Barwick Green
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Barwick Green" is the theme music to the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. It is a "maypole dance" from the suite My Native Heath, written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood, and named after Barwick-in-Elmet.[1]
The recording used between 1950 and the 1990s was played by Sidney Torch and his orchestra.
The Sunday omnibus broadcast of The Archers starts with a more rustic, accordion-arranged rendition by The Yetties.[2]
[edit] Trivia
- Comedian Billy Connolly has said that this tune should replace "God Save the Queen" as the national anthem of the United Kingdom.[citation needed]
- Sidney Torch recorded a commercial release of "Barwick Green" in the 1950s but it was not used on The Archers itself. The 1954 version also included a four-movement piece called "A Village Suite" by movie and radio mood music composer Kenneth Pakeman.
