Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery's Gas Hall reopening date announced birminghammail.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from birminghammail.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Celebs: Poet, performer and Black rights activist Zephaniah dies gdnonline.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gdnonline.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
British poet, musician and actor Benjamin Zephaniah, known for fighting racism and social injustice, has died at the age of 65, after being diagnosed with a brain tumour, his family said on Thursday.
Benjamin Zephaniah, who has died of a brain tumour aged 65, was a writer and dub poet, often intoning his words over a reggae backbeat; he went from the streets of Handsworth to become a treasured figure on the UK’s literary scene, described as “the people’s laureate” and celebrated for his works on race. His mission, he said, was “to take poetry everywhere” and he described his technique as “dub ranting”, adding: “I do it because there is no justice.”