This is part two, or a follow up, on the feature we did last week citing the great Earl Cameron as Bermuda’s most impactful, overriding heritage icon in the memory bank accumulated during my own professional career that extends more than 75 years.

That was not an easy citation to make. Dr Earl Cameron, a ‘back of town boy’ who was born in 1917, is very much a contemporary national and international personality, still going strong, keeping Bermuda on the world map in his own humble unassuming manner.

African Methodist Episcopal church Bishop Vinton Anderson, BA, MA, MDiv, PhD, certainly put Bermuda not just on the world map, but ‘on top of the world itself’ when in far off Adelaide, Australia, he was elected to a seven-year term as president of the World Council of Churches, an organisation with offices in over 100 countries, representing 318 religious groups and 560 million constituents, Muslim, Jewish and Christian.

We also took into consideration the Rev Dr Kingsley Tweed, a carpenter like Bishop Anderson. A former secretary general of the Bermuda Industrial Union and an AME minister in London where he has been forced to live in exile after serious threats were made on his life for his fearless, upfront articulation of the elements involved in the Theatre Boycott that ended officially sanctioned racial discrimination in Bermuda’s hotels and theatres.

Although not a contemporary figure we took into consideration Pauulu Roosevelt Osiris Nelson Browne Kamarafego.

Born in Devonshire, he was a former Member of the Bermuda House of Assembly before he was ejected after some stormy clashes with the then Speaker.

He became a citizen of several African countries including, Liberia and Kenya. He was a Pan-Africanist, lecturer and organiser at the United Nations for non-governmental organisations.

There were icons from the sports world like Alma (Champ) Hunt; Randy Horton, Clyde (Bonnie) Best.

And there is the unforgettable world trade unionist Ottiwell Simmons.

So, last week we featured on honouring our film pioneer, Dr Earl Cameron. It was a pleasant surprise when, before lunch on Saturday, we got a call from London.

It was Earl, humbly voicing his gratitude for the citation accorded him.

And without calling names, he said he always got a charge listening to what he termed an authentic “Somerset accent”.

He was also thankful for what he called a new lease on life after a recent serious hospitalisation.