The Archbishop of Canterbury gets behind the microphone this week, making his debut as a BBC radio interviewer

Anglican archbishops rarely conform to any recognisable pattern. George Carey always looked a bit of a bruiser. Rowan Williams was a charismatic highbrow who could sometimes come across as positively druidical. If never quite approaching Private Eye’s stereotypical modern cleric, the Reverend J.C. Flannel, Justin Welby’s battle flag has always seemed to be erected on the mound of earnestness, pious reflection and nuance – a thoroughly modern senior prelate, you might argue, for a nervous and trouble-scenting age.

Welby was, it must be said, in absolutely classic form in the Radio Times sitdown granted to promote his new series The Archbishop Interviews (Radio 4, 1.30 p.m. Sundays until 26 March), admitting that though his wife and daughter liked The Great British Bake Off, he considered it “the modern equivalent of gladiatorial games” and regretted the fact that someone had to lose. There were also some predictable remarks about every politician being “profoundly human” – as if any human being could be anything else. And yet, assailed by Roland White of The Times on grounds of general wetness (“Is it any wonder that it [the Church of England] struggles to fill the pews?”), Welby proved more than capable of holding his own, accusing White of losing his sense of humour and adding that if it were found it should be returned to the owner “with instructions on use”.