"Hey! You're the meme guy!": Meeting Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen is a renowned poet, writer, broadcaster and academic who has published a vast amount of work for both children and adults, including the much-loved family staple We're Going on a Bear Hunt. A tale iconic to many people’s childhoods and one that continues to be picked up by new readers. Recently, Michael visited our campus to give a lecture as part of The Baggs Memorial Happiness Lecture here at UoB

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Photos courtesy of @soupsudphotos

Michael on the topic of happiness

Michael’s lecture focused on how part of being happy involves ‘saving yourself from being unhappy’. He admits this is challenging and rather than oversimplifying the complexity of human emotions or reducing his lecture to obvious cliches, Michael told us that he deals with unhappiness by retelling memories and making sure ‘to not forget’. He calls this the ‘relief and release’ technique. In a talk that lasted over an hour and yet kept audience members entranced from start to finish with his energetic storytelling, Michael brought to life his family through entertaining childhood anecdotes. It was deeply personal and profoundly comforting.

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Michael discussed how his idea of happiness has evolved over the years; he went from ‘sailing through life’ to dealing with serious, and life-altering events that ‘set him back’. From his diagnosis of hyperthyroidism to the death of his teenage son and his near-death experience while suffering with COVID-19 resulting in him ultimately being induced into a coma, Michael has had his fair share of unhappiness. And yet, the way he maintains his humour and sharp wit while discussing very serious events is inspiring and brave.

The birth of the ‘noice’ meme

Michael is a brilliant storyteller and as many are aware, incredibly theatrical. His performances of his poetry have amassed over 100 million views on his YouTube channel and birthed the iconic meme – ‘noice’. For those unaware, a clip of Michael reading from one of his poems was clipped and went insanely viral on the internet. It’s a staple in many people’s groupchats across the world. In fact, some people are oblivious of Michael’s impressive literary career but simply know him as ‘the meme guy’ or as he told us, in China, ‘the noice grandpa’. Hilariously, Michael narrated how he’s always being asked to ‘do the meme’ when recognised in public (to the confusion of those uninformed of his internet lore). Indeed, on the way to the Aston Webb Great Hall to deliver the lecture, a pair of UoB students stopped him at the train station and urged him to recreate it while recording on their phones.

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What transformed Michael’s uni experience and his advice to you

Although Michael is undeniably funny and a meme legend, he is also hugely comforting. In his lecture, as well as articulating complex emotions such as grief that lots of us find hard to explain, he discussed the pressures of university. A subject relatable to many. Michael began his time at university studying Medicine which he found he didn’t enjoy but continued due to ‘parental pressures’, before eventually switching to his true love – English. When asked about what advice he had for students dealing with their own university struggles, from creeping deadlines and exams to the anxiety of moving away from family or the feeling of ‘imposter syndrome’, Michael told us reassuringly: ‘I dealt with it myself’. He described feeling ‘utterly bewildered’ amongst his peers before meeting a course mate who transformed his university experience. Both would study together, working through anatomy and physiology lectures side by side. This, he described, was ‘one of the best learning experiences’ he ever had. Knowledge, to Michael, is meant to be shared and your university experience doesn’t need to be private nor lonely. If you ‘break yourself down and not think of yourself with walls all around you’ and find someone that you ‘like or respect or trust’ to ‘sit and do it together’, you ‘share the difficulties’, he told us, and that can make all the difference.

Remember, you don’t need to struggle in silence. It's okay to seek help and to talk about your feelings. We’re here to support you every step of the way. Bookmark our Time to Talk? intranet page which lists our full range of Mental Health and Wellbeing support including UB Heard, Pause at UoB and Wellbeing Officers.

Whether you know him primarily from his iconic meme or as the dearly cherished children’s literary giant, Michael is one of the best storytellers of our time who turns poetry and reading into a fun sport. And as countless would agree, Michael Rosen continues to generate happiness for many globally.

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Find out more about the Happiness Lecture series at the University of Birmingham.

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