Performing on stage during the One Big No anti-war concert, at Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, on March 15, 2003
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Benjamin Zephaniah, British poet, actor, and multi-talented artist, has died aged 65 from a brain tumour.
He was best known for his colloquial dub poetry such as “Talking Turkeys”, and more recently for playing Jeremiah Jesus in the BBC hit series Peaky Blinders.
His family said, “Benjamin was 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.”
The Black Writers’ Guild said he was a “deeply valued friend” and a “titan of British literature”.
The poet was born in Birmingham in 1958, before moving to London at the age of 22, where his first book Pen Rhythm was published.
While living in London, Benjamin Zephaniah was caught up in the 1980s race riots and experienced racism on a regular basis.
He became heavily involved in a Stratford worker’s co-operative in the 1980s and began to publish protest poems taking aim at subjects including social injustice and the British legal system.
He turned down an OBE in 2003, writing: “Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.”
He begged Tony Blair to meet him to discuss crime in Britain, he said, and told the Queen to stop “going on about the empire”.
MP Diane Abbott said she was “so sad” at the news Benjamin Zephaniah had died as she paid tribute to the poet and author.
“So sad to hear about the death of poet Benjamin Zephaniah,” the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“A great man and a trailblazer.”
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HeadlineBenjamin Zephaniah, the British poet and writer, has died aged 65
Short HeadlineBenjamin Zephaniah has died aged 65
StandfirstThe British poet and multi-talented artist has passed away surrounded by his family, eight weeks after a brain tumour diagnosis
Benjamin Zephaniah, British poet, actor, and multi-talented artist, has died aged 65 from a brain tumour.
He was best known for his colloquial dub poetry such as “Talking Turkeys”, and more recently for playing Jeremiah Jesus in the BBC hit series Peaky Blinders.
His family said, “Benjamin was 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.”
The Black Writers’ Guild said he was a “deeply valued friend” and a “titan of British literature”.
The poet was born in Birmingham in 1958, before moving to London at the age of 22, where his first book Pen Rhythm was published.
While living in London, Benjamin Zephaniah was caught up in the 1980s race riots and experienced racism on a regular basis.
He became heavily involved in a Stratford worker’s co-operative in the 1980s and began to publish protest poems taking aim at subjects including social injustice and the British legal system.
He turned down an OBE in 2003, writing: “Benjamin Zephaniah OBE – no way Mr Blair, no way Mrs Queen. I am profoundly anti-empire.”
He begged Tony Blair to meet him to discuss crime in Britain, he said, and told the Queen to stop “going on about the empire”.
MP Diane Abbott said she was “so sad” at the news Benjamin Zephaniah had died as she paid tribute to the poet and author.
“So sad to hear about the death of poet Benjamin Zephaniah,” the MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington wrote on X, formerly Twitter.