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From Children's TV Star to Baroness

Baroness Floella Benjamin faced racism when she arrived in Britain from Trinidad in the 1960s but she is now the only living black woman to have a statue on show in the UK.

Baroness Floella Benjamin came to the UK from Trinidad in the 1960s. She tells Matthew Bannister about the racism she faced when she arrived in Britain, how she ended up being one of the most recognisable faces as a presenter on children's TV in the 1970s and 80s, and how she felt when she was asked to join the British House of Lords. She has written a book about her memories of leaving Trinidad called 'Coming to England'.

Professor Douglas MacAyeal is fascinated by ice. He's a glaciologist who works in Antarctica - where he's even had an ice stream named after him. He monitors the vibrations of ice breaking, and now, with the help of a group of artists called Luftwerk, he's turned that data into sound and sped it up so it can be heard by the human ear.

Moziah "Mo" Bridges is an extraordinary fifteen year old who runs a successful fashion company in his home town of Memphis, Tennessee in the USA. He started the company designing and producing handmade bow ties with help from his Mum when he was only nine years old. To date they've sold bow ties worth 600,000 US dollars. Our reporter Tasha Lemley went to meet Mo and his mum Tramica in their workshop.

Pinar 脟evikayak Yelmi is on a mission to map the sounds of her city, Istanbul in Turkey. She wants to capture the changes in the city through sounds that are disappearing, and new ones that are emerging. Pinar takes us on a tour of some of the hundreds of sounds she's collected including Istanbul's famous shopping district, Istiklal street.

Image: Floella Benjamin
Credit: 成人快手 (l) and ARTHUR EDWARDS/Getty Images (r)

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Thu 19 Oct 2017 06:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Wed 18 Oct 2017 11:06GMT
  • Wed 18 Oct 2017 15:06GMT
  • Wed 18 Oct 2017 17:06GMT
  • Thu 19 Oct 2017 03:06GMT
  • Thu 19 Oct 2017 05:06GMT
  • Thu 19 Oct 2017 06:06GMT

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