Episode 06: Ben Pink Dandelion

Interview Date: 6 July 2020. Interviewer: Dr Jason Clark. Research and questions by Dr Simon Machin.

Professor ‘Ben’ Pink Dandelion is a Quaker historian, academic and writer. He has worked for Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre since 1992 and founded the Centre for Postgraduate Quaker Studies in 1999, now the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies. He directs its work with the University of Birmingham and Lancaster University. Ben has published extensively on the sociology, history and theology of British Quakerism, also on the spirituality of travel. The Cultivation of Conformity Towards a General Theory of Internal Secularisation, was published in 2019.

Ben Pink Dandelion - Timed Interview Summary

0:00 – 13:23

Born in Redhill, Surrey on the outskirts of London. Parents meet at Friends Provident, a mutual insurance society, where his father works as an actuary. But his childhood has a second start when he moves at the age of eleven with his mother to Carlisle, a border city in North-West England, after the premature death of his father. Characterizes parents as “strict and particular atheists.”  Mother slams the door in the face of the parish vicar, when he pays a visit to welcome her to the new district. Although sensing the need to live an ethical life, she practices a sort of ethical hedonism, which emphasizes not harming other people. Despite being atheists, whilst planning their son’s education, they are faced with the prospect of choosing the least harmful school between a Catholic and a Quaker establishment, and choose the Quaker.  

13:24 – 24:39

The positive influence of the Quaker School. The teachers, whether practicing Quakers or not, are kind and formative influences, and the school is diverse and international in its pupil intake. The atmosphere of the school reflects the care and joy that the adult teachers feel in being with pupils, there is mutual learning and this has a positive ‘slow-burn’ effect on Ben’s politics.  As to career, he vacillates between wanting to be a fighter pilot and an actuary. His ‘A’ levels do not work out as well as expected for an actuarial career, so after a period working at Friends Provident, Dorking he wins a place at Manchester Polytechnic to study hotel management. Finds it a hive of political activity. After the first year of the hotel management course in 1982-3 he is elected as a sabbatical officer by the students’ union. After a whirlwind encounter with revolutionary and sexual politics “churning” through the various and mutually hostile groups, he Is drawn to anarchism which withdraws from representative politics (“no votes, no leaders and peace”) so abandons the course, the polytechnic and the role of sabbatical officer. The early 1980s is the heyday of the peace camp movement (most notably, Greenham Common), so stays in the north joins the Burtonwood Peace Camp near Warrington.   

24:40 – 31:01 

Life at the anarchist peace camp at Warrington. It is here that the group decides to change their name to something silly as a “moment of clarity” to abandon the patrinomial practice of handing the father’s name down the generations.  On June 1984 he formally and legally becomes Pink Dandelion.  Still today Pink is his first name and Dandelion his surname, but his friends then and now call him Ben. Initially mother is upset because she sees it as an insult to his late father but she gets over it when a Japanese film comes out in 1985 called Tampopo (“Dandelion”) so she starts to call her son “Tampopo”.

31:02 – 44:36

Ben Pink Dandelion leaves the revolution and trains as a chauffeur, which is still today his only vocational qualification.  1984 witnesses the Miner’s Strike but although he is still radical, he comes to feel that people in Britain are too comfortable to bring about radical change by revolution. So, he decides to work within the system by seeking employment and applies to go back to college. Starts attending Quaker meeting as a group that works for social justice and peace within the system (“no votes, no leaders and peace”).  Is attracted by the Quakers universalist love of the world, but at this stage would describe himself as “an optimistic agnostic”. Also attracted by the stillness and silence which is the prevailing form of Quaker practice in the United Kingdom.  An easy transition from the peace camp which also had been a quiet and sedentary life. Can see that he has joined a religious group which he respects because of his contractual approach, so has no expectation that it will change to accommodate him. Keeps the name Pink Dandelion but is known as Ben to friends and Ben Pink Dandelion in Quaker circles.

44:37 – 45:52 

Discovers that the name Pink Dandelion is not as unique as one would think. Finds a rock band called The Pink Dandelions and contacts the lead singer by phoning “British Gas, Stirchley” where the rock star wannabe works during the day. The band has made the name up in a pub one night and only later learns of Ben’s existence. He now owns some gig-list t shirts for the band.

45:53 – 56:23

The Quaker attitude towards internal business meetings. Grows out of a sense of spiritual equality which emphasizes the ability of everyone to hear the voice of God, with no ministers. Worship at Quaker meetings will be an hour of silence, out of which God may speak directly to any attendee. This is carried over into Quaker business practices where decisions are discerned from within the silence, supported by a member who acts as Clerk to record the minute.  Can be a slow and sometimes frustrating process of finding unity (which is different from unanimity).

56:24 – 1:09:27  

The different forms that Quakerism takes world-wide today, growing out of disagreements and schisms in earlier centuries. There are now distinct strands, including the conservative in the sense of silent worship (which may nevertheless contain an almost post-Christian religious discourse) and Evangelicalism, which in some places, particularly North America, has led to the appointment of professional pastors.  

1:09:28 – 1:15:30 

A spiritual experience on a Greyhound bus in America. Unbidden, in the middle of the night outside St Louis he has a physical and tangible experience of being “lifted up and held” with the assurance that everything will be alright. Not having had a religious childhood, he can only attribute this experience to a direct encounter with God. Subsequently, Quaker worship makes absolutely more sense. He talks now about the privilege of having an accompanied life. If there is a danger about modern British Quakerism, it is that it has become highly rational.

1:15:31 – 1:20:18 

Christ and the Quakers. In his academic capacity Ben regularly undertakes surveys to enquire how important Jesus is to British Quakers and there is a range of responses. Ben is a liberal Quaker because although for him discipleship and discernment are important, he would not want to impose his views or experience upon fellow Quakers. There is no written creed in Quakerism.  

1:20:19 – 1:26:27  

Ben changes his mind about education and enrolls part-time at Brighton Polytechnic, encountering a wonderful range of university teachers. Because of this positive experience, decides to undertake a doctoral thesis on how Quakers maintain unity in the face of internal diversity in belief. Mother dies. Starts working at the main London Quaker office, coordinating Quaker adult religious learning. At the time, hardly anyone is studying Quakerism academically. He has been part of that shift. Learns to separate out sociological analysis from personal experience so has developed two identities, Ben Pink Dandelion the Quaker and Dr Pink Dandelion the sociologist.  

1:26:28 – 1:29:54 

Ben’s role from the 1990s in developing post-graduate Quaker studies at Woodbrooke, Birmingham, is a Quaker study centre founded in 1903, an idyllic spot set in 10 acres now featuring the largest organic gardens in Birmingham. Has become a global online learning centre for Quakers. He works there from the mid-1990s and develops a relationship with the University of Birmingham to offer postgraduate supervision in what is now the Centre for Research in Quaker Studies and it has gone from strength to strength.

1:29:55 – 1:40:19  

Swarthmore Lecture, 2014. An annual series initiated by Woodbrooke at the time of the Annual Quaker Meeting. Held at Bath University with 2,500 people present. Invited to lecture on what it means to be a Quaker in modern Britain. Brandishes the Red Book of Quakerism, the Book of Discipleship for Britain, the first one being printed in 1783 and the current being produced in 1994. There are as many books of discipline as Yearly Meetings (there are 70) across the world. The British Red Book is an anthology of spiritual extracts, helpful paragraphs arranged thematically to address life issues. In British Quakerism direct revelation has always been primary.  In his lecture Ben stresses the contractual nature of joining a religious society: “You don’t join the hiking club to go swimming”.

1:40:20 – 1:42:35  

In his lecture Ben talks about how the world runs on different values to the world of the spirit.  Discussion of how this plays out for Quakers.

1:42:36 – 1:45:51

Refers in Swarthmore lecture to the sound of kettledrums as the essence of Quakerism. The inspiration of the early Quakers, the sense that everyone can have a direct encounter with God without texts or human intermediaries, entering a “spiritual habitation” where all will be treated equally and be seen as worthy of God’s love. Quakers should be banging on about this!

1:45:52 – 1:49:23

Ear rings, sexuality and motorbikes. Has moved from bi-sexuality and polyamory into heterosexuality, monogamy and becoming a parent, experiences that the younger Ben would never have imagined in the 1980s when he was so sure about everything. “How do you make God laugh? Tell her your plans”.  Bicycles first love, then cars and motorbikes and is now the proud owner of a 1973 moped.