Why Britain Rocked - How Rock Became Roll and Took Over the World

Elizabeth Sharkey and Dr Richard Mills will be in conversation about her book, with a focus on Irish and London-Irish musicians' influence on the UK music scene, based on Sharkey's best-selling book, ‘Why Britain Rocked.’

About the book

Why Britain Rocked: How Rock Became Roll and Took Over the World travels deep into Britain’s history to trace the events that led to its twentieth century musical explosion. Completely rewriting the history of British pop music, Why Britain Rocked argues that The Beatles’ arrival that so surprised the world really shouldn’t have been a surprise at all.

From the Celts and the Quakers, to Ira Aldridge and Paul Robeson, Why Britain Rocked breaks out of British pop history’s twentieth century confines. Instead, Sharkey starts the story in Celtic Britain and follows the migration of the peoples who carried their music from the British Isles to the southern states, laying the foundations of America’s folk music and ultimately, rock n’ roll.

Back on British shores, Sharkey reveals how Henry VIII ensured Britain’s art colleges became feeder schools for Top of the Pops; she identifies the Celtic inheritance of superstars from Lonnie Donegan and The Beatles, to David Bowie, John Lydon, Kate Bush, Johnny Marr, Noel Gallagher and Ed Sheeran; and completes the story with the enduring power of British balladry and the Marxists, who liberated the voices of England’s working class, inspiring a revolution of British singer songwriters.

About Elizabeth Sharkey

Elizabeth Sharkey is an actress and voice over artist who grew up on a farm in Lincolnshire, first discovering music at the age of five when she secretly played her father’s jazz records. But it was on first hearing The Beatles’ ‘Something’ around the same age that she was hooked. This book is a love story, not just for British pop, but for her father, for it was through his love of music that she began her own.

Why Britain Rocked: How Rock Became Roll and Took Over the World is published by Academica Press.

About Dr Richard Mills

Dr Richard Mills is an Associate Professor in English Literature and Popular Culture at St Mary’s University, London. He has been programme director for the Film and Popular Culture, Cultural Studies and Irish Studies degrees. He has published extensively on popular music, Irish literature and culture, film, fashion and British television. Mills is the author of The Beatles and Fandom: Sex, Death and Progressive Nostalgia(Bloomsbury 2019). He is co-editor of Mad Dogs and Englishness (Bloomsbury 2017) and he is author of the forthcoming The Beatles and Black Music: Post-colonial Theory, Musicology and Remix Culture (Bloomsbury 2024)and The Beatles and Humour (Bloomsbury 2023). Richard is a regular contributor to BBC4’s Last Word, Sky News, RTE, Portobello Radio and BBC Live. He is also on the editorial board of The Journal of Beatles Studies.

For more information, kindly contact Dr Richard Mills at Richard.Mills@stmarys.ac.uk