People, Places, Events   

Louise Simone Bennett-Coverley or Miss Lou OM, OJ, MBE (7 September 1919 – 26 July 2006), was a Jamaican poet, folklorist, writer, and educator. Writing and performing her poems in Jamaican Patois or Creole, Bennett worked to preserve the practice of presenting poetry, folk songs and stories in patois ("nation language"), establishing the validity of local languages for literary expression.

John Wesley Holder CBE (born 2 February 1934), known professionally as Ram John Holder, is a Guyanese-British actor and musician, who began his professional career as a singer in New York City, before moving to England in 1962. He has performed on stage, in both film and television and, is best known for playing Augustus "Porkpie" Grant in the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond's, and its spin-off series Porkpie.

Norman Beaton, widely recognised as Desmond in Channel 4's sitcom bearing his name, gained immense popularity among millions of viewers. He is renowned as being the first true black television star in the United Kingdom, establishing himself as a pioneering figure in the industry and solidifying his status as a real trailblazer. The writer Stephen Bourne has called him "the most influential and highly regarded black British actor of his time”.

While struggling to achieve popularity and respect earlier in his professional career, Lewis's standing has increased since his retirement in 2003, and he is now considered one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. Struggling to win the affection of the British public and facing indifference from an American audience, Lewis's body of work eventually established him as the dominant heavyweight of his time. He is the last undisputed heavyweight champion.

Lewis was born on 2 September 1965 in West Ham, London, to Jamaican parents and according to his mother, he would often fight with other children growing up. At birth he weighed 4.8 kg (10 lb 10 oz), and was given the name Lennox by the doctor, who said "he looked like a Lennox."

Peckings Records was one of the first labels to import and distribute Jamaican music in the UK. A PIONEERING black record label has been honoured with a blue plaque in West London. Peckings Records was awarded a prestigious blue plaque outside the original label and shop address in Shepherd’s Bush.

Dorothy Kuya (16 March 1933 – 23 December 2013) was a leading British communist and human rights activist from Liverpool, the co-founder of Teachers Against Racism, and the general secretary of the National Assembly of Women (NAW). She was a life-long member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), and was most famous for being Liverpool's first community relations officer, and for leading a successful campaign to establish Liverpool's International Slavery Museum.

William Arthur Watkin Strachan (16 April 1921 – 26 April 1998) was a British communist, civil rights activist, and pilot. He is most noted for his achievements as a bomber pilot with the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War, and for his reputation as a highly influential figure within Britain's black communities.

Stella Dadzie was born in 1952 in London, United Kingdom, to a white English mother and a Ghanaian father, who was Ghana’s first trained pilot and served as a navigator in the RAF during the Second World War. Her early childhood was marked with challenges such as poverty, racism, and family separation, experiencing foster care in Wales, and facing constant upheavals due to racist landlords. This tumultuous upbringing no doubt stoked the fires of activism and advocacy in her,