Join Rochdale Literature & Ideas Festival for an evening with Baroness Floella Benjamin of Beckenham OBE – actress, author, businesswoman, award-winning producer, children’s television presenter, and best known for appearing in the BBC’s iconic programmes Play School& Play Away. Born in Trinidad, she arrived in a cold, unwelcoming UK in 1960.
Her book Coming to England, a GuardianBook of the Year 2016, gives an account of her challenging early experiences in Britain. She stepped down as Chancellor of the University of Exeter in 2016, after ten years. Elevated to the peerage in 2010, her mission is to make the world a better place for children. She recently won a battle in the House of Lords to enable OFCOM, the broadcast regulator, to force much greater investment in UK-made children’s TV programmes. In April 2018 she was granted the Freedom of the City of London.
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