Thursday 10 October | 8pm | £12 / £10 (concession)

Amazon Best Selling Author Elizabeth Sharkey in conversation with poet and music historian Declan Forde, with live music from Chyan Davidson.

Why Britain Rocked: How Rock Became Roll and Took Over the World by Elizabeth Sharkey travels deep into Britain’s history to trace the events that led to its twentieth century musical explosion and 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. Sharkey then brings the story back to the British Isles, identifying 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 makes the bold claim that without Irish musicality, there would be no British pop.

Elizabeth is a music historian, author, columnist and media commentator. A trained actress, Elizabeth’s previous career was working extensively in television and film. She is also recognised as one of the UK’s leading voice-over artists.

Declan Forde began his teaching career in Armagh and is no stranger to the city. Since returning to Tyrone in 1988 he has chronicled life there through his Sweet Omagh Town podcasts…almost 100 interviews to date! He also writes, illustrates and performs his own poems and monologues.

Chyan is a Shetland fiddle player who started performing from a young age, winning the traditional section of the Shetland Young Fiddler of the year competition in 2014 and performing as part of the ‘Hjaltibonhoga Shetland Fiddlers’ in the Royal Edinburgh Military tattoo.

An audience Q&A with Elizabeth will follow the talk.

This event takes place in our Studio Theatre with an unreserved, tiered seating layout