Battle of the Beanfield and the Champions League anthem

The History Hour

BBC

History, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.4 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 31 May 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.

Our guest is Dr Nivi Manchanda, a reader in international politics at Queen Mary University in London.

First, a moment when two cultures clashed in 1985 at Stonehenge.

We hear about an English language novel from 1958, called Things Fall Apart.

Then, the 1992 creation of the iconic Champions League anthem.

Plus, how police raided the popular but controversial file-sharing website The Pirate Bay in 2006.

Finally, how Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip went on one final tour, after their guitarist was given months to live in 2015.

Contributors:

Helen Hatt - one of more than 500 people arrested at the Battle of the Beanfield. Dr Nivi Manchanda - reader in international politics at Queen Mary University in London. Nwando Achebe - Chinua Achebe's youngest daughter. Tony Britten - composer of the Champions League anthem. Peter Sunde - co-founder of The Pirate Bay. Rob Baker - lead guitarist in the Tragically Hip.

(Photo: Stonehenge protests. Credit: PA/PA Archive/PA Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off, I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.0	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.7	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs, moments and movements.
0:14.8	Stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.1	And the BBC's position, at the heart of British music
0:21.7	means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.4	We were, are and always will be right there at the centre of the narrative.
0:28.5	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now
0:31.3	or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and infamous moments in music,
0:36.1	check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:42.9	Hello and welcome to The History Hour from the BBC World Service with me, Max Pearson,
0:48.0	the past brought to life by those who were there. This week, Chenua Acebe and a key moment
0:53.9	in the history of African writing.
0:56.0	Things full apart certainly was the first book that began what we know know as the genre of African
1:04.2	literature. We'll hear how football's Champions League anthem was created. The crucial thing with any
1:10.3	piece of commercial music, it's got to have a hook, and the hook is
1:12.9	the champions.
1:14.4	I'm proud to say that goes anywhere in the world.
1:17.3	You can sing that, and people know what you're talking about.
1:19.7	Plus a controversial but popular file-sharing website, which landed the pirates in prison,
1:25.4	and the Canadian rock star who went on one last tour with his band.
1:29.3	I just couldn't think about it that this is the final tour, that my friend is dying,
	...

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