Heather Couper remembered by Floella Benjamin
2 June 1949 - 19 February 2020
The broadcaster and parliamentarian remembers her friend and fellow TV presenter, a distinguished astronomer and advocate of science
I got to know Heather working on the Millennium Commission, which was a great organisation with which to be involved. It really changed the face of Britain, investing in buildings, projects and community schemes up and down the country [Couper was one of the founding commissioners, alongside Michael Heseltine; Benjamin joined in 1999]. We'd both worked for the BBC in the 1980s, but you know what it's like with big organisations - you'd see each other in the canteen or the corridor, and not get to know one another at all. But then we sat across the table from each other, and, goodness, just thinking about her, I can see her in the room right now.
She made such an impression from the off - that big, wavy hair and her eyes, so piercing and full of brightness. Her eyes sparkled and got at you as she was speaking. She was a tour de force of a person. I never once saw her down. If anything negative happened, she'd use that adversity as an energy to leapfrog her on.