A6 Thank You For The Music: ABBA 50th Anniversary Celebration

This year is the 50th anniversary of Waterloo (the song, not the battle) winning the Eurovision Song Contest – a seminal moment in pop history which saw Swedish sensation ABBA burst onto the international music scene. How is it that half a century later this seventies Eurovision act is bigger than ever – reaching listeners of all ages and spinning off into musicals, museums and holograms? Giles Smith, writer and music fan, and broadcaster Gaby Roslin set out to find out why.

Whether you are a fellow ABBA superfan or simply still riding high on the Eurovision wave, come and join this celebration of one of the world’s best-loved bands as Giles tells their story through a selection of their greatest hits.

Giles Smith is the author of the pop memoir Lost in Music. His writing has appeared in numerous British publications and in The New Yorker. He has published two collections of journalism and a spoof memoir of the comic-strip footballer Roy of the Rovers, and, in the last ten years, he has been the ghost-writer for eight Sunday Times bestselling autobiographies.

Gaby Roslin is a TV and radio presenter who rose to fame co-presenting Channel 4’s The Big Breakfast. She currently hosts a show on BBC Radio London, presents That Gaby Roslin Podcast and is the author of Spread The Joy: Simple Practical Ways To Make Your Everyday LIfe Better.