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!
Originally from Trinidad, Floella Benjamin came to the UK in 1960 at the age of 11 and experienced a huge culture shock. Leaving school at 16, she worked in a bank with an aspiration to be Britain’s first black woman bank manager. Little did she know she would go on to become one of the first famous and highly popular ±«Óătv Children’s presenters.
It took her three years to move from banking to show business, where she realised her true passion for performing. Following roles in several stage musicals, she broke into television and made her name in the ground-breaking shows Play School and Play Away. These were programmes targeted at pre-school children, mixing learning and fun together in a new, accessible and engaging way.
As one of its first black presenters, Benjamin changed the perceptions of generations of viewers for 12 years. Of her time there, she said: “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!”
In 1987 Floella Benjamin created her own television production company making children’s programmes for a range of channels. One show of note was based on her own autobiography. In 2004, she won a BAFTA Special Lifetime Achievement Award.
Her passion for working with children led to 20 years of campaigning for a Minister for Children to be appointed to the government so they could oversee the interests of children and young people. In 2003 that post was put in place. It eventually led to a seat in the House of Lords for Floella Benjamin - now Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham.
For the first four years of my life in Britain I fought every day.
