Benjamin Zephaniah

In our series about people with a passion for a species, we ask writer and poet Benjamin Zephaniah why he cares so much about the horse chestnut.

Why are you championing the horse chestnut?

I remember as a kid calling it a conker tree, and I thought it was such a cool name. Then a teacher told me it was called a horse chestnut tree, and I thought that’s even better, it’s got two very cool names. I then went on to learn that it had a scientific name that I can’t pronounce. I also have really vivid memories of the anticipation I felt waiting for the conkers to fall, and the excitement and joy I felt when they did. Then gathering them, and picking the ones that would be on my team, was an annual ritual.

And were you any good at playing conkers?

At one point I was the school champion. That was until Mervin Frances came along, but I’m sure he was cheating. When other kids were soaking their conkers in all kinds of potions and doing really strange things to make their conkers tougher, I just read poems to mine:

You’re a conker that deserves a great ode,