Will Hodgkinson - 70s Britain and the Golden Age of Pop

6.30pm, Saturday 22nd October

The Poly

Tickets: £8 and £5

In 1970, pop was in trouble. The Beatles were no more. Pink Floyd gave up on singles altogether. Led Zeppelin dismissed anything beyond their 'musical statements' as childish frippery. But thankfully, help was on its way.

Join Times Rock and Pop critic Will Hodgkinson in conversation with Guardian music writer Laura Snapes as they discuss how the 70s were dominated by million-selling blockbusters by the likes of Brotherhood of Man, the Sweet and the Wombles. These were the songs you heard on Radio 1, on Saturday-night TV, at youth clubs, down the pub and even emanating from your parents' record player...

Against a rainy, smog-filled backdrop of three-day weeks, national strikes, IRA bombings and the Winter of Discontent, this unending stream of novelty songs, sentimental ballads, glam-rock stomps and blatant rip-offs offered escape, uplift, romance and the promise of eternal childhood - all released with one goal in mind: a smash hit.