Adegbenga Adejumo, known as Benga, is a British musician from Croydon, known for being a pioneer of dubstep record production. He has been featured on a variety of compilations including Mary Anne Hobbs's Warrior Dubz, Tempa's The Roots of Dubstep and the BBC Radio 1Xtra anniversary mix. Adejumo is of Yoruba Nigerian descent. Inspired by UK garage producer Wookie, Benga would produce tunes on a PlayStation, subsequently FruityLoops; as a teenager he would visit the Big Apple record shop in Croydon where he was introduced to Skream, together they would help forge the sound of dubstep emerging in the early 2000s. His productions caught the attention of DJ Hatcha, who worked at the shop, and, by the age of 15, Benga had made his first record, "Skank", released on Big Apple's own record label in 2002. Benga's second release was a collaboration with Skream, called "The Judgement". Further releases followed on Big Apple Records, Hotflush Recordings and Planet Mu, before Benga self-released his debut album Newstep in 2006.
As dubstep garnered mainstream attention, Benga continued to release singles, including a collaboration with Coki of Digital Mystikz called "Night", that reached 98 in the UK Singles Chart in 2008. Diary of an Afro Warrior, Benga's second album, followed in the same year with Resident Advisor describing it as "one of the most anticipated LPs in dubstep yet."In 2007 Benga along with fellow producers Skream and Artwork, formed the dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man. This resulted in the release of an EP and eponymous studio album in 2010, respectively. Benga produced Katy B's debut single "Katy on a Mission", which peaked at number 5 in the UK Singles Chart in 2010. From January 2011, Benga joined BBC Radio 1 with Skream as part of'In New DJs We Trust', presented a weekly Friday night show. Skream and Benga performed together at Field Day music festival in Sydney on New Year's Day 2012. Benga generated controversy in July 2012 after saying he wished to remove himself from dubstep, insisting that he no longer wanted to be a part of the genre.
He went on to clarify his comments saying "For me to remain creative, I've kinda not got to call my music dubstep and for me to keep pushing boundaries and moving around, making songs... I can't call myself dubstep."In 2013, he released his third album Chapter II on Sony Music, which included the single "Forefather" featuring Kano. He created an official remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", which features on the tribute remix album Love To Love You Donna, co-produced Dominique Young Unique's 2014 debut single "Throw It Down" with DJ Fresh. On 2 February 2014, Adejumo announced on social media that following his engagement to Holly-Jae Treadgold, he was retiring to focus on raising a family. However, in May 2014, he announced plans to complete a new album. In September 2015, Benga revealed via his Twitter account that mental health issues had been the reason for his retirement announcement. In an interview with The Guardian, he explained that he noticed issues in late 2013 and was subsequently sectioned in March 2014.
He stated that drug use from the age of 17 had caused bipolar disorder, whilst excessive touring led to schizophrenia. In an interview with Annie Mac on BBC Radio 1 in 2018, Benga claimed to have deleted all of his productions from his hard drive during his hospital stay, he premiered a new track "Psychosis" on the radio show, inspired by and to treat his psychological experiences, was released in February 2018 on his new Illuminate record label. Official website Benga discography at Discogs Benga RBMA lecture
Mu "Iron Pole" Tiezhu was a prominent Chinese basketball player and coach. At a height of 228 cm and a weight of 160 kg, he was one of the largest and tallest players in China. Mu was born in Dongming County, Shandong in 1949. Mu was one of the first Chinese giants, he played for the national basketball team for 14 years. As a member of Bayi Basketball Team, Mu still held the highest score of 81 points in a game, beat the 1978 NBA champion Washington Bullets twice in April, 1979. Mu retired as a player in 1987, as a coach in 2000, he was compared with Sun Mingming, because both of them have acromegaly, could slam dunk without their feet leaving the ground. Mu Tiezhu died of myocardial infarction on September 2008 in Beijing. Two days after his death, The Draft Review named Mu as an "Honorable Draftee", saying he would have been a high pick in the 1972 NBA draft had China been a more open society at the time. FIBA Asia Championship: 1977, 1979, 1981, 1983 Asian Games: 1978 Asia Club Championship: 1981, 1984 Asian Games, champion, 1978 Asian Basketball Championships, champion, 1979, 1981, 1983
The Phoenix Garden is a local community garden in central London, established in 1984. Located in St Giles behind the Phoenix Theatre, within the London Borough of Camden, the Phoenix Garden is nestled between the busy Soho and Covent Garden areas; the Garden is located just off St Giles Passage and Stacey Street, north of Shaftesbury Avenue and east of Charing Cross Road. The Garden was set up on a carpark in the 1980s, which had itself been established on a World War II bombsite. Prior to this the Garden was the site including a pub; the Phoenix Garden has survived various challenges, including a major industrial fly-tipping incident soon after its foundation. It is the only one of the original seven; the Phoenix Garden continues to be run by a committee of volunteers comprising local residents and workers. It is a registered charity, used to be known as the Covent Garden Open Spaces Association; the Garden has won first prize for Best Environmental Garden in the Camden in Bloom competition six times, from 2004 to 2010.
It holds regular social events, including an annual Agricultural Show and volunteering work-days. The garden was under threat of closure in 2016, was closed for an 18-month renovation, it reopened in 2017 with an event space building designed by Office Sian. LondonTown.com information Phoenix Garden Website