Three Trinidadian showbusiness figures and a film director with Trinidad roots have been recognised by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in her 2020 New Year’s Honours List.
They are singer Billy Ocean, actor Rudolph Walker, actress and television presenter turned Lib Dem peer Floella Benjamin, and film director Sam Mendes.
Ocean, born Leslie Sebastian Charles, has been appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music.
MBE is the third highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award, behind Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) which is first and then Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Walker has been upgraded to CBE, the highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award, 13 years after receiving an OBE for his services to drama. This latest award is in recognition of his foundation helping disadvantaged children become actors.
Benjamin, already a baroness, has also been upgraded from OBE to Damehood for services to charity. She gets Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE). The two senior ranks of the Order of the British Empire are Knight or Dame Grand Cross, and Knight or Dame Commander.
Mendes, byname of Samuel Alexander Mendes, can soon be called Sir Sam, as he is to be Knighted for his contribution to drama. This senior honour is awarded to members who have made major contributions to any activity, usually at national level. Per tradition, knighthoods and damehoods are presented with a touch of a sword by the Queen (or King).
Ocean, who was born in Fyzabad in 1950, is best known for his 1980s hits such as Caribbean Queen (1985) for which he won a Grammy Award, When the Going Gets Tough (1986), and Get Outta My Dreams (1988).
In 2010, he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards in London, and in 2011 he became a Companion of the Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts.
Walker, who was born in San Juan in 1939 and was a founder member of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, was one of the first regular Black actors on British television in the ‘60s. He played Patrick Trueman in the BBC soap opera EastEnders which he joined in 2001, and Bill Reynolds in 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, and acted in several plays and films.
Benjamin, who was born in Pointe-a-Pierre in 1949, was previously honoured with an OBE in 2001 for her contribution to television. A politician and activist, she has dedicated much of her career to campaigning for young people and her various charitable interests. In 2010, she was introduced to the House of Lords as a Life Peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats with the title of Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham in the County of Kent.
England-born Mendes, 54, grandson of acclaimed Trinidadian writer Alfred Hubert Mendes, directed two Bond films as well as multiple international theatre productions, and won an Oscar for American Beauty. In 2002, he got a CBE.
Following the announcement of the Honour’s List in London on Saturday, Dame Benjamin, 70, said: “For the last 40 years, I believed that you have to give back and you have to try and think about other people as much as you can because when I came to Britain (from Trinidad), aged 10, I had a pretty tough time, people told me to go back, they didn’t want me here.
“And I realised that I was worthy because my parents kept telling me that.”
She also said, “I was thrilled to receive my OBE (two decades ago), but to get my Damehood for charity means even more to me because I have truly dedicated my life to giving to charity, charitable causes, and charitable experiences.”
Mendes said: “I’m amazed, delighted and extremely proud. I have stood on the shoulders of so many collaborators and colleagues over the last 30 years – actors, writers, designers, producers, technicians – to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. I would not be receiving this honour without them.”
The distinguished awards are handed out once a year and recognise the outstanding achievements of people across the UK.
The decision about who gets an honour – and the type of honour they get – is made by special committees. The process begins with nominations from the public, which are siphoned down by the committees and reviewed by the prime minister before the various honours are bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II or senior royals next year.
The list, which was drawn up and approved during Theresa May’s premiership, rewards a lineup of well-known figures from arts and sport. But the vast majority (72 per cent) of the 1,097 recognised are people who work in their communities.