BHM – Lenny

Throughout Black History Month, we’re celebrating our amazing former and current black colleagues as well as notable black Britons, both past and present, we have featured on our Special Stamps.

Our four special edition postboxes, honouring black Britons, are currently on show in each UK nation. The Belfast postbox, which is located on Bedford Street and chosen for its proximity to Belfast City Hall, and central location within the city, features an image of Sir Lenny Henry CBE.

A stand-up comedian, actor, singer, writer and television presenter, Henry is known for co-founding the charity Comic Relief. He appeared in our Comedy Greats Special Stamp set, released in 2015.

Born in Dudley in 1958, Henry has been entertaining audiences since his teenage years. His early stage act, performed at working men’s clubs across the country, was based mainly on celebrity impressions. He came to the public’s attention in 1975, when he won a television talent show, and went on to feature in a sitcom called The Fosters and the children’s show Tiswas before being given his own BBC series in 1984.

Drawing on British influences that included Mike Yarwood and Tommy Cooper, as well as American comedians such as Richard Pryor, he developed a popular comedy style that combined a gift for mimicry and characterisation with a sharp sense of social commentary.

Via well-observed creations ranging from Brixton wide-boy Delbert Wilkins and newsreader Trevor McDoughnut to would-be lothario Theophilus P. Wildebeeste and West Indian sage Grandpa Deakus, Henry was instrumental in helping a multi-cultural society to embrace multi-cultural comedy.