Derek Shelmerdine wrote the book Rock’n’Roll Unravelled. Since the book’s publication, he has made hundreds of guest appearances on radio shows heard around the world.
Derek is a fortnightly guest on The Mop Tops & The King radio show, all about The Beatles and Elvis. The show is syndicated on over 110 radio stations around the world.

Common thread – they all tell the story of rock’n’roll from its roots to mid-1970s punk

Derek Shelmerdine
…author of Rock’n’Roll Unravelled
……and radio presenter

Social Media
Facebook – Derek Shelmerdine
Facebook – Rock’n’Roll Unravelled

Derek Shelmerdine on YouTube… and Mixcloud

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OF Rock’n’Roll Unravelled
– Derek Shelmerdine

Derek grew up in the 1950s and ’60s, the dawn of youth culture. The Everly Brothers’ Poor Jenny started off his record collection in 1959. Music has always been the passion of his life. The day-job might have paid the bills but he’s been involved with music, one way or another, ever since.

In the mid-1960s he took up drumming and formed Cleo’s Mood with some school friends. They played mostly around the Liverpool, Chester and North Wales area. Consequently, after a Saturday night gig, they would sometimes be able to make the second half of the all-nighter at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

Over the years he’s played in several groups and even spent six months as a professional roadie, with the Pat Travers Band and London pub-rock band Meal Ticket.

In the 1980s he started attending record fairs as a record dealer, specialising in 1950s, ’60s and ’70s collectible vinyl. Since then he has been attending fairs around the country.
The record fairs now double as book-signing events.

Derek published Rock’n’Roll Unravelled in 2016 and held the book launch at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. To publicise the book he gave interviews on the radio. This led to invitations to return and talk about the music of the 1950s, ’60s, ’70s and its roots. Since then he has been a regular (usually monthly) guest on a number of radio shows.
Since the spring of 2021, Derek has been a fortnightly guest on Steve Cheltenham’s Mop Tops and the King radio show. The show is all about The Beatles and Elvis Presley and Derek alternates his slots with The Beatles Unravelled and Elvis Presley Unravelled.

ABOUT THE BOOK – Rock’n’Roll Unravelled 

Derek’s life-long love of music inspired him to write Rock’n’Roll Unravelled. The story of rock’n’roll, from its roots to mid-1970s punk. As well as the music, the book looks at the social influences, such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights struggle. He wrote the book he’d always wanted to read; everything (well almost) about the music of the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s – between two covers!

British magazine Record Collector liked the book and in its review said,
“Shelmerdine has made a painstaking effort to document pretty much every event that would prove significant in shaping popular music”.
The reviewer went on to say, “Shelmerdine has produced a comprehensive guide that’ll prove invaluable to anybody with an unhealthy interest in music’s minutiae. That’ll be the RC reader then.”

RADIO SHOWS
– Current Regular Appearances

The Mop Tops & The King – based in Chelmsford, Massachusetts USA
Syndicated world-wide on over 110 radio stations
Fortnightly guest appearances

Steve Chelmsford presents the show, which is syndicated to over 100 radio stations around the world. The Mop Tops & The King is dedicated to the rock’n’roll icons, The Beatles and Elvis Presley.
Derek makes a guest appearance every two weeks, alternating with The Beatles Unravelled and Elvis Presley Unravelled stories.
It all started after a couple of guest appearances on the show’s Hot Line telephone conversation, Steve invited him to have his own fortnightly guest spot. The first of these was in May 2021, when he talked about, Elvis’s first Las Vegas appearance 1956.
The show airs every day of the week because 100 radio stations carry the show and play it at different times.
To check out past and previous shows.
All of Derek Shelmerdine’s radio shows.

Derek Shelmerdine’s own  weekly radio show – ran for nearly a year in 2025
The Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show
Radio KPHR based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

The Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show ran for nearly a year on KPHR Rdio Hamilton, based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.

Unfortunately at the end of 2025, Radio Hamilton went through a major reorganisation and change of policy.

This change of policy was to only syndicate North American radio shows.

Unfortunately, The Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show was one of the casualties of this new policy.

Recent guest appearances

Liverpool historian Frank Carlyle hosts his Frank Carlyle Show live on Facebook twice a week.
Derek was a monthly guest on the show and talked about aspects of the music of the 1950s,’60s and ’70s.
Derek’s first guest appearance on Frank’s live Facebook show was on 24 June 2022 and continued until the end of 2024.

How it all started with The Frank Carlyle Show…
Derek was originally a regular guest when Frank’s show went out on Mersey Radio. The first guest spot was in October 2016 and then continued until May 2018.

Beatin’ Rhythm with Ian Smith
on Harrogate Hospital Radio 95.3 FM

Ian Smith is a renowned Northern Soul DJ, based in Harrogate, England. He describes his two hour show as, soul, funk, mod, beat, boogie and proper R&B.

Derek made his first guest appearance on Ian’s Show on 15 April, when the topic was, Hitsville USA. A look at the music from Motown. As well as the great music they looked at the stories behind the songs, Motown and associated labels and the history of Motown.

To check out past and previous shows.
All of Derek Shelmerdine’s radio shows.

FOR THE REST OF THE STORY SEE BELOW FOR…
RADIO SHOW GUEST APPEARANCES
AND DEREK SHELMERDINE’S OWN SHOW – ROCK’N’ROLL UNRAVELLED SHOW

RADIO SHOWS
– Previous Regular Guest Appearances

The Eagle fm 97.3 – Vancouver Island, Canada 

His radio work started when he lived in Canada in 2007. He assisted a DJ on Eagle fm on Vancouver Island, as his “resident rock’n’roll researcher”. This also included live appearances on the show, to talk about various aspects of rock’n’roll history. At this time he was writing the book, Rock’n’Roll Unravelled.

Since publishing Rock’n’Roll Unravelled, in 2016 he’s made regular guest appearances on radio shows in the UK, Spain and America.

107 Meridian FM – East Grinstead UK 

His first residency was as a monthly guest with Dave Roberts on his Music for Grown Ups show on 107 Meridian FM, based in South-East England.
This was a three-quarter hour segment on his Music for Grown Ups show. The first show was on 1 October 2015 and ran until the Christmas Special on 20 December 2018.
Music for Grown Ups was a three hour show. In September 2016 Dave invited him to co-host the show’s third hour and this became the Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Hour.
He also stepped in for Dave when he was unavailable and hosted the whole three-hour show with his own choice of music.

Tim Waters’ Off the Beaten Track show immediately preceded Dave’s Music for Grown Ups. In 2017 and 2018 he also occasionally stood in for Tim and presented his version of the three-hour show. On one occasion he stood in for Dave and Time and delivered a six-hour Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show!

BBC Radio York – York UK 

In August 2016 BBC Radio York’s Adam and Anna in the Afternoon hosts, Adam Tomlinson and Anna Wallace, invited him to do a five-day special. Each day of the week from Monday to Friday, he presented a fifteen-minute look at a particular musical topic.
This proved popular and for the next three years he delivered two or three Specials each year. Sadly, the Covid pandemic saw an end to his Specials on BBC Radio York.

The John Lebang Show – based in Detroit, Michigan USA: Syndicated Wordwide

Show host John Lebang is based in Detroit and his John Lebang Show is syndicated worldwide. John’s show focuses on indie bands.
Once a month, from April 2017 to Jan 2019, Derek made a guest appearance on the show talking about classic rock bands. He would see who was on tour at the time of the show and look back at some of their highlights from the past. The hour-long segment was called Then and Now.
This is when he created the 1960s 1970s Artists Touring Now page on this website. It’s not a ticket site. It has links to the band’s/artist’s own website with all the tour info. It lets fans know which bands/artists, who started out in the 1960s and 1970s, are still on the road.

Talk Radio Europe – Marbella, Spain

In 2017 Derek made a series of monthly appearance on Talk Radio Europe with DJ Dave Hodgson. The first session was on 11 January, to talk about my book Rock’n’Roll Unravelled. This was followed by regular monthly appearances until June.

Beyond Books Book Club – Liverpool, UK

Tony Higginson – Beyond Books Book Club
Derek was a monthly guest on Tony Higginson’s show, May 2021 to August 2022. It was recorded live on Facebook.

RADIO SHOWS
 – Derek Shelmerdine’s Own Radio Show
The Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show

The Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show, started out on Access North West. It looked at all aspects of the music of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s: artists and bands, producers, record labels, music genres, roots, influences…
If it’s relevant to the music of the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70s – Derek will be talking about it!

The show was on Access North West radio station based in Liverpool. The first show went out in September 2018 but sadly, the station ceased broadcasting in June 2021.

When Access North West radio station was launched, Derek was a regular guest on The Frank Carlyle Show on Mersey Radio. Frank was one of the founders of Access North West and invited him to have his own show on the new station. That’s how the Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show came about.
There were 39 Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Shows, topics included: Psychedelic 1960s – Elvis Presley: Rock’n’Roll Years – Phil Spector Story – Four Blues Legends – Rolling Stones: Brian Jones Years – Story Behind the Song – Jimi Hendrix Story – Paul McCartney is Dead Myth – 1960s Pirate Radio +++
These original radio broadcasts, include all the music played in the show, can all be heard on Mixcloud.

For all the Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Shows

For all Derek Shelmerdine’s radio appearances.

Derek Shelmerdine
author of Rock’n’Roll Unravelled and presenter of The Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Show