a High Court judge all before reaching the age of 25. Surviving several beatings under the regime of Idi Amin, he was forced into exile in England after he refused to co-operate in Amin's racist programme of expulsion of Ugandan Asians. While serving on the Ugandan bench, he once sent ten innocent people to prison because it was the only way to save them from summary execution. Had he stayed in Uganda, he would almost certainly have been murdered by Amin's thugs.

Dr Sentamu's decision to seek ordination followed the arrest and killing of his friend and mentor Archbishop Janani Luwum in 1977. The achbishop says he made this vow in response to Luwum's murder: "You kill my friend, I take his place." Following theological training at Cambridge, including a doctorate, he worked as a priest of the Church of England in London. Idi Amin clearly did not have a monopoly on racism; Sentamu's home was targeted by the National Front. Later, he became Britain's first black bishop, serving as Bishop of Stepney, then as Bishop of Birmingham. He also served as an advisor to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry team, whose final report labelled the Metropolitan Police "institutionally racist". Since his consecration as Britain's first Archbishop in 2005, Sentamu has indicted his own institution, the Church of England, with the same charge.

This is a church leader who knows his own mind and feels free to share it with the rest of us decisively, directly, memorably, and often flamboyantly. He proves that seriousness and gravitas can be sustained with humour and wit. And the public love him for it. In June, he completed a 13,000ft skydive, at the age of 58, to raise money for Armed Forces charities. He is en route to becoming a national institution; but there is no evidence that the fame is going to his head. When he was invited to join the house for a series of Celebrity Big Brother, the archbishop's staff politely declined the invitation with a predictably pithy reply: "We don't do celebrity."