The Rest is History podcast host Tom Holland has been appointed Canon Historian at Salisbury Cathedrall.

It is the first appointment of its kind at an English cathedral, and he was one of four new lay canons installed by the Rt Rev Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury.

Holland is the son of an atheist father but was taken to church services as a child by his Anglican mother. He has said that, as a boy, he enjoyed Bible stories but later became an atheist, dismissing Christianity as "gloomy".

He went on to become a writer and is known for his historical non-fiction titles, including Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic.

In the mid-2010s he experienced a spiritual change of heart and now describes himself as navigating "shadowlands between belief and agnosticism" and feeling "in almost every way...Christian" in cultural identity.

Holland has appeared on Premier Christian Radio’s Unbelievable? where he discussed his spiritual insights after witnessing Christian and Yazidi persecution in Iraq.

The 57-year-old shared the news on his X account, saying: "To my native city of Salisbury, there to be enrolled as the first Canon Historian in the 800-year-old history of Salisbury Cathedral – as great an honour as I could possibly imagine!"

He added: "I even got to wear a cloak!"