Since entering the House of Lords, former childrens TV presenter Floella Benjamin has worked tirelessly for child welfare. The Lib Dem peer was in the Island recently for Music in Actions première of The Selfish Giant. Gill Kay caught up with her
SAY the name Floella Benjamin and most people will think of Play School, the children’s TV programme whose stuffed stars included Big Ted, Little Ted, Jemima and Humpty.
However, Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE, who was made a Lib Dem life peer five years ago, has achieved far more than that.
For many years she has been a vocal campaigner on child welfare, care and education.
She was in the Island recently at the invitation of local music charity Music in Action to narrate The Selfish Giant at the Jersey Opera House and during her stay she gave talks at Rouge Bouillon School and the Royal Yacht.
It’s been a long time since Lady Benjamin’s visit in her actress days when she appeared in an early episode of Bergerac.
‘I remember it well, it was very glamorous.
‘I played a gangster’s girlfriend and I had to drive a yellow Lamborghini.
‘I also sang a song and everyone thought it was Sarah Vaughan singing, but no, in fact, it was me!’ she said.
Lady Benjamin is still singing, and in fact when she delivered her talk at the Royal Yacht, she sang a song which brought a tear to her eye because she remembered her mum, who died some years ago.
‘She influenced me and all my brothers and sisters.
‘We’re all successful because my mum motivated us and gave us the confidence to be part of the world, and to step outside our postcode.’
She said that her family’s move from Trinidad in the 60s wasn’t without its difficulties.
‘I think most people who come to the UK for the first time probably have to experience some sort of rejection and adversity, but it’s how you deal with those things that matters.
‘I realised over the years that it’s because people are afraid of differences, and when you’re different, no matter what colour you are, or culture you belong to, then people are frightened by it and react in a violent or angry way towards you.
‘That’s what happened, and is still happening across the world,’ she said.
‘When I came to Britain, that’s how I was treated.
‘But my mum was so positive, she used to say if other people are abusive towards you, for no reason, it’s their problem, not yours, don’t take it on.
‘When I went into a shop I was ignored, but I knew I couldn’t go back home without the shopping.
‘My mum would say go back until they serve you, and I had to wait. It taught me resilience and determination.’
It also resulted in her working hard, getting a job in a bank while she studied A-levels at night school, and then changing direction to take become an actress – and presenter on Play School.
Lady Benjamin, who looks much younger than her 66 years, also went on to become an author, businesswoman and politician.
Her main mission now is to improve all aspects of children’s welfare and rights and she is particularly concerned about the impact of pornography on children.
‘When each child is born they’re a blank canvas, with no connections,’ she said.
‘Everything they smell, hear, the tone, the touch, affects the connections and how they will react when they’re an adult.
‘By the time they’re 18 months the connections are slowly starting to take place, by the time they’re seven, clunk!
‘They’ve been made. Hence the expression “give me a child at seven and I’ll give you the man”.
Find out more about Lady Benjamin here
‘Most of the work we have to do is when they get to seven and they haven’t been programmed right.
‘My job, and that of the people I work with, is to reprogramme minds and to get adults to understand their responsibility.
‘And when it works, ah! The joy that happens when someone gets it.
‘Childhood lasts a lifetime and it’s those things you do as a very young child that matter.
‘And I think self-discipline is so important in today’s society for our children,’ she continued.
‘They’re not disciplined emotionally, mentally or physically, and once you find that self-discipline and not allow your mind to rule you, but for you to rule your mind, and to engage with your mind, to analyse, to able to not just accept what people are telling you but to work it out for yourself, whether it’s good for you or bad for you – that’s the secret of life.
‘And we’re not allowing our children to do that enough.
‘So my job is to go into schools and go into prisons to give talks and to open people’s minds to see the value of childhood.’
In the House of Lords Lady Benjamin has been very persuasive and can take credit for such things as a new clause in the Children and Families Bill, tax credit for children’s television programmes to be made, animation credits, the reduction in air passenger duty and much more.
‘So many things I’ve done purely by not being a political animal, but by showing people that these things matter, that it’s common sense, and showing people that they can make a difference to other people’s lives.
‘You can’t do that by banging doors and being aggressive, you have to tell a story and the way I do politics is to put people in the place of others.’
Lady Benjamin also campaigned for 20 years for the introduction of a Minister for Children.
At the moment she is keen to see more checks put in place that will protect children from seeing online pornography.
‘One of the things I’m working on in Parliament is to change legislation so that you can’t just press a button and see these things come up on your computer screen or on your phone.
‘I want to make sure there are blocks, like age verification, or a credit card – all the things you need if you want to play the National Lottery or if you want to gamble.
‘Children are watching pornographic material and it’s affecting their minds. It’s something that worries me greatly because we’re not protecting the future.’
When not in the House of Lords or busy on her innumerable other projects, Lady Benjamin is also the Chancellor of Exeter University, where she is famous for giving each graduate a hug.
‘I started giving hugs because I got a letter from a young girl who said that when she was little, her mother never loved her, or showed her any affection.
‘She was always told that she was stupid and asked why she was bothering to go to university.
‘The student got a first and the mother said she wouldn’t come to the graduation, and the student wasn’t going to come either, but her friends were coming she thought she might as well.
‘The student wrote: “I came onto the stage and when they called my name, you opened your arms and I came into your arms and they were the arms of the mother I had longed for. And chancellor, you told me to go out and change the world and in that moment I knew I could do it. And I’ll always remember you because you loved me and you believed in me.”
‘So five seconds of my life had made somebody else feel worthy.
‘That’s all it takes as far as I’m concerned.
‘So if I can keep doing that, I will until I die, because I think that’s my mission in life.
‘You can give people as much money, or academic knowledge, or as much materialistic things as you like, but love, and that kind of emotion and confidence and that self-belief, is all that matters.’
Lady Benjamin strongly believes that not enough is being done to help children and stop the damage that is done in those early years.
‘They’re drained of that feeling, that spark that excites them in life.
‘Because when you don’t feel like that, that’s when you start being cruel to other people.
‘That’s when you start hating the world, that’s when you start being angry and bitter and jealous, all those things, because you see other people have something that you desire and want.
‘So my job is to teach all the children I deal with to learn about consideration, contentment and confidence.
‘And the whole purpose of my life is getting people to see it through the eyes of a child.
‘I’ve realised there’s not just one element you’ve got to change, it’s not children that you’ve got to change, it’s everything around them has to change.
‘That’s my mission in life, to change hearts and minds and to put children first, simple as that.’
