Beloved former Blue Peter presenter Diane Louise Jordan is a mother, grandmother and tireless source of joy. The 63-year-old was the first Black Blue Peter presenter to grace our small screens from 1990 and Diane has been breaking boundaries ever since.
July was a special month for Diane as it marked the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Nationality Act, the act which sparked her to create The Making of Black Britain: a uniquely British story of nationality, identity and belonging.
The TV presenter sat down exclusively with HELLO! to talk us through the concept of The Making of Black Britain archive and her desire to capture the stories of everyone - every colour, class, and creed, across generations – the real people who make up Britain today. Discussing her own Black British identity, Diane shares the joys and the tensions that come with it…
What does it mean to have a platform to share the digital archives celebrating Black British identity and culture?
It is more than a dream come true, really, it makes sense of my life. I think a lot of people like me, who are first generation Black British to Caribbean parents, have that tension of feeling not completely British, feeling that there's some place called "back home", but when you get "back home" to the Caribbean, not quite fitting in there either. You are welcomed in both places but feel that you're something slightly different, and never being able to fully make sense of it. So to have an archive that documents this significant period of history, in our own words, not just of my peers and generations to come, but also the few people who are still with us of my parents' generation, is very special, quite humbling and exciting at the same time!
Having been a Blue Peter presenter, you are a role model to so many people. What advice would you give to young people today?
One of my granddaughters once asked me "what is the point of history"? I replied, "If we don’t know our history we can’t really make sense of who we are, and effectively contribute to our future." So my advice is that our history is vitally important. Everybody helps to make history because everybody has value, we each have a story to share.
My mantra is "seek first to understand." Take time to spend time with a person and listen to their story. Get to know the person. You may be surprised by what you both have in common.
What does the future hold for The Making of Black Britain?
This year is the 75th anniversary of the 1948 Nationality Act, which was the spark for me creating the archive. So we will be announcing some really exciting partnerships this year. The archive will be housed in a very well known institution.
You are so positive, harnessing all of your experiences into something brilliant. What brings you happiness and joy?
It's funny, because I've written a diary for years, and recently I was reading my diary. And honestly, it's the same old mantra. I love family, I love people, I really believe that everyone is brilliant. And I'm on a mission to find a way for everyone to flourish, to be their brilliant self, to have their birthright. I believe everyone's supposed to be fantastic. And I believe that the family is the best environment for people to flourish.
How important is it for you to celebrate Black joy?
I love the idea of joy, regardless of colour… There's an organisation called Black Britain and Beyond, the word "beyond" implying living beyond the shackles of colour and I just feel that's really hopeful. So you know, I love the concept of joy.
What motivates your work?
I believe that there's enough on this planet for everybody to thrive. So it really is heartbreaking to see people suffering. I remember when I was a young girl watching the news on TV and seeing unbearable images of the Biafran war. Images of starving, virtually naked, little skinny children with big pot bellies, because they were so hungry, it was awful. I looked at that, at that time, as a young person, and thought, ‘I want to be part of the solution to this, I want to make sure that there isn't hunger in the world, I don't want to see children in that distressful state ever again, or any other human being.’ That really motivated me to do everything that I've done.
As an ambassador for CBM (Christian Blind Mission), a charity working to prevent blindness and support people with disabilities in the world’s poorest places, you and your grandson Preston witnessed little Etienne finally being able to see for the first time, how did you hear about him and his family?
We agreed a date just before lockdown in March 2020, at the time not realising if we hadn't gone then it would have been at least two years before we could have made that trip. And it would have been too late to save the sight of 10 year old Etienne.
What really hit my grandson is how privileged we are in this country. If you have no, or limited sight here in the UK, in what we call a civilised Western country, you can still have independence, you can still get around and have a pretty good quality of life. In the sort of rural community of subsistence farmers where Etienne lives, if you don’t have your sight, you can't work on the land, you can't physically contribute, which means you become a liability. So the work of CBM is literally life-changing. After surgery it was incredible to sit next to Etienne on that hospital bed, with my grandson on one side and me on the other, watching the brilliant doctor taking the bandages off his eyes. Etienne’s dad was in tears witnessing his son blinking to see for the first time.
We took Etienne pens and crayons and stuff like that, and we were with him when he drew his first picture and saw his first colours. It was a profound experience and makes you realise how much we take for granted. It was amazing to see Etienne playing football with my grandson Preston and the other kids a couple of days later. Etienne is one step closer to being able to realise his dreams because he has his eyesight. It was a miracle.