Editing Rockall (section)

== In popular culture ==
* English poet [[Michael Roberts (writer)|Michael Roberts]] published a poem "Rockall" in his 1939 collection, ''Orion Marches''. The poem describes a shipwrecked traveller on the rock.
* In the 1951 novel ''[[The Cruel Sea (novel)|The Cruel Sea]]'' by [[Nicholas Monsarrat]] the island features as the place of the final act of HMS ''Saltash''{{'}}s war. It is here the ship takes the surrender of two German U-boats on the last day of World War Two in Europe.
* The 1955 British landing, complete with the trappings such as hoisting the flag, caused a certain amount of popular amusement, with some seeing it as a sort of farcical end to imperial expansion. The satirists [[Flanders and Swann]] sang a successful piece entitled "Rockall", playing on the similarity of the word to the vulgar expression 'fuck all', meaning "nothing": "The fleet set sail for Rockall, Rockall, Rockall, To free the isle of Rockall, From fear of foreign foe. We sped across the planet, To find this lump of granite, One rather startled gannet; In fact, we found Rockall."<ref name="arch2"/>
* In ''[[The Goon Show]]'' episode "Napoleon's Piano" (first broadcast October 1955), Bluebottle lands on the piano as it is floating in the English Channel and cements a brass plate to it in the belief that it is Rockall.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e04_napoleons_piano|title=The Goon Show Site – Script – Napoleon's Piano (Series 6, Episode 4)|website=Thegoonshow.net|access-date=4 November 2021|archive-date=10 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110214443/http://www.thegoonshow.net/scripts_show.asp?title=s06e04_napoleons_piano|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rockall was the launching site for the prototype "Jet propelled guided [[Navy, Army and Air Force Institute|NAAFI]]" in the ''Goon Show'' episode of the same name (January 1956).
* It has been suggested by several critics that Rockall is the rock that forms the setting for [[William Golding]]'s 1956 novel ''[[Pincher Martin]]''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Redpath |first=Philip |date=1986 |title=William Golding: A Structural Reading of His Fiction |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bpsIAtB_j0UC&pg=PA152 |location=London |publisher=Vision Press / Barnes & Noble |page=152 |isbn=978-0854781461 }}</ref> 
* ''[[The Master: An Adventure Story|The Master]]'', a 1957 novel by [[T. H. White]], is set inside Rockall.<ref name="netdo"/> 
* [[David Frost]], when hosting the 1962-1963 BBC satirical TV programme ''[[That Was the Week That Was]]'', recited a list of the dwindling British colonial possessions, ending with the words, "...&nbsp;and sweet Rockall."<ref name="frasr"/>
* ''Storm Over Rockall'' was a 1965 novel by W. Howard Baker, part of a series of novels based on the espionage television series ''[[Danger Man]]''.
* The Icelandic instrumental jazz-funk fusion band [[Mezzoforte (band)|Mezzoforte]]'s track ''Rockall'' was a minor hit in Europe in 1983 and was used as a signature tune by several European radio chart shows.<ref>
{{cite book
| first= David
| last= Roberts
| year= 2006
| title= British Hit Singles & Albums
| edition= 19th
| publisher= Guinness World Records Limited 
| location= London
| isbn= 1-904994-10-5
| page= 362}}</ref><ref>Larkin, Colin (1997) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music'', Virgin Books, {{ISBN|0-7535-0159-7}}, p. 321</ref>
* The Irish folk group [[The Wolfe Tones]] made Rockall the subject of their 1976 song "Rock on, Rockall", which asserted an Irish claim to the island.<ref name="iris11"/><ref name="irish43"/>
* ‘Ether’, the opening track of the English post-punk band [[Gang of Four (band)|Gang of Four]]'s 1979 debut album, ''[[Entertainment!]]'', features the satirical line "There may be oil under Rockall". The bulk of the song deals with the then ongoing [[The Troubles|Troubles]] in [[Northern Ireland]] and is critical of British actions there; the line alludes anticlimactically to the dispute between Ireland and the UK over Rockall.
* A club, The Rockall Club, has been established for people who have landed there.<ref name="rocka28"/>
* In series 2, episode 2, of the television series ''[[The Ambassador (TV series)|The Ambassador]]'', "Vacant Possession" (first broadcast on 25 April 1999), an Irish protester lands on Rockall and claims it for his nation, sparking a diplomatic row.
* [[BBC Choice]] broadcast two series of a topical panel show titled ''Good Evening Rockall''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/2a32967afdfb40c4a75fbeb2c374ba32|title=Broadcast – BBC Programme Index|website=Genome.ch.bbc.co.uk|date=11 April 2000 |access-date=4 November 2021}}</ref> in which panellists put forward events to be included in a news bulletin ostensibly targeting the island. [[Sue Perkins]] hosted the second series.
* The duo and solo project of Runrig songwriters Calum and Rory MacDonald is called [[The Band from Rockall]].
* Rockall is the only island claimed by Ireland that is not included on the course of the [[Round Ireland Yacht Race]] being excluded since the race's inception in 1980. <ref>{{Cite web |last=admin |title=The Course |url=https://roundireland.ie/wp/index.php/about-the-race/the-course/ |access-date=2024-04-22 |website=SSE Renewables Round Ireland Yacht Race 2024 |language=en-GB}}</ref>