'King of the kitchen' dishes up his radio breakfast

In recent years he has jumped out of an aeroplane to raise money for troops serving in Afghanistan, taken a pair of a scissors to his clerical collar in protest of Robert Mugabe's rule of Zimbabwe and turned up to one church conference wearing a hoodie to urge people not to judge teenagers by their fashion.

But when Dr Sentamu woke yesterday morning to find Chris Evans in his kitchen, Moira Stewart holed up in one of the offices of Bishopthorpe Palace and couple of reindeer grazing outside on the lawn, he could have been forgiven for thinking he was still dreaming.

However, the Radio 2 breakfast team had in fact descended on the Archbishop's home on the outskirts of York, the seeds of the special festive broadcast sown when Dr Sentamu appeared on Evans' Pause for Thought slot back in September and handed out a casual invite to the team to visit him in Yorkshire.

Yesterday, it was a scene of organised chaos. With the show also being broadcast on television and the BBC's Big Screens, cameramen jostled for space with the production crew and somewhere in the midst were singers James Dean Bradfield and KT Tunstall, whose hair was being sprayed to within an inch of its life.

Not that the Archbishop seemed to mind and should he ever fancy a change of career he might well consider dropping his CV into the Beeb.

Spending most of the show wearing a chef's hat and apron, embroidered with the slogan, John – "The King of the Kitchen" – he gamely did shout-outs to listeners across the country, played the bongos to accompany York's St William's Singers and looking less sleepy than most of the crew.

He almost didn't make the broadcast, however. Even those as close to God as him can't work miracles on frozen runways and after his plane back from Uganda was delayed, he only landed back in the country on Wednesday.

But Dr Sentamu is a man with deep reserves of energy and the previous evening had led a carol service in York Minster before cooking a six-course meal for his showbiz guests.

And, while he might preach about the importance of sharing, when it comes to cooking, Dr Sentamu likes to keep his culinary skills close to his chest, amiably batting off requests from Evans for the recipe for his butternut squash soup.

For the most part, the programme was seamless. Bradfield, the Manic Street Preachers' frontman sang Wham's Last Christmas while wearing Wellington boots, and radio reporter Jonny Saunders read the sports bulletins dressed as the Angel Gabriel, but off air the tension of broadcasting from a strange location where there were TV cameras to film every last nod and wink, were all too evident.

Evans, frustrated by technology, ordered the usual jingles to be dropped in favour of generic Christmas music and his executive producer, Helen Thomas, a woman apparently unflappable even when dressed as an elf, bore the brunt of his irritation when it emerged they were a couple of minutes behind schedule and might not be able to get up to the specially decked out grotto where Moira was reading the news.

Minor disasters were averted and Evans' attention to detail is something to behold. While the Archbishop retreated to his kitchen to cook a batch of banana pancakes, again recipe withheld, Evans was making sure the next time the choir sang there were people there to applaud and the steady stream of guests, from the palace's Gordon the Warden to Gary the Gardener, were ready for their radio debut.

The three hours passed quickly. Evans interviewed the owners of the reindeer and Dr Sentamu found himself back on more familiar territory when he delivered another Pause for Thought, which remembered both Madeline McCann and Claudia Lawrence. KT Tunstall and James Dean Bradfield ended with Fairytale of New York, a duet which made the hairs on the back of the neck stand-up.

By midday, amid promises they hoped to be back again next year, the outside broadcast vans were on their way back to London, the miles of wire had been packed away and peace once again prevailed at the palace.

As the staff of Bishopthorpe took their seats in the chapel for a special Eucharist, normal service had been resumed. However, for Dr Sentamu, who over the next few days will never be far from the altar at York Minister, the Christmas celebrations were only just beginning.

Radio's rebel changes his ways

A few years ago, Chris Evans would have been an unlikely visitor to Bishopthorpe Palace.

After making his name on the Big Breakfast and Don't Forget Your Toothbrush, the DJ and TV presenter went very publicly off the rails.

In between hosting Radio 1's Breakfast Show and TFI Friday, he seemed to spend most of the mid-90s on a drinking binge and when the BBC refused to allow him to work a four-day week he quit.

A few years later he stunned the City by buying Virgin Radio for 85m, but on air he couldn't quite recapture the success of his early years.

Marrying Billie Piper, Evans disappeared from the spotlight, but his comeback has been as impressive as his original rise to fame.

Taking over Johnnie Walker's Radio 2 drive-time slot in 2006, he scooped two Sony Awards and this year was named as the replacement for Sir Terry Wogan.

Not everyone was convinced by the choice, but now 44 years old, Evans has clearly mellowed with age.