"Barwick Green" /ˈbærɪk/ is the theme music to the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. A "maypole dance" from the suite My Native Heath written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood, it is named after Barwick-in-Elmet in Yorkshire's West Riding.[1]

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Barwick Maypole

The recording used between 1950 and the 1990s was played by Sidney Torch and his orchestra.[2] Sidney Torch recorded a commercial version of "Barwick Green" in the 1950s, but it was not used on The Archers itself.[citation needed]

The familiar opening 7 notes are echoed in the pizzicato in Benjamin Britten's Simple Symphony, written in 1934.

The Sunday omnibus broadcast of The Archers starts with a more rustic, accordion-arranged rendition by The Yetties,[3][4] while BBC Radio 4 Extra's former spinoff, Ambridge Extra, used a version arranged by Bellowhead.[5]

References

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