Floella Benjamin was the little girl from the Caribbean who became a British household name, and along the way received some of the highest accolades around, including a BAFTA Lifetime Achievement Award, a Damehood, and became a Peer in the House of Lords.
Born in Trinidad, she came to England in 1960 with her family as part of the Windrush generation. She was shocked to find a cold and unwelcoming Britain, her first and by no means her last experience of racism. Benjamin quickly realised that if she was going to survive, she had to learn how to live in two cultures. Forced to leave school at sixteen, she resolved to become Britain’s first black woman bank manager, but a successful audition for a national musical put her on the path to a decades-spanning career in entertainment.
From Playschool to pantomime, television documentaries and singing with orchestras all over the world, Floella’s entertainment work was only one string to her bow. Over the last thirty years, she has dedicated herself to charitable causes, lobbying prime ministers on behalf of children, building her Touching Success foundation, and advocating for more representation across the media.
Benjamin also set up her own television company, was the Chancellor of the University of Exeter for a decade, and ran ten London Marathons for Barnardos. A natural storyteller, What Are You Doing Here? is her incredibly moving and honest account of her remarkable life and her refusal to be defined by others.
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A moving, powerful autobiography from an inspirational woman, one of the Windrush generation who became a member of the House of Lords.
Floella Benjamin was born on the Caribbean island of Trinidad in 1949, and came to England in 1960 as part of the Windrush generation. She has enjoyed a successful career as a childrens presenter, best known for the iconic BBC TV programmes Play School and Play Away, and has also worked as an actress, writer, producer, working peer and an active advocate for the welfare and education of children. Her broadcasting work has been recognized with a Special Lifetime Achievement BAFTA and an OBE. She was appointed a Baroness in the House of Lords in 2010 and a Dame in the 2020 New Year Honours list, and is the Chair of the Windrush Commemoration Committee. What Are You Doing Here? is her first adult autobiography, after previously writing her classic memoir Coming to England and acclaimed My Two Grannies.
In 2022, it was one of Her Majesty the Queens last wishes to appoint Floella the prestigious Order of Merit, which is held by only twenty-four people. Floella is the first Caribbean person to receive the order, but she is sure she won't be the last.
