Desert Island Discs: Classic Desert Island Discs - Benjamin Zephaniah

DESERT ISLAND DISCS: CLASSIC DESERT ISLAND DISCS - BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH (320kbs-m4a/79mb/34mins)
BBC Radio 4 podcast: 28th April 2024

Sue Lawley talks to the poet Benjamin Zephaniah in a programme first broadcast in 1997. Benjamin Zephaniah died in January 2024 at the age of 65.

As well as talking about his work as a performance poet often working in prisons or schools, Benjamin recalls a time when he was illiterate. He also remembers Nelson Mandela's request to meet him at seven o'clock in the morning to brief him on Margaret Thatcher.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
Book: Poetical Works of Shelley by Percy Shelley
Luxury: Law of the land (so he could break it)

Sinéad O'Connor - Fire On Babylon [Ensign]
George Formby - Little Ukulele [Grosvenor]
Leonard Cohen - Last Year's Man [Columbia]
Burning Spear - Marcus Garvey [Island]
Mikey Smith - Mi Cyaan Believe It [Island]
Bally Sagoo - Chura Liya [Columbia]
The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Take Five [Elite]
Steel Pulse - Klu Klux Klan [Mango]

The Life And Rhymes Of Benjamin Zephaniah (Omnibus)

THE LIFE AND RHYMES OF BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH (OMNIBUS) (320kbs-m4a/152mb/66mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 12th February 2023

Benjamin Zephaniah reads his autobiography, beginning with his childhood growing up in Birmingham.

It was a childhood coloured with love and violence.

But it was also where his love of poetry first evolved - and his relationship with his parents went in two very different directions.

Written and read by Benjamin Zephaniah

Omnibus of five parts abridged by Sara Davies

Producer: Celia de Wolff

A Pier production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in April 2018.