Page 72 - Powerlist 2020

Profiles

Baroness Floella Benjamin

Peer, House of Lords; Policy Maker; campaigner
for children’s rights

Appointed to the House of Lords nine years ago, Baroness
Floella Benjamin has made it her mission in Parliament
to campaign on diversity, equality, education, media and
children’s welfare.
She gave her voice and support to the victims of the
Windrush scandal, using a speech in the House of Lords to
attack the Home Office as incompetent.
& Religion
In 2018, she was granted honorary Freedom of the City
of London. In 2019 she was appointed Vice President of the
Royal Horticultural Society and won a second RHS Chelsea
Gold Medal for her display about Climate Change following
her successful award-winning Windrush Garden in 2018.
After 43 years she still appears regularly on children’s
television programmes on CBeebies and collected the RTS
Channel of the Year Award on their behalf.
Baroness Benjamin will be 70 this year and says she is
determined to continue being a role model, while growing
old stylishly.
The first black female Chancellor of a UK university,
she stepped down from the helm at Exeter after a decade
Politics, Law
in 2017. During her tenure, Exeter became a top 10 Russell
Group university and a top 100 world-ranked university. Last
year a bronze bust was unveiled on campus in her honour,
making her the only living person of African or African
Caribbean heritage in British history to have a public statue
commissioned.
Baroness Benjamin started her career in show business
50 years ago, appearing in hit stage musicals including
Jesus Christ Superstar before moving into TV dramas. She
was best known as presenter of the iconic Play School
and has continued to delight children with appearances
in Chuggington and The Sarah Jane Adventures. She also
spearheaded the creation of the Bafta Children’s Awards.

72 Powerlist 2020