Thursday, December 7, 2023

Benjamin Zephaniah obit

British poet Benjamin Zephaniah dies aged 65: family

The poet and writer also turned his hand to acting when he appeared in season six of the hit show, Peaky Blinders.

 

He was not on the list.


British poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who famously rejected an honour from Queen Elizabeth II over Britain’s empire and links to slavery, died on Thursday at the age of 65, his family said.

The poet and writer, whose work was greatly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica, also turned his hand to acting when he appeared in series six of the hit show Peaky Blinders as the character Jeremiah Jesus.

“It is with great sadness and regret that we announce the death of our beloved husband, son and brother in the early hours of this morning 7th December 2023,” his family said in a statement on Instagram, adding that he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour eight weeks ago.

In 2003 he snubbed an Order of the British Empire (OBE) award from Queen Elizabeth for services to literature, which Zephaniah said prime minister Tony Blair had recommended.

He said the award’s name reminded him of his ancestors’ “brutal” suffering at the hands of their white masters.

“I get angry when I hear that word ’empire’; it reminds me of slavery, it reminds (me) of thousands of years of brutality — it reminds me of how my foremothers were raped and my forefathers brutalised,” he said at the time.

Born in 1958 in the central English city of Birmingham, where “Peaky Blinders” is set, Zephaniah was the son of a Barbadian postman and a Jamaican nurse.

He was dyslexic and left school at the age of 13, unable to read or write, and as a young man served a prison sentence for burglary.

Living in London in his early twenties, however, he began to establish himself as a poet and had his first book of poetry, “Pen Rhythm”, published in 1980.

Zephaniah’s family said he had been a “true pioneer and innovator”.

“He gave the world so much. Through an amazing career including a huge body of poems, literature, music, television, and radio, Benjamin leaves us with a joyful and fantastic legacy,” it said.

“Thank you for the love you have shown Professor Benjamin Zephaniah,” it added.

The Black Writers’ Guild, which Zephaniah helped to establish, paid tribute to “a deeply valued friend and a titan of British literature”.

“Benjamin was a man of integrity and an example of how to live your values,” it said in a statement.

Actor

Helen McCrory, Cillian Murphy, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle, Aimee-Ffion Edwards, Natasha O'Keeffe, Joe Cole, Jordan Bolger, Harry Kirton, Finn Cole, and Kate Phillips in Peaky Blinders (2013)

Peaky Blinders

8.7

TV Series

Jeremiah Jesus

2013–2022

14 episodes

 

Zen Motoring (2022)

Zen Motoring

8.8

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God Complex

2022

1 episode

 

Village

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Guest of the Week

1996

 

Crucial Tales

TV Mini Series

Richard's father

1996

1 episode

 

Colin Blumenau, Nula Conwell, Peter Ellis, Trudie Goodwin, Jon Iles, Gary Olsen, Eric Richard, John Salthouse, Tony Scannell, Jeff Stewart, Mark Wingett, and Delia Swan in The Bill (1984)

The Bill

6.7

TV Series

Vagrant

1994

1 episode

 

EastEnders (1985)

EastEnders

4.7

TV Series

Derelict Man

1993

1 episode

 

Farendj (1990)

Farendj

5.8

Moses

1990

 

Robbie Coltrane, Keith Allen, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Rik Mayall, Nigel Planer, Peter Richardson, Jennifer Saunders, and Alexei Sayle in The Comic Strip Presents (1982)

The Comic Strip Presents

7.8

TV Series

Rufus

1988

1 episode

 

Writer

Standing Firm: Football's Windrush Story (2021)

Standing Firm: Football's Windrush Story

7.8

written by

2021

 

A Picture of Birmingham

TV Movie

Writer

2005

 

Screenplay (1986)

Screenplay

6.5

TV Series

by

1992

1 episode

 

Additional Crew

Anna Griffin, Benjamin Wigley, Joseph Ashong, and Jacob Tetteh-Ashong in Paa Joe & The Lion (2016)

Paa Joe & The Lion

7.0

narrator

original poetry and narration

2016

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