Floella Benjamin
Encyclopedia
Floella Karen Yunies Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin OBE
DL
(born 23 September 1949) is a British actress, author, television presenter
, businesswoman
and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away
and "Fast Forward".
On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords
as a Life Peer
nominated by the Liberal Democrats
with title Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham in the County of Kent.
, Trinidad
, and emigrated to the UK in 1960. Having left Rosemead Preparatory School to work in a bank, she studied for A-levels at night school. After a spell as a stage actress in West End musicals
, she began presenting children's television programmes in 1976.
, Jesus Christ Superstar
, The Black Mikado
, The husband in law and pantomime
. On screen, she appeared in the 1975 horror film I Don't Want to Be Born
and starred in the 1977 film Black Joy
. On TV, her credits include Angels, Within These Walls
, Crown Court
, The Gentle Touch
and Dixon of Dock Green
. She appeared as Juniper in the first episode of Bergerac
(1981).
She read two stories for the Story Teller
magazine series (1983 and 1984).
She is chief executive of Floella Benjamin Productions, which has made television programmes since 1987.
She is the voice of the 'U' and 'PG' Video Standards Council
information clips.
In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, she guest-starred in the Doctor Who
spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures
as Professor Rivers from the Pharos Institute in the stories The Lost Boy
, Day of the Clown, The Eternity Trap
and Sky
. She also narrated three "making-of" documentaries on the Doctor Who DVD boxset, The Black Guardian Trilogy.
In 2007, she played a small role in the British comedy Run Fatboy Run
.
for services to broadcasting in 2001. At that time she was chairman of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)
. She has also won a Special Lifetime Achievement award from BAFTA. She was chairman of the Women of the Year Lunch for five years and a Millennium Commission
er. She is president of the Elizabeth ’R’ Commonwealth Broadcasting Fund and a governor of the National Film and Television School
. She was a governor of Dulwich College
, where her mother once worked and her son attended. She is a Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society
.
In 2010 she was appointed Chair of Governers at the Isle of Sheppey Academy, which has approval for a multi-million pound government investment that HAS been secured.
In 2006, she became an honorary graduate of the University of Exeter
and was awarded the degree
of Hon D.Litt
(Exon
) for contributions to the life of the United Kingdom. Lady Benjamin succeeded Lord Alexander of Weedon
to become the Chancellor of the University of Exeter
.
In 2008 she was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London
.
In the 2010 Dissolution Honours List
announced on on 28 May 2010 she was appointed a Liberal Democrat
Life Peer
.
to look into primary education in the UK.
She is vice-president of NCH
Action for Children and Barnardo's
, and was in the NSPCC
’s Hall of Fame. She runs the London Marathon
to raise funds for Barnardo's and the Sickle Cell Society
. She is a cultural ambassador for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games
. In September 2011, Floella participated in the Great North Run.
She features in the BBCs CBeebies animation Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies
.
In July 2007 she spoke of what she saw as the low standard of children's television.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
(born 23 September 1949) is a British actress, author, television presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
, businesswoman
Businessperson
A businessperson is someone involved in a particular undertaking of activities for the purpose of generating revenue from a combination of human, financial, or physical capital. An entrepreneur is an example of a business person...
and politician. She is known as presenter of children's programmes such as Play School, Play Away
Play Away
Play Away was a sister programme to Play School in the UK, aimed at slightly older children. It ran from 1971 until 1984. While Play School had a more gentle, intimate feel, featuring just two presenters in a studio with the usual collection of toys and pets, Play Away was much more lively,...
and "Fast Forward".
On 28 June 2010, Lady Benjamin was introduced to the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
as a Life Peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
nominated by the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
with title Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham in the County of Kent.
Early life
Benjamin was born in Pointe-à-PierrePointe-à-Pierre
Pointe-à-Pierre is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It lies north of San Fernando and south of Claxton Bay. It is most famous as the site of the country's largest oil refinery which is run by Petrotrin, the state-owned oil company....
, Trinidad
Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is an archipelagic state in the southern Caribbean, lying just off the coast of northeastern Venezuela and south of Grenada in the Lesser Antilles...
, and emigrated to the UK in 1960. Having left Rosemead Preparatory School to work in a bank, she studied for A-levels at night school. After a spell as a stage actress in West End musicals
West End theatre
West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
, she began presenting children's television programmes in 1976.
Entertainment
On stage, she has appeared in HairHair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
, Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar
Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
, The Black Mikado
The Black Mikado
The Black Mikado is a musical comedy, based on Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado, adapted by Janos Bajtala, George Larnyoh and Eddie Quansah from W. S. Gilbert's original 1885 libretto and Arthur Sullivan's score. The show premiered on 24 April 1975 at the Cambridge Theatre in London, where it ran...
, The husband in law and pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
. On screen, she appeared in the 1975 horror film I Don't Want to Be Born
I Don't Want to Be Born
I Don't Want to Be Born is a 1975 British horror film, directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Joan Collins, Ralph Bates, Eileen Atkins and Donald Pleasence, which tapped into the 1970s fad for devil-child horror films. The film was originally marketed as a straight-faced and serious product, and as...
and starred in the 1977 film Black Joy
Black Joy (1977 film)
Black Joy is a British film released in 1977, directed by Anthony Simmons. The story of an immigrant country boy in Brixton, London, it has been described as the UK's only example of a "Blaxploitation" movie, a genre more familiar in the United States. It was entered into the 1977 Cannes Film...
. On TV, her credits include Angels, Within These Walls
Within These Walls
Within These Walls is a British television drama programme made by London Weekend Television for ITV and shown between 1974 and 1978. It portrayed life in HMP Stone Park, a fictional women's prison...
, Crown Court
Crown Court (TV series)
Crown Court was an afternoon television courtroom drama produced by Granada Television for the ITV network that ran from 1972, when the Crown Court system replaced Assize courts and Quarter sessions in the legal system of England and Wales, to 1984....
, The Gentle Touch
The Gentle Touch
The Gentle Touch is a British police drama television series made by London Weekend Television for ITV which ran from 1980-1984. Commencing transmission on 11 April 1980, the series is notable for being the first British series to feature a female police detective as its leading character, ahead of...
and Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green
Dixon of Dock Green was a popular BBC television series that ran from 1955 to 1976, and later a radio series. Despite being a drama series, it was initially produced by the BBC's light entertainment department.-Overview:...
. She appeared as Juniper in the first episode of Bergerac
Bergerac (TV series)
Bergerac was a British television show set on Jersey. Produced by the BBC in association with the Seven Network, and screened on BBC1, it starred John Nettles as the title character Detective Sergeant Jim Bergerac, a detective in "Le Bureau des Étrangers" Bergerac was a British television show...
(1981).
She read two stories for the Story Teller
Story Teller
Story Teller was a magazine partwork published by Marshall Cavendish between 1982 and 1985.-Publishing history:...
magazine series (1983 and 1984).
She is chief executive of Floella Benjamin Productions, which has made television programmes since 1987.
She is the voice of the 'U' and 'PG' Video Standards Council
Video Standards Council
Video Standards Council was established in 1989 to establish a Code of Practice for the UK video industry. VSC is the designated body responsible for the age rating of video games supplied in the UK....
information clips.
In 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2011, she guest-starred in the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
spin-off The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures
The Sarah Jane Adventures is a British science fiction television series, produced by BBC Cymru Wales for CBBC, created by Russell T Davies and starring Elisabeth Sladen...
as Professor Rivers from the Pharos Institute in the stories The Lost Boy
The Lost Boy (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
The Lost Boy is the sixth story of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It forms the ninth and tenth episodes of the show's first series...
, Day of the Clown, The Eternity Trap
The Eternity Trap
The Eternity Trap is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 5 and 6 November 2009. It is the fourth serial of the third series. The story involves the scientific investigation of a haunted castle.-Part 1:...
and Sky
Sky (The Sarah Jane Adventures)
Sky is a two-part story of The Sarah Jane Adventures which was broadcast on CBBC on 3 and 4 October 2011. It is the first story of the fifth and last series.-Part One:...
. She also narrated three "making-of" documentaries on the Doctor Who DVD boxset, The Black Guardian Trilogy.
In 2007, she played a small role in the British comedy Run Fatboy Run
Run Fatboy Run
Run Fatboy Run is a 2007 British comedy film directed by David Schwimmer, written by Michael Ian Black and Simon Pegg, and starring Pegg, Dylan Moran, Thandie Newton, Harish Patel, India de Beaufort, and Hank Azaria...
.
Honours and offices
She was awarded an OBEOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
for services to broadcasting in 2001. At that time she was chairman of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA)
British Academy of Film and Television Arts
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts is a charity in the United Kingdom that hosts annual awards shows for excellence in film, television, television craft, video games and forms of animation.-Introduction:...
. She has also won a Special Lifetime Achievement award from BAFTA. She was chairman of the Women of the Year Lunch for five years and a Millennium Commission
Millennium Commission
The Millennium Commission in the United Kingdom was set up to aid communities at the end of the 2nd millennium and the start of the 3rd millennium. It used funding raised through the UK National Lottery....
er. She is president of the Elizabeth ’R’ Commonwealth Broadcasting Fund and a governor of the National Film and Television School
National Film and Television School
The National Film and Television School was established in 1971 and is based at Beaconsfield Studios in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, and it is located close to Pinewood Studios.-History:...
. She was a governor of Dulwich College
Dulwich College
Dulwich College is an independent school for boys in Dulwich, southeast London, England. The college was founded in 1619 by Edward Alleyn, a successful Elizabethan actor, with the original purpose of educating 12 poor scholars as the foundation of "God's Gift". It currently has about 1,600 boys,...
, where her mother once worked and her son attended. She is a Vice-President of the Royal Commonwealth Society
Royal Commonwealth Society
The Royal Commonwealth Society is an international educational charity and a private members' club. Its mission is to support and promote the modern Commonwealth, its culture and core values...
.
In 2010 she was appointed Chair of Governers at the Isle of Sheppey Academy, which has approval for a multi-million pound government investment that HAS been secured.
In 2006, she became an honorary graduate of the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
and was awarded the degree
Honorary degree
An honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
of Hon D.Litt
Doctor of Letters
Doctor of Letters is a university academic degree, often a higher doctorate which is frequently awarded as an honorary degree in recognition of outstanding scholarship or other merits.-Commonwealth:...
(Exon
Exoniensis
Exoniensis is the post-nominal suffix given to honorary and academic degrees from the University of Exeter. The term is the anglicisation of the Latin for "of Exeter"...
) for contributions to the life of the United Kingdom. Lady Benjamin succeeded Lord Alexander of Weedon
Robert Alexander, Baron Alexander of Weedon
Robert Scott Alexander, Baron Alexander of Weedon, QC, FRSA was a British barrister, banker and Conservative politician....
to become the Chancellor of the University of Exeter
University of Exeter
The University of Exeter is a public university in South West England. It belongs to the 1994 Group, an association of 19 of the United Kingdom's smaller research-intensive universities....
.
In 2008 she was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Greater London
Lord Lieutenant
The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representatives in the United Kingdom, usually in a county or similar circumscription, with varying tasks throughout history. Usually a retired local notable, senior military officer, peer or business person is given the post...
.
In the 2010 Dissolution Honours List
Dissolution Honours List
The Dissolution Honours List names those individuals receiving Honours from the Monarch at a time following the Dissolution of the United Kingdom Parliament. Typically, the list will include retiring MPs who are to be Life Peers. Sometimes the list will also include knighthoods for others who...
announced on on 28 May 2010 she was appointed a Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
Life Peer
Life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the Peerage whose titles cannot be inherited. Nowadays life peerages, always of baronial rank, are created under the Life Peerages Act 1958 and entitle the holders to seats in the House of Lords, presuming they meet qualifications such as...
.
Educational and charitable interests
Her interest in education has also seen her on the "4Rs Commission" established by the Liberal DemocratsLiberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...
to look into primary education in the UK.
She is vice-president of NCH
NCH
Action for Children is a national children’s charity in the United Kingdom that supports and speaks out for the most vulnerable and neglected children, young people, families and their communities....
Action for Children and Barnardo's
Barnardo's
Barnardo's is a British charity founded by Thomas John Barnardo in 1866, to care for vulnerable children and young people. As of 2010, it spends over £190 million each year on more than 400 local services aimed at helping these same groups...
, and was in the NSPCC
NSPCC
The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children is a United Kingdom charity campaigning and working in child protection.-History:...
’s Hall of Fame. She runs the London Marathon
London Marathon
The London Marathon is one of the biggest running events in the world, and one of the five top world marathons that make up the World Marathon Majors competition, which has a $1 million prize purse. It has been held each spring in London since 1981. The race is currently sponsored by Virgin Money,...
to raise funds for Barnardo's and the Sickle Cell Society
Sickle-cell disease
Sickle-cell disease , or sickle-cell anaemia or drepanocytosis, is an autosomal recessive genetic blood disorder with overdominance, characterized by red blood cells that assume an abnormal, rigid, sickle shape. Sickling decreases the cells' flexibility and results in a risk of various...
. She is a cultural ambassador for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...
. In September 2011, Floella participated in the Great North Run.
She features in the BBCs CBeebies animation Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies
Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies
Mama Mirabelle's Home Movies is a 2006 animated television series. Set in the African savanna, it focuses on an enthusiastic elephant named Mama Mirabelle, who travels around the world to film real wildlife footage and project them onto a screen of fireflies in front of almost the entire animal...
.
In July 2007 she spoke of what she saw as the low standard of children's television.