Pete Paphides will be talking about his new memoir ‘Broken Greek: A Story of Chip Shops and Pop Songs’. Darren Hayman (Hefner) will be joining Pete on stage and performing some of the songs referenced in the book. The event will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.

About the book:

‘Do you sometimes feel like the music you’re hearing is explaining your life to you?’When Pete’s parents moved from Cyprus to Birmingham in the 1960s in the hope of a better life, they had no money and only a little bit of English. They opened a fish-and-chip shop in Acocks Green. The Great Western Fish Bar is where Pete learned about coin-operated machines, male banter and Britishness. Shy and introverted, Pete stopped speaking from age 4 to 7, and found refuge instead in the bittersweet embrace of pop songs, thanks to Top of the Pops and Dial-A-Disc. From Brotherhood of Man to UB40, from ABBA to The Police, music provided the safety net he needed to protect him from the tensions of his home life. It also helped him navigate his way around the challenges surrounding school, friendships and phobias such as visits to the barber, standing near tall buildings and Rod Hull and Emu.

With every passing year, his guilty secret became more horrifying to him: his parents were Greek, but all the things that excited him were British. And the engine of that realisation? ‘Sugar Baby Love’, ‘Don’t Go Breaking My Heart’, ‘Tragedy’, ‘Silly Games’, ‘Going Underground’, ‘Come On Eileen’, and every other irresistibly thrilling chart hit blaring out of the chip shop radio. Never have the trials and tribulations of growing up and the human need for a sense of belonging been so heart-breakingly and humorously depicted.

About the author:

Pete Paphides started his career in music journalism at Melody Maker before going on to write for Time Out, the Guardian, Mojo, Q, Observer Music Monthly and The Times, where he spent five years as their Chief Rock Critic. He has made several documentaries for BBC Radio 4, including ‘Lost Albums’, ‘Follow-Up Albums’, ‘The Songs of Molly Drake’ and ‘Good Grief: The Story of “Peanuts”‘. He has been a regular contributor to BBC Four music documentaries and hosted two series of ‘Vinyl Revival’ for BBC 6 Music. Since 2015, he has hosted a weekly music show for Soho Radio and also runs his own record label, Needle Mythology. He is married to the writer and journalist Caitlin Moran. ‘Broken Greek’ is his first book.

Tickets for this event are £5.00 or £22.00 including a copy of ‘Broken Greek’ (rrp£20) plus booking fee. Event starts at 7.00 with doors at 6.30. Copies of the book will also be available to buy on the night.