Hello and welcome to the History Extra Podcast from BBC History Magazine, Britain's

bestselling history magazine.

I'm Ellie Corthon. For a few short years in the 1960s, the youth of America were utterly

enthralled to a collection of skinny, pale, long-haired musicians from England. So what explains

the incredible success of everyone from the Beatles to Herman's Hermits on the other

side of the Atlantic? And what impact did this phenomenon have on Britain's global standing?

Here in conversation with our production editor Spencer Misen, author and broadcaster David

Hepworth considers the British pop invasion of America.

So David, your new book overpaid over sex and over there tells the story of the British

pop invasions of the US in the the 60s, 70s and 80s documenting extraordinary success

on the other side of the Atlantic of everyone from the Beatles, Led Zeppelin and Sirot Stewart.

And David, I was really interested to know when reading the introductions here, but the

Prussian statesman Otto bin von Bismarck made an appearance quite early in the book,

as this is a history podcast, I sort of latched on to that.

Like you refer to his quote that the most significant factor affecting modern history was

the fact that the Americans speak the same language as the English. Now, what is that

importance to your story?

Well, it's obviously important and greatly in the wider historical context, isn't it?

Two world wars and so forth, which America was involved in, which you can't help think

it wouldn't have been involved in it, if there had been a different language between

England and between the UK and the United States. But why is that significant? Because

it allowed British pop music to do what no other non-American pop music had done, which

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