Last word with... Baroness Floella Benjamin
Baroness Floella Benjamin OBE, 61, presented Play School for 14 years. Since then she has worked in TV production and become a children's champion. She and her husband, Keith Taylor, 61, have two children, Aston, 29, and Alvina, 22
The best thing my parents
taught me...
I have five siblings and my mother taught each of
us that education was our passport to life. She said, "You go
to school and you learn, because they'll never be able to take
that away from you." It's a message
I pass on to
young people today.
My most vivid memory from childhood is...
When I was three years old and living in Trinidad.
My mum was expecting my brother Lester and she told me to go out on
the veranda and look up in the sky for the stork that would bring
the baby. I remember not wanting to take my eyes off the sky. Then
I heard a baby cry and was upset that I hadn't seen the stork -
I really believed it was going to deliver my new brother.
My secret talent is...
Being a rock chick. I discovered that when I was
about 58! Up until then
I only sang jazz, as my father was a
jazz musician and he was put out of business because of the advent
of rock and roll so banned us all from listening to it. But a few
years ago I had to do a charity gig and was asked to sing rock and
roll with writer Ken Follett. I gave it go - and I loved it!
My most treasured possession is...
The first present my husband gave me: a silver
heart. I've worn it now for nearly 40 years. I'm fortunate
to have discovered what pure love is
- this is what the heart
represents.
The proudest moment of my life was...
When I was introduced to the
House of Lords
last year. When the doors opened I felt as if I was standing on the
summit of life's mountain, looking back at all of
the
adversity and my successes.
If I could wave a magic wand I would...
Try and make people understand what contentment is,
to learn how not to be greedy or take things to the extreme.
It's about that feeling of being satisfied and not wanting
more. When you take things too far, that's when problems arise.
When the sun comes out I like to...
Smile. Then I wait for the sun to go down, as
I'm an avid photographer. I'm always click, clicking and
have thousands of pictures of sunsets.
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