Three Trini showbusiness figures and a film director with Trini roots have been recognised by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth in her 2020 New Year's Honours List.
They are singer Billy Ocean, actor Rudolph Walker, actress and television presenter turned Lib Dem peer Floella Benjamin, and film director Sam Mendes.
Ocean, born Leslie Sebastian Charles, has been appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music.
MBE is the third highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award, behind Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) which is first and then Order of the British Empire (OBE).
Walker has been upgraded to CBE, the highest-ranking Order of the British Empire award, 13 years after receiving an OBE for his services to drama. This latest award is in recognition of his foundation helping disadvantaged children become actors.
Benjamin, already a baroness, has also been upgraded from OBE to Damehood for services to charity. She gets Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (DBE). The two senior ranks of the Order of the British Empire are Knight or Dame Grand Cross, and Knight or Dame Commander.
Mendes, byname of Samuel Alexander Mendes, can soon be called Sir Sam, as he is to be Knighted for his contribution to drama. This senior honour is awarded to members who have made major contributions to any activity, usually at national level. Per tradition, knighthoods and damehoods are presented with a touch of a sword by the Queen (or King).
Ocean, who was born in Fyzabad in 1950, is best known for his 1980s hits such as Caribbean Queen (1985) for which he won a Grammy Award, When the Going Gets Tough (1986), and Get Outta My Dreams (1988).
In 2010, he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the MOBO Awards in London, and in 2011 he became a Companion of the Liverpool Institute of the Performing Arts.
Walker, who was born in San Juan in 1939 and was a founder member of the Trinidad Theatre Workshop, was one of the first regular Black actors on British television in the ‘60s. He played Patrick Trueman in the BBC soap opera EastEnders which he joined in 2001, and Bill Reynolds in 1970s sitcom Love Thy Neighbour, and acted in several plays and films.
Benjamin, who was born in Pointe-a-Pierre in 1949, was previously honoured with an OBE in 2001 for her contribution to television. A politician and activist, she has dedicated much of her career to campaigning for young people and her various charitable interests. In 2010, she was introduced to the House of Lords as a Life Peer nominated by the Liberal Democrats with the title of Baroness Benjamin, of Beckenham in the County of Kent.
England-born Mendes, 54, grandson of acclaimed Trinidadian writer Alfred Hubert Mendes, directed two Bond films as well as multiple international theatre productions, and won an Oscar for American Beauty. In 2002, he got a CBE.
Following the announcement of the Honour’s List in London on Saturday, Dame Benjamin, 70, said: “For the last 40 years, I believed that you have to give back and you have to try and think about other people as much as you can because when I came to Britain (from Trinidad), aged 10, I had a pretty tough time, people told me to go back, they didn't want me here.
"And I realised that I was worthy because my parents kept telling me that."
She also said, “I was thrilled to receive my OBE (two decades ago), but to get my Damehood for charity means even more to me because I have truly dedicated my life to giving to charity, charitable causes, and charitable experiences.”
Mendes said: “I'm amazed, delighted and extremely proud. I have stood on the shoulders of so many collaborators and colleagues over the last 30 years – actors, writers, designers, producers, technicians – to whom I owe a huge debt of gratitude. I would not be receiving this honour without them."
The distinguished awards are handed out once a year and recognise the outstanding achievements of people across the UK.
The decision about who gets an honour – and the type of honour they get – is made by special committees. The process begins with nominations from the public, which are siphoned down by the committees and reviewed by the prime minister before the various honours are bestowed by Queen Elizabeth II or senior royals next year.
The list, which was drawn up and approved during Theresa May’s premiership, rewards a lineup of well-known figures from arts and sport. But the vast majority (72 per cent) of the 1,097 recognised are people who work in their communities.
Source: Newsday, December 27, 2019.

Darielle Williams twirled upside down at least seven feet above the audience, held by two cables attached to each leg, hands moving and head bopping to the beat of Get Ur Freak On. She was not only a backup dancer for Missy Elliott, but also representing TT at a high level – in both senses.
Williams rocked the stage as an aerialist at the 36th annual MTV Video Music Awards on August 26 in New Jersey as Missy Elliott, the 2019 Video Vanguard Award winner, sang a medley of her hits Throw it Back, The Rain, Hot Boyz, Get Ur Freak On, Work It, Pass that Dutch and Lose Control.
An aerialist is an acrobat who performs high above the ground on tightropes or trapezes.
Williams's most recent performance at home was in a show held in June at Sound Forge, a multipurpose event space on Mucurapo Road, Port of Spain. 
"I last danced in TT at Queen's Hall with the Caribbean School of Dance.
"The Sound Forge show was fun. The dancing was choreographed by Bridgette Wilson and there were fire devils and moko jumbies, spoken word, a fashion show, with performances by Kes and Protoje."
A former student of Mucurapo Girls' RC, St Francois Girls' College and St Joseph's Convent, Port of Spain, Williams, 34, grew up in St James.
Communicating by voicenotes, Williams told Newsday, "I always had a passion for dance."
She danced at school and began taking classes at 16 at the Caribbean School of Dance.
"I started with modern dance and later added ballet, jazz and tap dance." Before that, she was a swimmer and gymnast. But even then, she preferred forms of gymnastics which included dance.

She was supported wholeheartedly by her parents, Judith Theodore and David Williams.
"My mother is an actress. She played Sandra on the series Westwood Park.
"They both always saw me having a career in the performing arts. They just wanted their children to be successful at whatever we decided to do. "But I was always the performer in the family."
After school, Williams moved on to Florida International University, where she did a degree majoring in dance with a minor in business administration. The four-year programme focused on Latin American and Caribbean dance/ choreography.
"It was exactly what I saw myself doing in the future. I learned a lot on the history of dance and kinesiology, which is the study of human or non-human body movement."
Her studies also included in-depth exploration of cultural dances, critiques, choreography, lighting and the intricacies of staging a show. She wrote a thesis on J'Ouvert.
Then her life took what she described as a slight detour – which became her passion.
"I continued dancing for one of my FIU professors in his Afro- fusion company called Brazz Dance Theatre."
She was also introduced to circus arts through a company called Animate Objects Physical Theatre, and learnt aerial and fire dancing.
"I also learnt stilt-walking and acrobatic stilt dance, which, I admit, I did not learn in TT. I can only do up to three feet, which is all they do in the US."
She later performed with companies that focused on a variety of dance, including Afro-Peruvian fusion and belly-dance fusion companies.
"But really, after starting pole dancing and doing more circus arts, I went further in that direction, especially focusing on aerial."
Now she performs mostly as an aerial acrobat, though she still loves dance.
Performing at the VMAs was "bigger than any other award show I had performed in," she says. "To perform with the artist receiving the Vanguard Award of that year was just the icing on the cake."
That was not the first time she had danced backup for an A-list performer, though.
Williams said the key to her success so far has been consistent hard work and opportunity. She said making the best of each one has given her a chance to be discovered for other career-altering opportunities.
Before the VMAs, she danced on stages that included the Latin Billboard Awards, fire dancing for Reggaeton superstars Romeo Santos, stilts for Don Omar, and most notably, aerial for Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull in 2013. She did pole dancing for Aubrey O'Day, formerly of the band Danity Kane, in a show called The Knockouts.
"In 2014 I auditioned for Le Rêve, which was a cirque-style show in Las Vegas and was a major stepping stone in my career. The creator of this show, Franco Dragone, was a creative director of Cirque Du Soleil, but branched off to start his own show."
Williams had a number of solo performances in it, including an aerial hammock, aerial chair, and a character who did a 50-foot high dive into water. These solo roles led to her auditioning for Beyoncé for the Formation World Tour in 2016.
"That was a highlight in my career that happened because she wanted a black female aerialist.
"After that, I moved to LA from Miami, where I lived for about six years,and mostly hustled for gigs in the super-competitive market."
Moving to LA was partly motivated by wanting to seek out different kinds of opportunities.
Her agent helped her gain another grand opportunity when Missy Elliott was looking for black aerialists.
"Being a black aerialist is what I get called for most," Williams points out. "People seem to forget you can just do aerial and it really doesn't matter what colour you are, though sometimes – generally – I'd be overlooked for someone of a lighter complexion."
Because of this, she said, many of the openings that come her way would be in cases where organisers of shows want a racially diverse cast, or are outright seeking a black aerialist.
"But when I do perform and they take note of my skills, it is generally from there where I would get more opportunities or stick around on a job. I use these opportunities as an advantage for bursting open even more doors."
Though she couldn't reveal much about it, Williams said her next major performances will be in a live version of one of her favourite childhood movies.
As a performer, Williams said, she is motivated to keep improving at her craft.
"I am competing with myself, trying to gain new skills and up my game. But I do have future goals of getting into acting as well."

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