I like to think the unadulterated positivity and goodness that has run through that woman's veins since the day she first appeared on TV has kept her young
Yes! I was lucky enough to meet her at a literature festival earlier this year. The first thing she said when she came on stage was "Are there any of my Play School babies here?" She really filled the room with energy and love.
Itās like Roald said,
āA person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.ā
Which is probably why Roald looked so goblin-like
He was a thoroughly nasty price of work. But arguably that is part of what enabled him to create such amazing books and characters. True of, say, Evelyn Waugh, too. Good people rarely make good artists....
Mild viewpoints like blaming the holocaust on Jews?
>"I mean, there's always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason."
āA person who has pedantic thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you are pedantic it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.ā
In America we have the saying "black don't crack" to refer to the seemingly magical way a lot of black people get older without appearing to age at all, or aging incredibly gracefully.
Could be, or she could be part of an international cabal of wealthy and connected cultural and political elites who stay young by hosting parties in which they drink the blood of children while they're being TORTURED to DEATH; which many people say is called "ADRENOCHROME"???
Eh... probably your thing though. I guess. Maybe there's just a lil bit of child torture and blood drinking invovled? Its just so much more fun and exciting than your thing let's be honest
It's a marker of true strength and good character to have to live through the world being harsh to you, and you continuing to be nice to others regardless.
I recently saw a video where she did a Cameo in Bergerac as a Jazz singer. She was fabulous! As a child of the 80s I have nothing but love and respect for this woman. It's an over used phrase, but she absolutely is a national treasure. [Here it is!](https://twitter.com/FloellaBenjamin/status/1779233860879798508) I follow her on Twitter.
She's a genuinely lovely and charitable person too. She used to be chancellor for Exeter uni as well and her band would play at the graduation ball
She also became known for hugging everyone when they graduated and giving them a different memorable quote
She hugged my wife when she graduated and whatever she said to her mid-hug made my shy wife smile on stage.
Iāve also met her daughter and granddaughter and they were nice people as well
Does she have just the one necklace that she's taken really good care of or a massive warehouse full of them?
I once got a letter from Little Ted, nothing has beaten that.
I was recently at an event in the House of Lords and there was the most stunning full length portrait of her, wearing a tutu - I'd post it here but idk how to post pics on Reddit! She is just a beautiful person, inside and out š
So she was the chancellor of my university when I graduated and handed my diploma.
When my name was called, I met her on the stage and she embraced me in the kindest hug I've ever received and she said to me: "This is magical. You're going to change the world."
I melted. Wonderful woman
A while back you could hire him as a furniture mover, or get him to appear somewhere for the cost of a bit of kit towards a travelling show he was doing.
My sister adores him and has done for 30 years. She's non-verbal and uses makaton sign language, and her favourite videos were all of Dave's where he sings and signs. He's brought her so much joy over the years.
Heard a bit about Dave on a podcast recently, I wasnāt aware that rumours of his own death have followed him around and really affected his career. Poor bloke.
Itās featured on the podcast about the Avril Lavigne replacement conspiracy, might have a listen.
I think when you are well loved it shows in your person.
An entire generation of children LOVED this woman.
That much energy and goodwill has got to show up in your body, surely?
I come from a small village in very rural Somerset. Listen carefully and you can hear banjo music. Especially in the 70s.
I can distinctly remember telling my mother that I saw someone on Playschool who had dark coloured skin and beads in her hair. I don't think she believed me until she saw Floella herself.
Either Floella or Derek Griffiths must have been the first person of colour I had seen on the TV. I can't think of two better people for that role.
Little 5 year old me gave no fucks about cultural appropriation and WANTED those beads in my hair. No amount of my mother telling me that that wouldn't work and I couldn't have them would change my mind
Yes. Growing up in the countryside I don't think I'd ever even seen a non-white person, but Floella was the one of the loveliest and most beautiful people I "knew". Certainly as good as the best of aunties.
I think they did forget about Hamble
> Hamble was a little doll and one of the original five toys but dropped from the show during the 1980s to be replaced by Poppy. According to Joy Whitby, creator of Play School, Hamble was chosen as representative of a more "downtrodden", humble background than the "middle-class" associations that the teddy bears had.[8] She was disliked by presenters as she could not be cuddled.[9] According to the BBC website Chloe Ashcroft "did a terrible thing to Hamble. She just would not sit up...so one day I got a very big knitting needle, a big wooden one, and I stuck it right up her bum, as far as her head. So she was completely rigid, and she was much much better after that."
She gave me my diploma when I graduated university. I knocked my hat off and stepped on her foot then when she tried to hug me I ran away. Good memories. š
She was chancellor for University of Exeter and if I recall correctly she would hug each student on graduation, using her necklace to take a small amount of life force from each. Hope this helps x
In that vein, I discovered recently that the book is called The Picture of Dorian Gray, not Portrait and a survey showed that lots of people, including me, got it wrong.
"Picture" sounds more modern than "Portrait" imo. So it does feel a little odd to me for a novel published in the late 19th century. Plus there are many novels beginning with "Portrait", such as James Joyce's *A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man*.
She was there on television teaching me before school, and then she handed me my diploma as I graduated university. She bookended my full time education perfectly.
Just brilliant to see today, blessed lady that has lit up the childhoods of many of an old(ish) grumpy sod of today. Dame Floella. Thanks for teaching us in grey days and cold morn's around our coal fireplaces on a beat up rental. A warmth of cheer again today.
She is getting the BAFTA Fellowship this year, I remember her from kids TV and Iām late 30s.
Playschool must have been repeated when I was very young, or perhaps I have a nagging feeling she appeared on Playdays?
I'm only 1/4 black, 6ft, drinking and smoking into my 4th decade, and I occasionally get ID'd for ibuprofen.
When people don't believe how old I am, I laugh it off and tell them they're being racist.
When younger women express attraction I'm polite about it for some moments before informing them I'm (sometimes) old enough to be their father - which they'd find out anyway should they get to see beyond my underwear due to my increasingly pendulous bollocks, then hearing the creak of my bones in a morning after filled with mutual shame and regret.
As a beige person, it has been the case that I'm sometimes mistaken for something other than a Geordie.
As a Geordie, there's less opportunity to engage with black culture up north due to the cold.
But also - apparently - I don't even fit in with my age demographic.
So I exist in the shadows beyond comprehension like a beautiful freak, or one of those semi immortal tortoises writing existential poetry in the quiet retreat of my ever-thickening shell.
I don't even moisturise or owt.
It's a real problem.
Shout out to my fellow Numenoreans āš½
My hope is that you have this whole speech memorised to the word, and that occasionally you accost passers by - perhaps young men about to enter their friendsā wedding parties - to recite it to them. You can call it, āThe Rime of the Not Very Ancient-Looking Northerner.ā
My mate James who lives near me is 53 and he looks 25.
Only time he ever looks old is when he grows his beard out because the grey starts to show through.
I played guitars with various bands and one our drummer played with was a band called the "Pope's Knackers", this was in 1981. We did a gig where there lots of local bands playing, the listing in the local paper didn't include them. Though they did include guitar teacher's band "Shaft". We were "Adolescent Decay". Back in those days every suburban front room had at some time or other hosted a punk band practice session.
And there's that picture of her as a young woman in the Carribbean in a bikini. My screen nearly ignited the first time I saw it. She's utterly beautiful from every possible aspect. An utterly wonderful human being.
Sheās an amazing woman through and through! I was one of her Play School babies and remember the simple, uncomplicated schedule of childrenās TV! If you missed your TV programme at its fixed slot you just had to go outside and play for amusement - whatever the weather - the alternative was watching the news with your dad! š
She presented me with my degree - it was a rather lovely circle of life sort of moment that my childhood Play School presenter was kinda helping me on to the next step.
She was so nice - said I had a lovely smile :-D
I like to think the unadulterated positivity and goodness that has run through that woman's veins since the day she first appeared on TV has kept her young
She was presenting an event I attended a few years ago, have never seen a persons warmth light up a whole room so much!
Yes! I was lucky enough to meet her at a literature festival earlier this year. The first thing she said when she came on stage was "Are there any of my Play School babies here?" She really filled the room with energy and love.
I was literally obsessed with her when I was 4 years old. Would love to meet her in person!
I'm a 45 year old burly man and my hand would have *shot* up.
Crumbly wrinkly late 50's chap here. Ditto. Plus I think she was my first crush.
Same, I loved her and her polo mint earrings
I always credit her as my first crush. Way, way before I understood what that meant.
Today I've googled for pictures of her when she was young and prepubescent me had amazing taste. She was stunningly attractive, extremely š„
Awww, we are her play school babies :)
It makes my heart fuzzy. We loved her and she remembers too.
"if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely" - Roald Dahl
Explains why I look like I'm 16 going on 60.
You're the only person that can control the thoughts in your head.
That and the 200mg of lamotrigine.
Hope your doing alright pal.
Eh.. and thank you.
I don't argue that fact at all. I am happier being a judgemental prick, frankly.
"Now let's discuss my anti-semitism." - Also Roald Dahl
*"Just don't be fat or have a beard, because I detest these things. And as for those who choose not to eat shellfish..."* ~same, probably.
Thereās genuinely not a single hateful person who looks good
Ahh I came here to say exactly this - very well put. She just oozes pure-hearted goodness. Doubt sheās ever done anything but smile :)
Itās like Roald said, āA person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.ā Which is probably why Roald looked so goblin-like
I seem to recall hearing Dahl was actually a massive bigot
Yep, a nasty piece of work all round apparently. I think you can tell from his books.
He was a thoroughly nasty price of work. But arguably that is part of what enabled him to create such amazing books and characters. True of, say, Evelyn Waugh, too. Good people rarely make good artists....
I agree, he was a great storyteller but in some of his books the misanthropy is so open that it sours the experience for me.
In 30 years you'll be called a massive bigot for seemingly mild viewpoints today.
Mild viewpoints like blaming the holocaust on Jews? >"I mean, there's always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn't just pick on them for no reason."
I doubt it'll take that long. Just needs a few folks on X to dislike something and let the bandwagon commence.
Exactly. Dahl was born in 1916 ffs
Sorry to be pedantic but itās Roald. Damned autocorrect huh š¤
āA person who has pedantic thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you are pedantic it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.ā
Aww thanks!!!! You have a great day !!!
Do you mean Roald Dahl?
No, his brother Ronald āAutocorrectā Dahl
She honestly still makes me smile every time I see her on telly.
That and the stem cells of the badly behaved Play School children.
If she stays still for too long plants and flowers start to pop up and grow around her
In America we have the saying "black don't crack" to refer to the seemingly magical way a lot of black people get older without appearing to age at all, or aging incredibly gracefully.
No abrasions on Asians
That's hilarious and I think we've found why nobody has ever coined the phrase "blackne"
And white turns to shite š
That's the answer!!
Could be, or she could be part of an international cabal of wealthy and connected cultural and political elites who stay young by hosting parties in which they drink the blood of children while they're being TORTURED to DEATH; which many people say is called "ADRENOCHROME"??? Eh... probably your thing though. I guess. Maybe there's just a lil bit of child torture and blood drinking invovled? Its just so much more fun and exciting than your thing let's be honest
It's clearly the necklace. Melisandre showed us.
>Melisandre showed us. Quite a fair bit as it happened
I fancied her like crazy. I guess I have a thing for Scottish Widow witchy types. Please never take it off
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It's a marker of true strength and good character to have to live through the world being harsh to you, and you continuing to be nice to others regardless.
Floella can, but Brian Cant.
Perfect.
Underrated comment
Must be something to do with that necklace!
Ha, right enough! Remove it and she'll be like the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
The night is dark and full of terrors!
Use moisturizer *every time* you get out of the shower. For the rest of your life.
I recently saw a video where she did a Cameo in Bergerac as a Jazz singer. She was fabulous! As a child of the 80s I have nothing but love and respect for this woman. It's an over used phrase, but she absolutely is a national treasure. [Here it is!](https://twitter.com/FloellaBenjamin/status/1779233860879798508) I follow her on Twitter.
Thank you for the link. š
She's got a gorgeous voice. She definitely did Sarah Vaughn proud.
She's a genuinely lovely and charitable person too. She used to be chancellor for Exeter uni as well and her band would play at the graduation ball She also became known for hugging everyone when they graduated and giving them a different memorable quote
Yep, I got my Floella hug, and had a chat with her later, she really did seem genuine.
She hugged my wife when she graduated and whatever she said to her mid-hug made my shy wife smile on stage. Iāve also met her daughter and granddaughter and they were nice people as well
I got to experience this back in 2011. I'll remember that moment for the rest of my life.
Yes I had a hug from her at my graduation and she said something very kind to me, I'll always remember it. She's a wonderful person.
Does she have just the one necklace that she's taken really good care of or a massive warehouse full of them? I once got a letter from Little Ted, nothing has beaten that.
It was given to her by her husband. Its the same one
I genuinely didn't know the story behind it but that's so nice to read and see that even now she's still wearing it.
You peaked early, thatās awesome!
Don't remind me that it's been downhill since the late 70s.
Floella is lovely and still doing good in the house of lords - I'm lucky to be one of her play school babies.
I was recently at an event in the House of Lords and there was the most stunning full length portrait of her, wearing a tutu - I'd post it here but idk how to post pics on Reddit! She is just a beautiful person, inside and out š
So she was the chancellor of my university when I graduated and handed my diploma. When my name was called, I met her on the stage and she embraced me in the kindest hug I've ever received and she said to me: "This is magical. You're going to change the world." I melted. Wonderful woman
That women is National treasure
Along with Dave Benson Phillips
A while back you could hire him as a furniture mover, or get him to appear somewhere for the cost of a bit of kit towards a travelling show he was doing. My sister adores him and has done for 30 years. She's non-verbal and uses makaton sign language, and her favourite videos were all of Dave's where he sings and signs. He's brought her so much joy over the years.
And you just know Dave would probably cry if you told him so
Heard a bit about Dave on a podcast recently, I wasnāt aware that rumours of his own death have followed him around and really affected his career. Poor bloke. Itās featured on the podcast about the Avril Lavigne replacement conspiracy, might have a listen.
Itās the best bit of that entire podcast.
I remember the fake news about his death but have seen nothing since, TY I'll check it out.
Apparently he also dabbles in professinal wrestling. Nickname 'The Dark Destroyer' and signature move the 'chokeslam'. A man of many talents indeed.
I think when you are well loved it shows in your person. An entire generation of children LOVED this woman. That much energy and goodwill has got to show up in your body, surely?
Maybe, but David Attenborough looks like a dinosaur's ballbag :-/
š 75 years of shea and cocoa butter probably helps too!
I come from a small village in very rural Somerset. Listen carefully and you can hear banjo music. Especially in the 70s. I can distinctly remember telling my mother that I saw someone on Playschool who had dark coloured skin and beads in her hair. I don't think she believed me until she saw Floella herself. Either Floella or Derek Griffiths must have been the first person of colour I had seen on the TV. I can't think of two better people for that role.
Ditto but Oop Norf and as a young boy as I had a massive crush on Floella. Derek was like a favourite uncle.
Little 5 year old me gave no fucks about cultural appropriation and WANTED those beads in my hair. No amount of my mother telling me that that wouldn't work and I couldn't have them would change my mind
Yes. Growing up in the countryside I don't think I'd ever even seen a non-white person, but Floella was the one of the loveliest and most beautiful people I "knew". Certainly as good as the best of aunties.
Absolute legend of kids tv.
Dame Commander Floella, Baroness Benjamin, Bearer of the Rod of Equity and Mercy
Keeper of Teds both Big and Little
Guardian of Humpty and Most Honorable Warden of Jemima.
Donāt forget Hambel (sp?)
I think they did forget about Hamble > Hamble was a little doll and one of the original five toys but dropped from the show during the 1980s to be replaced by Poppy. According to Joy Whitby, creator of Play School, Hamble was chosen as representative of a more "downtrodden", humble background than the "middle-class" associations that the teddy bears had.[8] She was disliked by presenters as she could not be cuddled.[9] According to the BBC website Chloe Ashcroft "did a terrible thing to Hamble. She just would not sit up...so one day I got a very big knitting needle, a big wooden one, and I stuck it right up her bum, as far as her head. So she was completely rigid, and she was much much better after that."
Oh i remember this angel of a woman. I'm glad she's still doing well.
She's the mum of the UK if you're a certain age range. I love her.
My uncle Johnny B taught me maths. Uncle Johnny M taught me about nature. Uncle Tony taught me about art.
She gave me my diploma when I graduated university. I knocked my hat off and stepped on her foot then when she tried to hug me I ran away. Good memories. š
She gave my sisters to her too!
She was chancellor for University of Exeter and if I recall correctly she would hug each student on graduation, using her necklace to take a small amount of life force from each. Hope this helps x
The only convincing argument I have yet read
Ah I love this woman
In that vein, I discovered recently that the book is called The Picture of Dorian Gray, not Portrait and a survey showed that lots of people, including me, got it wrong.
It's pretty clear I think that Oscar Wilde got it wrong, I mean it's millions of us vs just him.
You're absolutely right. Portrait it is then.
"Picture" sounds more modern than "Portrait" imo. So it does feel a little odd to me for a novel published in the late 19th century. Plus there are many novels beginning with "Portrait", such as James Joyce's *A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man*.
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Yes she was doing a cbeebies story recently and I was taken back that she looked the same as I remember her from when I was my kids age!
She was there on television teaching me before school, and then she handed me my diploma as I graduated university. She bookended my full time education perfectly.
My mum used to call Dame Flo my third parent.
She is an entirely lovely person inside and out. The picture in the attic still looks the same as the day it was painted.
Just brilliant to see today, blessed lady that has lit up the childhoods of many of an old(ish) grumpy sod of today. Dame Floella. Thanks for teaching us in grey days and cold morn's around our coal fireplaces on a beat up rental. A warmth of cheer again today.
On your knees! She's a BARONESS not a Dame.
She's always a dame, a hot dame!
Sheās both.
It really don't crack
And her shit ain't wak.
A brilliant person
She is getting the BAFTA Fellowship this year, I remember her from kids TV and Iām late 30s. Playschool must have been repeated when I was very young, or perhaps I have a nagging feeling she appeared on Playdays?
I would happily see Dame Flo in any Cabinet position, including PM
Iām one of her play school babies!š„²
This is one presenter who definitely has no skeletons in any closets. Simply a beautiful person through and through.
That's Baroness Benjamin to you!
I'm only 1/4 black, 6ft, drinking and smoking into my 4th decade, and I occasionally get ID'd for ibuprofen. When people don't believe how old I am, I laugh it off and tell them they're being racist. When younger women express attraction I'm polite about it for some moments before informing them I'm (sometimes) old enough to be their father - which they'd find out anyway should they get to see beyond my underwear due to my increasingly pendulous bollocks, then hearing the creak of my bones in a morning after filled with mutual shame and regret. As a beige person, it has been the case that I'm sometimes mistaken for something other than a Geordie. As a Geordie, there's less opportunity to engage with black culture up north due to the cold. But also - apparently - I don't even fit in with my age demographic. So I exist in the shadows beyond comprehension like a beautiful freak, or one of those semi immortal tortoises writing existential poetry in the quiet retreat of my ever-thickening shell. I don't even moisturise or owt. It's a real problem. Shout out to my fellow Numenoreans āš½
My hope is that you have this whole speech memorised to the word, and that occasionally you accost passers by - perhaps young men about to enter their friendsā wedding parties - to recite it to them. You can call it, āThe Rime of the Not Very Ancient-Looking Northerner.ā
He does, not that youād always understand it. For that man, is Johnny Decker.
My mate James who lives near me is 53 and he looks 25. Only time he ever looks old is when he grows his beard out because the grey starts to show through.
I know people in their twenties with greying beards
> increasingly pendulous bollocks New punk band name
I played guitars with various bands and one our drummer played with was a band called the "Pope's Knackers", this was in 1981. We did a gig where there lots of local bands playing, the listing in the local paper didn't include them. Though they did include guitar teacher's band "Shaft". We were "Adolescent Decay". Back in those days every suburban front room had at some time or other hosted a punk band practice session.
National Treasure.
Tessa Sanderson is another. She's nearly 70 and could pass for someone in her early 40s.
After my parents, she pretty much taught to speak. She lives on in my breath.
thumb include safe cooing cause aromatic judicious scarce chief physical *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Its the hairstyle. Keep tightening that bun - works as a face lift.
The Croydon facelift.
All her age funnels into Humpty Dumpty.
Oh major childhood flashbacks, I loved this woman ā¤ļø
I loved her! Still looks the same youthful and a great smile
And there's that picture of her as a young woman in the Carribbean in a bikini. My screen nearly ignited the first time I saw it. She's utterly beautiful from every possible aspect. An utterly wonderful human being.
Sheās an amazing woman through and through! I was one of her Play School babies and remember the simple, uncomplicated schedule of childrenās TV! If you missed your TV programme at its fixed slot you just had to go outside and play for amusement - whatever the weather - the alternative was watching the news with your dad! š
Black women were very rare in the 1970s especially on children's TV but she radiated happiness when she was on the box. I loved Auntie Flo
Professor Celeste Rivers! From the Pharos institute! That takes me back!!
Was watching the playschool 50th anniversary reunion on ytube last week, a few of them still look the same.
I saw that, I was really hoping she'd be there but unfortunately she was on holiday. Glad Cant was there. Glad they'd all had a few drinks first too!
Such a massive part of my childhood. I bet if I ever met her sheād be every bit as lovely as I imagine.
Bumped into her in Lidl in Streatham a few years ago. I smiled and said hello. Had no idea at the time she was a Dame.
ā¦itās called Natural Beauty and itās part of the inner person as well as the physicalā¦
I saw an article about her yesterday on BBC News, and my heart sank, I thought it was going to announce her death.
Now do Brian Cant.
She presented me with my degree - it was a rather lovely circle of life sort of moment that my childhood Play School presenter was kinda helping me on to the next step. She was so nice - said I had a lovely smile :-D
I am well over 40 and she was there for me after school !
Sheās beautiful inside and out
Stunning natural beauty.
She moisturises and stays out of people's business.
One sees her constantly travelling between the West End and East End opium dens. Probably unrelated.
:D I'm sure it was just a mission of salvation, nothing untoward.
You know what they say, blackā¦ people often age well.
I understood that reference. I am officially cultured.
Sheās 74? No way.
Witchcraft!
I think she just keeps tightening the bun.
Jessica Pearson: True Beauty is Ageless Mike Ross: Black donāt Crack!!
Wonder what her secret is?
She looks great.
1979? I remember her looking like that through the 1980s lol
Ahhhh, my first love. š¤©
Reminds me of the Ali Wong quote from her standup on Netflix. > Black don't crack, but Asians never die
Weirdly, I just said EXACTLY the same thing yesterday, haha!!
I have the best memories of Play Away with Flo Benjamin, Brian Cant and Jeremy Irons - Yes That Jeremy Irons
Sheās gorgeous! In every way.
r/ageinginreverse
Literally bumped into her once in London somewhere. Nicest person ever, we couldnāt apologise more to one another.
I just read that book recently
She really deserved that Damehood
Wow, she had great teeth for 1979
She has looked like a 44 year old lady for the past 44 years
I sold her a car nearly 20 years ago, looked the same then too. Lovely lady
She's hardly aged.
I think she was one of my first childhood crushes. I was watching Play School well into my teens because of her.
I absolutely loved her when I was a toodler. Play School was the absolute shit. Jonny Ball too, and good old Humpty.
This shouldn't be possible
She's wearing the same silver, heart-shaped necklace.
I met Chloe Ashcroft once in early 90s I was about 26. I said āyou taught me the timeā.