https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/dec/07/british-poet-benjamin-zephaniah-dies-aged-65 Will be sorely missed. A tremendous character and one of Britain's greatest modern poets. I named him once in a school parents meeting as a hero/role model. He turned down an OBE. "Me? I thought, OBE me? Up yours, I thought" What a man! RIP Benjamin.
I also read that Juanita Castro, sister of Fidel and Rual died, however I didn't realise that she defected in the 60s and collaborated with the CIA.
Yep, unfortunately. There's always one. When I was working there one time, a comrade assured me Fidel was in the canteen eating lunch. I scoffed. No, it was true he insisted - look! He opened the door a little and there sitting at one of the tables eating was Fidel. I was shocked. But the comrade was laughing. It was Ramon, one of the other brothers. Spitting image of Fidel though. Unlike Raul, who they call "El Chino" for his Chinese looks. The speculation of Habana is that he was the milkman's..... A rare photo of Fidel and Ramon together...
A *lot* of 'puff' was consumed listening to this album during my 'youngster' days (so much so the tape 'wore out'): I also had the pleasure of sitting next to the great man during a recording of GQT. The world's a colder place.
Aah. Wondered why I heard his turkey poem today. What a likeable bloke who brought poetry to many people who probably thought it 'wasn't for them.'
No, he didn't *but* he was very active talking to all the members of the various allotment clubs and societies - turns out he had a 'thing' for jasmine and trying to grow ginger/galangal in the UK. He did remark that, along with many of the first 'wave' of Caribbean immigrants they may have moved to very urban centres, his family were from the rural poverty so there was a tradition of subsistence farming. Something that did surprise me was that a fair percentage of the very R4 audience ('quite' mature and very 'white') knew who he was and were familiar with his work.
