Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin
Benjamin is primarily known for entertainment, but her career has been wide ranging, and her impact much greater than that. We are claiming her for Environment and Nature as she is the incumbent Vice President of the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS)
ie main overview & key content here
Benjamin is an actress, businesswoman, independent television producer of award winning programmes and author of more than 30 books.
She was Chancellor of the University of Exeter for 10 years, the first Black woman University Chancellor in the UK , until standing down in 2016 (). A statue was commissioned by the university to celebrate her legacy, and she is believed to be the only living Black woman to be commemorated in such a way.
She has long been active politically and was elevated to the peerage in 2010 as Baroness Floella Benjamin of Beckenham, nominated by the Liberal Democrat party. She is also a keen gardener.
1949
Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad
Trinidadian-British
1960 – Moved to Kent from Trinidad
1977 – attended Cannes film festival
1999 – appeared on This is your Life with Michael Aspel
2001 – OBE for services to broadcasting. Asked to be a Governor of Dulwich College and to open a new wing.
2004 – given a special lifetime achievement award from BAFTA, and Royal Television Society Award in for the film of her book Coming to England. Ran with the Olympic torch through Peckham
2005 – Chancellor of the University of Exeter for 10 years
2012 – JM Barrie Lifetime award for her lasting cultural legacy
2013- Fellow of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
2017 – President of the Society of Women Writers and Journalists
2016 – the 20th anniversary edition of her book Coming to England named the Guardian Children’s Book of the Year
2010 – awarded life peerage
Usually paragraph about childhood/ family/ education
Benjamin was born on the Caribbean Island of Trinidad in 1949. The family joined her father in Britain in 1960.
She left school at 16, as the family couldn’t afford to keep her in school for ‘A’ levels. She worked in a bank for three years and took A Levels at night school. Realising that advancement to a managerial role was unlikely for a Black woman in those days, she auditioned to go on a national tour of a hit musical and began her show business career.
Key content of their professional life / career path etc -detail of achievements – historic moments in time etc and dates
Including listing honours, titles, etc. if applicable
From 1970 she appeared in several successful West End shows including Jesus Christ Superstar, The Black Mikado with Michael Denison, and The Husband in Law with Kenneth Williams. She then progressed to television and appeared in drama, comedy, and magazinestyle programmes.
In 1977 Benjamin attended the Cannes Film Festival as the star of Black Joy, that year’s British entry. Writing on her website, she describes it as “ an amazing experience, the crowd tried to get a piece of me literally, by grabbing my beaded plaits, something they had never seen before.”
Her trademark blue beaded plaits were hidden under a wig for the role she is arguably most renowned for. She was a children’s TV presenter for the BBC programmes Playschool and Playaway. She remained with Playschool for twelve years, and writes that she “loved every minute of it. Working for and with kids is the best job in the world. It’s also like an insurance policy they grow up being faithful to you.”
Her talent was not restricted to TV though – she also worked on radio, from children’s education and entertainment shows to adult drama. She hosted her own current affairs programme on Radio London’s Black Londoners for several years. Her voice is widely featured in advertisements, voiceovers and audiobooks.
As an author she has written over 30 children’s books. Her first novel Sea of Tears was published in 2012. She has also written many articles for magazines and inhouse journals and has had regular columns in Parents, TV Times and Good Idea.
Her book Coming to England, originally published in 1995, talks about her, and her family, moving to England from Trinidad. A bestseller, it is also available as an educational edition and is being used to teach modern history in schools and universities.
She set up her own production company in 1987, and went on to produce hundreds of programmes, mainly for children but also on Caribbean cookery.
Charitable work, elevation to the peerage and a string of awards and honours have been awarded to this remarkable woman. In 2019 she was appointed as Vice Chair of the RHS.
Approaching 50 years in show business she still regularly appears on children’s television, especially BBC’s Bedtime Stories.
Benjamin describes inspiring children and young people as her “passion;” and she created the Touching Success programme whose stated aim is to give young people the chance to meet successful role models in their chosen field.
Chairman Women of the Year Lunch and Assembly 1995 – 2000
Chairman of BAFTA – Television – 1997 – 2000
Member of the Millennium Commission -1999 – 2002
British Board of Film Classification, Advisory Council- 1994 – 1998
Honorary Associate, National Council of Women of GB 1989 – 2000
Member of Royal Mail Stamp Advisory Committee – 1994 – 2001
Member of the FCO Commonwealth Advisory Group -1997 – 2001
Taskforce Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain – 1998 -1999
Governor of the Commonwealth Institute. – 1998 – 2000
Advisory Board Royal Commonwealth Society 1998 – 2003
British Board of Film Classification’s Advisory Panel on Children’s Viewing – 1999 – 2004
Governor of The National Film & Television School – 1996 – 2014
Governor of Dulwich College – 2001 – 2011
Member of the LAMDA Development Committee – 1999 – 2001
Member of OFCOM Content Board – 2003 – 2006
Member of Waitrose CSR Advisory Board – 2012 – 2016
Any info – likes/ dislikes – family/ friends info – children/ partner info – activities engaged with outside professional career etc.
Benjamin has five siblings.
She is married to Keith Taylor, and they have two children.
She loves singing, and sings with the author Ken Follett in a band called Damn right I got the Blues
She has an identical twin sister Sandra.
She loves the outdoors and running and has completed 10 London Marathon for Barnardo’s. She was president of the Ramblers Association
Swinging racism: Floella Benjamin’s memoir of 60s London: Samira Ahmed: Journalist, writer, broadcaster. Samira Ahmed: Journalist, Writer, Broadcaster | My personal website & views. All copyrights acknowledged. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.samiraahmed.co.uk/swinging-racism-floella-benjamins-memoir-of-60s-london/
RHS vice president Baroness Floella Benjamin. RHS Ambassador: Baroness Floella Benjamin / RHS Gardening. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.rhs.org.uk/about-the-rhs/rhs-ambassadors/Baroness-Floella-Benjamin
Touching success. Floella Benjamin. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from http://www.floellabenjamin.com/touching-success/
Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE DL. GOV.UK. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.gov.uk/government/people/floella-benjamin
Benjamin, Floella (5 October 2010). “Baroness Floella Benjamin’s maiden speech”. Liberal Democrat Voice. Retrieved 29 March 2022.
BBC. (n.d.). In focus: Floella Benjamin – Creative diversity. BBC News. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/creativediversity/history/floellabenjamin/
University of Exeter. Featured news – University of Exeter Chancellor Baroness Floella Benjamin steps down after ten fantastic years – University of Exeter. (n.d.). Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.exeter.ac.uk/alumnisupporters/news/featurednews/title_437906_en.html
Studios, A. (n.d.). Floella Benjamin. Creative Torbay / Main Navigation / Media / Images / Luke Shepherd- Portrait Sculptor / Images / 0000-00-00T00:00:00Z / Floella Benjamin. Retrieved March 29, 2022, from https://www.creativetorbay.com/luke-shepherd-portrait-sculptor/floella-benjamin/
Floella Benjamin at the British Film Institute
Floella Benjamin at IMDb
Floella Benjamin official website
University of Exeter webpage
){kind=link}