2024 Honours of Distinction Candidates
Moira
Moira Stuart CBE
Moira Stuart CBE became Britain’s first black TV newsreader, working for the BBC first as a radio newsreader and continuity announcer in the 1970s and moving to television in 1981. She’s now one of the UK’s most recognisable TV faces, and was awarded the OBE in 2001 for services to news broadcasting. She was awarded the OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2001 Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to News Broadcasting.
Moira Stuart was born at the Royal Free Hospital in London, on 2 September 1949, to Caribbean parents. She has two sisters, Sandra Simmons and Sharon Davis-Murdoch.
Moira is acknowledged as having been the UK’s first female African-Caribbean television newsreader. Since 27 August 1981, she has presented on every news bulletin devised on BBC Television apart from the Ten O’Clock News. She has also appeared on The News Quiz and presented the news on the BBC’s Breakfast with Frost programme each Sunday and its successor programme Sunday AM with Andrew Marr. She presented the news for BBC Breakfast.
Linton
Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson was born on 24 August 1952 in Chapelton, a small town in the rural parish of Clarendon, Jamaica. He came to London in 1963, went to Tulse Hill secondary school and later studied Sociology at Goldsmiths’ College, University of London. Whilst still at school he joined the Black Panthers, helped to organise a poetry workshop within the movement and developed his work with Rasta Love, a group of poets and drummers. In 1977 he was awarded a C Day Lewis Fellowship, becoming the writer-in-residence for the London Borough of Lambeth for that year.
He went on to work as the Library Resources and Education Officer at the Keskidee Centre, the first home of Black theatre and art.
Linton’s poems first appeared in the journal Race Today. In 1974 Race Today published his first collection of poetry, Voices of the Living and the Dead. Dread Beat An’ Blood, his second collection, was published in 1975 by Bogle-L’Ouverture and was also the title of his first LP, released by Virgin in 1978. That year also saw the release of the film Dread Beat An’ Blood, a documentary on Johnson’s work. In 1980 Race Today published his third book, Inglan Is A Bitch and there were four more albums on the Island label: Forces of Victory (1979), Bass Culture (1980), LKJ in Dub (1981) and Making History.
Linton Kwesi Johnson has been made an Associate Fellow of Warwick University (1985), an Honorary Fellow of Wolverhampton Polytechnic (1987) and received an award at the XIII Premo Internazionale Ultimo Novecento from the city of Pisa for his contribution to poetry and popular music (1990). In 1998 he was awarded the Premio Piero Ciampi Citta di Livorno Concorso Musicale Nazionale in Italy. In 2003 Johnson was bestowed with an honorary fellowship from his alma mater, Goldsmiths College.
In 2004 he became an Honorary Visiting Professor of Middlesex University in London. In 2005 Linton Kwesi Johnson was awarded a silver Musgrave medal from the Institute of Jamaica for distinguished eminence in the field of poetry. He has toured the world from Japan to the new South Africa, from Europe to Brazil. His recordings are amongst the top-selling reggae albums in the world and his work has been translated into Italian and German. Unsurprisingly, he is known and revered as the world’s first reggae poet.
Neville
Dr. Neville Staple
Dr. Neville Staple is credited with changing the face of popular music not only once but twice. His UK and International career in the music industry, is well documented and started out from the early days with Ray King, Pete Waterman (OBE), The Coventry Automatics and his Jah Baddis Sound System, before taking to the stage as a frontman of The Specials and performing at the famous tour with ‘The Clash’ and Bernie Rhodes. He has performed, written or produced, highly acclaimed and hit albums and singles, along with TV and film soundtracks, including performing on a song for the 2019 Spiderman blockbuster film and more music releases in 2020 and beyond.
His musical awards also include MOJO, NME, Gold, Silver & Platinum Discs and a lifetime achievement award from Foxford School in his home City of Coventry (birthplace of the 2-Tone Movement). He is celebrated as a living legend.
Neville states, “I remember the massive reactions to the hit songs like Ghost Town, Too Much Too Young and Gangsters, and fans still write to me about my rugged, energetic and fun stage presence. The way we bring ska to the mainstream is by mixing Jamaican music with the English punky style. I love performing live and always include my Specials hits, along with other classics and career favourites. Every show is like a massive party, where the brilliant fans love to dance, stomp or sing-along. I was so proud to become an official Doctor of Music recently too. Dr Rude Boy! How cool is that!”
Fatman
Kenneth 'Fatman' Gordon
Kenneth Gordon, better known in reggae circles as Fatman, was a Jamaican-born British Sound System operator, label owner, and producer. He passed away on Sunday, December 15, 2024. Fatman, who moved from the Waterhouse area of Kingston to the UK in 1962, established the KG Imperial and Fat Man labels, along with the publishing company Ken Songs. He also ran Fatman HiFi, a famous sound system located in Tottenham, North London.
Fatman began his career collaborating with Sir Fanso The Tropical Downbeat, where he was responsible for selecting music for the Sound. When Sir Fanso dismantled the Sound and returned to Jamaica, Fatman chose to start his Sound System. In 1974, he initially named his Sound Wild Bells, later rebranding it to Imperial Downbeat before ultimately adopting the name Fatman Hifi. He financed this new Sound by working two jobs. By 1977, Fatman had opened a record shop on West Green Road in Tottenham. Before that, he ran a store on Tottenham High Road, situated right next to the police station. In 1979, Fatman Hifi earned the title of the best Sound System at the Black Echoes British Reggae Awards.
Throughout the early 1980s, MCs Raymond Naptali and Roy Ranking regularly performed on the sound and released records under Fatman’s KG Imperial Record label. Fatman forged a solid partnership with Prince Jammy in Jamaica, which allowed them to access Jammy’s dubs ahead of UK sounds. This collaboration eventually led to some of Jammy’s productions being distributed through KG Imperial. Additionally, Fatman worked with King Tubby and Bunny Lee to bring their music to the UK market.
In the 1990s, the Sound System went on hiatus as Fatman shifted his attention to production, distribution, promotion, and managing his son’s Sound System, Gold Star Muzik. Eventually, Fatman Hifi resumed its activities, participating in revival dances and various festivals. Fatman died on 15 December 2024. Our deepest condolences to all family and friends.
Mona
Mona Hammond OBE
Mona Hammond OBE, the former EastEnders star and champion of black theatre acting talent, died aged 87. Mona was born in Jamaica in 1931, to Jamaican and Chinese parents, Hammond moved to the UK in her late 20s on a scholarship, working for an architecture firm. The Jamaican-British actress was best known for playing the matriarch Blossom Jackson on the soap from 1994 to 1997, briefly reprising her role in 2010.
Mona created a no-nonsense grandmother in Blossom Jackson, who was adored by the audience and everyone who worked with her. Mona also co-founded the groundbreaking Talawa Theatre Company, external in Croydon in 1986 to help address the “lack of creative opportunities for black actors and the marginalisation of black peoples from cultural processes”.
Before gracing Albert Square, Mona portrayed Auntie Susu in the Channel 4 sitcom Desmond’s in the early 1990s, and its subsequent spin-off, Porkpie.
Mona was best known to viewers as the leader of the Jackson family in the mid 1990s. The character came to east London from Tobago as a young child. Her first marriage to Nathan ended after he left her, and she spent much of her later life living with common-law husband, Bill, until his death 1993.
After leaving the soap in 1997, Mona’s Blossom returned with her on-screen grandson Alan Jackson for several episodes in 2010, in connection with the funeral of her great-grandson Billie.
After attending acting evening classes for two years she was awarded a Rada scholarship, later cutting her teeth in theatre productions such as Josephine House and Macbeth. She subsequently spent two years at the Royal National Theatre, where her credits included The Crucible, Fuente Ovejuna and Peer Gynt.
Moving into television, Mona appeared in shows like The Sweeney, Juliet Bravo, and had a cameo in Coronation Street, before making her way to Albert Square via Desmond’s – which become Channel 4’s longest running sitcom. The Peckham-based show featured a predominantly black British Guyanese cast.
Mona was made an OBE in the 2005 for her services to drama in the UK, and the following year she was presented with the Screen Nation Film and Television Awards’ highest UK honour – the Edric Connor Inspiration Award.
In 2018, Mona was awarded the Women of the World lifetime achievement award for her theatre career and championing of black British actors; and a year later she received an honorary Rada Fellowship.
She is survived by her only son Michael Sanders and her granddaughter Tallulah.
Mona died on 4 July 2022. Our deepest condolences to all family and friends.
Ali
Ali Abucar Ali
Ali Abucar Ali, 20, died on Albany Parade, Brentford within hours of coaching his last session at Chiswick Gators youth basketball club. Mr Ali, a Kingston University student, had been at the club for five years.
Fellow coach Michael Kwentoh said, “There’s never been a person I’ve met in my life who has been more committed, caring and responsible than Ali.” Ali is reported to have been killed after he intervened to protect an 82-year-old woman on Albany Parade. He managed to get to a nearby cafe to request help and the emergency services were called but, despite the efforts of paramedics, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
The woman who he saved was great-great grandmother Betty Walsh who was well known in the area having worked in a number of local pubs and was an avid Brentford fan. She believed that her attacker had just pushed into her but then realised she had been stabbed. She was taken to hospital and initially her condition was described as critical but was later updated to serious but not life-threatening.
Mr Kwentoh, a former junior international basketball player, founded the Gators in 2013 where he worked with Mr Ali. He described the 20-year-old as being “everyone’s favourite coach”, adding that “if it wasn’t for Ali, we wouldn’t have a club”. He never turned his back on it. He was so dedicated to working with kids because he had the same passion. He took jobs working nights in a factory just so he could keep up the coaching.”
Mr Kwentoh described Mr Ali, who had British-Somali heritage and was studying business, as “one genuine soul. You can’t find another person like him. The kids are all devastated, every single one of them,” he said. He added that Mr Ali had hoped to become an accountant, saying he had been doing everything the right way to set himself up for a bright future and it was senselessly taken away from him.
Contributors have called him “a shining example of a wonderful human being” and “an example for us all”.
Ali died on 12 November 2021. Our deepest condolences to all family and friends.
DJ AG
DJ AG
DJ AG, whose real name is Ashley Gordon, is a 39-year-old Tottenham native who performs out on the streets of London. Recently, he’s garnered public attention for his star-studded, seemingly impromptu, sets. They usually start with AG setting up his decks at peak rush hour on the corner of York Way, next to King’s Cross McDonald’s, or Brixton market, just across the road from Morley’s. As commuters pass by, the night’s performers are allocated a place in line to play a five-minute slot by a member of his team.
When it’s their turn, they pass AG their USB with their chosen beats and look into the camera in front of the decks, where they’re livestreamed to hundreds of viewers who can comment directly to them. In real life, there’s a building crowd of regular attendees and passers-by as rappers and singers enjoy their moment in the spotlight.
AG is a Tottenham native. It’s an area he still lives in and has a soft spot for. ‘Growing up, I remember playing football and getting involved in activities at the Selby Center, doing my taekwondo and just building up friendships,’ he says, reflecting on his childhood. ‘It’s where I think about when I think about community.’
He went on to MC and DJ for pirate radio station Axe FM, which was the first in London to livestream to the internet from around 2003 until the early 2010s. ‘Pabz [the founder] took me under his wing at a time when you couldn’t get on the prominent stations,’ he remembers. ‘Places like Rinse were FM, so it was harder to get on. You could get on Axe and hone your craft from a livestream on their website. It was good preparation for what I’m doing now.’
Marcia
Marcia Rigg
Marcia Rigg is the sister of Sean Rigg, who was a likeable 40 year old father, musician and mentor to other service users in the Brixton community. On 21 August 2008 Sean was extremely vulnerable and unwell. He died within an hour of being arrested and restrained by local police officers. Unnecessary failures by SLaM and the Metropolitan Police contributed to Sean’s death, with no accountability.
Marcia, a political activist and panalist, has highlighted and campaigned vigorously the critical issues of mental health and policing in the UK, for the urgent implementation of outstanding lengthy and ongoing recommendations, such as those outlined in the Angiolini Review, and for a fair, transparent and robust judicial process following deaths in state custody. Marcia works closely with many other families who have been traumatised by their shared experience and lack of justice and accountability for the death of their loved one.
Marcia speaks both nationally and internationally, contributes to various UK reviews and governmental committees, gives work-shops to criminology students and advises relevant stakeholders. Marcia is also one of the 100 Great Black Britains in the UK 2020.
Tony
Tony Warner
Tony Warner established Black History Walks in 2007. BHW explores the thousands of years of African/Caribbean history in London via 15 guided walks, bus tours, river cruises, talks, films and courses. Black History Walks has featured on BBC, ITV, Arise TV, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Time Out and Channel 4. Tony has written and presented documentaries for Teachers TV; Conde Nast Traveller listed BHW in their Best 15 walks in London in 2018; and in 2011 the Guardian put them in their Top Ten walks.
Tony is an author on the ground-breaking ‘Pearson GCSE (9-1) Edexcel History Migrants in Britain Student Book’. This exam textbook, for the first time, introduces Black British Civil Rights at GCSE level. The book is part based on his Notting Hill Black History Walk. It sold out its first print run and is increasingly being used in schools across the country.
Tony is the co-founder and chair of the African Odysseys programme. This grassroots initiative has been screening African diaspora films plus Q&As, on a monthly basis at the British Film Institute’s Southbank cinema for 15 years. It is the only such programme in the country and has shown thousands of films to tens of thousands of people.
Tony has been exhibiting educational and empowering films about Black history in museums, art galleries, restaurants and youth clubs since 2000. He pioneered community partnerships with and lectured at the Imperial War Museum, National Portrait Gallery and Museum of London/Docklands – which all led to huge increases in Black audiences.
In 2020 he was part of Jacaranda Books unprecedented initiative to publish 20 Black British authors in one year, Twenty in 2020.
In 2021, he was selected as the first ever Activist in Residence at University College London’s Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation. As such, he curated numerous events such as ‘Books, Violence and Resistance’, ‘Trailblazers of Black Theatre’, ‘The Superb Success of Saturday Schools’ and ‘African history at the Tower of London’ etc.
Since 2011 Tony has sponsored 10 Nubian Jak blue plaques in honour of Black historical figures such as Sarah Parker Remond, Phyllis Wheatley, Emma Clarke, Darcus Howe and Dr Harold Moody.
