The Slip Slop Slap campaign and the Brexit referendum

22:38Now let's have a look at what happened in that Newcastle result. Here we go. Look at how close that is. See, it's nothing like what our index suggested there. I mean, people move pretty quickly from anxiety to resignation. For a time, we maybe were hoping that there would be a special kind of north-east of England factor which might explain Sunderland and Newcastle. But once the results started to come in from the home counties and midlands and so on, it became clear that what we were seeing was a pattern. And it became clear, I couldn't say exactly when, three, four in the morning, that barring some kind of miracle, Rameen was going to be beaten and leave was going to win.

23:17It looks as though the gap's going to be something like 52 to 48, so a four-point lead for leaving the EU. And that's the result of this referendum, which has been preceded by weeks and months of argument and dispute and all the rest of it, the British people have spoken and the answer is, we're out. I remember feeling quite calm. And the weird thing was that I had said jokingly to somebody a day or two earlier, wouldn't it be interesting if there was a vote to leave? I wonder what would happen then. Now, I never really meant that. But I suppose, you know, as a civil servant, you have to move fairly quickly into sort of operational mode.

24:01Devi Sridhar:So it's action stations and Rory's in his office drafting and redrafting the Irish government's response to Brexit. Well, the top of the mind, I think, was that the government should put out a coherent statement and do it quickly. You know, there was time thereafter to start thinking more deeply about the particular issues and how we might address them. But it was above all else to get ourselves ready. and above all vis-a-vis our home public, as they to reassure them that we were prepared and that we kind of knew what we were doing, even though it was an unprecedented situation. Later that morning, the Irish Taoiseach Enda Kenny stands in front of a row of EU and Irish flags and addresses the country.

24:46I'm very sorry that the result of the referendum

24:50Devi Sridhar:is for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union. However, the British people have spoken clearly and we fully respect their position and their decision. I want to assure the Irish public that we have prepared to the greatest extent possible for this eventuality. After more than 40 years, the UK was ending its membership of the European Union, the first member state to do so. It made headlines around the world, and for Rory, it was time to reflect. Well, it was a kind of mixture of things. I mean, it was a sense that this was a really important moment, that I was in the middle of it, that there would be lots of challenges ahead.

25:34So from a purely, I suppose, professional point of view, it was quite exciting. But in a more serious way, as a citizen of Ireland, and as an official of the Irish government, I just felt disappointment, but not surprise, I suppose is what I would say. Well, following the vote, arrangements for Northern Ireland became one of the most complex aspects of Brexit. The UK formally left the EU on the 31st of January 2020. Rory Montgomery led Ireland's Brexit negotiating team for three years before retiring. He continues to write and broadcast on European affairs and Northern Ireland. He was speaking.

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26:41Devi Sridhar:Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first, but didn't live up to the hype? Like those$5 roses at a gas station, or a second-hand piece of technology that breaks in the first 10 minutes? Marketers know that feeling. We optimize for the numbers that look great, impressions, reach and reacts. But when they don't show revenue, well, that's a not-so-great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bull spend. Now you can invest in what looks good to your CFO. LinkedIn Ads generates the highest ROAS of all major ad networks. you'll reach the right buyers because you can target by company, industry, job title and more.

27:24Devi Sridhar:So cut the bull spend. Advertise on LinkedIn. The network that works for you. Spend$250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads and get a 250 credit for the next one. Just go to linkedin.com slash broadcast. That's linkedin.com slash broadcast. Terms and conditions apply. to Helen Ledwick. Still to come, how a bookseller in Hong Kong fell foul of the Chinese authorities and the composer of a cheeky Mexican song that is loved for its insults. She said, son, it's so good to see you. Yes, I'm going to record the song about the little animals. Before that, though, to mark the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme, We're going back to July 1916, when more than a million men were killed or wounded in one of the war's deadliest campaigns.

28:22In this item, Alex Last has used powerful first-hand accounts from the BBC archive, which do include graphic descriptions of the battlefield. I don't think that any of us can quite wipe out the sores that we have in our souls, if I may say so, of the sights that we saw.

28:47As soon as it fell dark, the roads were roaring with the traffic going up and the guns going into position, and this enormous feeling of a build-up of a big offensive, you know. By the summer of 1916, the First World War was almost two years old. On the Western Front, French forces were locked in a devastating battle against the German army at Verdun. And so, to relieve pressure on their French allies and to further weaker the Germans, in an attempt to break through, the British army decided that on 1 July 1916, it would lead a massive Allied offensive against the German lines dug in near the Somme River in north-eastern France.

29:27I remember we discussed with one another in a rather matter-of-fact way who should have our watches, our fountain pens and so on if we were killed. But we hadn't the slightest idea what we were in for. What they were in for was one of the bloodiest battles in history. Ahead of the attack, the British and French began a massive week-long artillery bombardment of German frontline defences. The German troops tried to shelter in their underground dugouts.

29:57For seven days and night, we were under incessant bombardment. Day and night, the shells, heavy and light ones, came upon us. Our dugouts crumbled and we had to dig ourselves and our comrades out. Sometimes we found them suffocated. On July 1st, 1916, over 100 ,000 Allied troops were ordered to climb out of their trenches, cross no man's land through intense rifle, machine gun and artillery fire and find a way through deep tangled walls of barbed wire to reach the German trenches which were often dug in on the higher ground. The young, mostly inexperienced Allied troops who went over the top were told that after the week-long bombardment, they shouldn't face much resistance.

30:48After the whistle went, we all went up the scaling ladders. Over we went and formed up in line in attacking formation in front of the trench. The leading troops went over at half past seven, and it was to me an astonishing sight, a line of British troops, fixed bayonets walking quite steadily behind the barrage. It was a sight I should never forget. But we got into trouble almost at once. We slowly moved forward. First short distance, there seemed to be no casualties, but soon it became apparent that men were going down rather thicker than one would have thought was actually happening. The very moment we felt that the British artillery fire was directed against the reserve positions, German machine gunners crawled out of the bunkers and opened up terrific fire.

31:40We climbed over the top of the parapet

31:43Devi Sridhar:and the machine gun fire, the air was full of bullets and the men began to fall all round us. When these men were hit with bullets they just fell flat on the face. A man was running across the front of me and he was immediately shot. One just merely went forward mechanically and then I realised I had no-one around me. I looked a little further and realised I'm the only one standing. It was then I realised that the wire in front of us was quite uncut despite the intense bombardments and that the Germans were standing up firing out at us through holes in their front line. when I toppled into the shell hole a great sense of relief came over me I lay in the shell hole for hours and hours crawled out of the shell hole a bit of a struggle but I got out I started crawling towards our lines and I never seen so many dead men clumped together as what I saw then and I thought to myself oh the world's dead, they're all dead and I crawled along everywhere I passed, left and right, with men laying out on the ground.

33:01The casualties, totalling 60 ,000 for the British alone on the first day, are the worst ever recorded in British military history. Even after that disaster, the offensive did not stop. The Battle of the Somme would continue for five more months. It was fought along a 15-mile section of the front, which stretched across fields, up hills, along marshes and through woodland. My memory is of comparative quiet and darkness when the attack began, then the crescendo of artillery on the wood of leaping flame and our advancing in rushes across the slope littered with dead. And next I remember starting to dig alongside a dead German, shiny as a waxwork and still in his kneeling position, and then advancing and seeing comrades fall without a cry in a kind of slow motion.

33:51The names of the places fought over became synonymous with horror. Mamet's Wood, High Wood, Trone's Wood. The tangle of Mamet's Wood with dead Germans, barbed wire, extraordinary sights such as two men who'd benefited each other, which I saw, stuck together, filled me with absolute horror. The great abiding memory of them is the smell of crushed green branches and trees broken, the earth red throwing up, nobody knowing where anybody was, just groping along, machine gun bullets splitting into the trees, shots and shells coming from in front, from behind, from all sides, it seemed to us. Thiepvel, Beaumont Hamel, La Boisselle, Cantelmaison.

34:37As soon as you get over the top, fear has left you in its terror. Your nose is filled with fumes and death. You taste the top of your mouth You see the line of men, the fleur of the shells, there's the mist of dawn, and the fumes from the shells, and every now and then there's a burst in shell which gives it a dirty orange colour. Fricor, Montabon, Guillemont, Posier. Posier was the heaviest, bloodiest, rottenest stunt that ever the Australians were caught up in. The carnage is just indescribable. I can remember, as we were making our attack, that we were literally walking over the dead bodies of our cobbets.

35:21Ginche, Lerswood, Boulogwood, Corsillette, Martin Puig, Bapol. By the end of the Battle of the Somme, more than one million men were dead or wounded. The casualty rates divided between the two sides. It was one of the bloodiest battles the world had ever seen. And for that, the British and French allies had advanced just seven miles. It's true that some important tactical and technological lessons had been learnt from the battle, but it did not spell the end of the war, nor an end to the slaughter. The Battle of the Somme never came to an end. It just peated out into the mud. The war seemed as if it was going on forever and ever after that.

36:08Well, it didn't go on forever. the fighting in the First World War continued until Germany signed an armistice on the 11th of November 1918, and it officially concluded with the Treaty of Versailles signed on the 28th of June the following year. Those first-hand recollections of the horrors of trench warfare were put together from the BBC archives by Alex Last and were first broadcast in 2016. Next, we've got a very personal glimpse into the world of the Chinese security services. In 2015, a Hong Kong bookseller called Lam Wing Ki was detained for selling material critical of the Chinese political elites.

36:45He spent time in jail, but later managed to evade the authorities. And he broke the story to the world's press. He's been speaking to Josephine McDermott.

36:56Devi Sridhar:It's the 21st of June 2016. A slim 61-year-old Cantonese man in a pale blue shirt open at the neck, with thick bullet grey hair and thin silver-rimmed glasses, lights up a cigarette. He doesn't know if he's being watched. He's been released from detention, where he's been interrogated on the Chinese mainland by people calling themselves the Central Special Unit. He's been allowed back to Hong Kong to retrieve a hard drive the special unit wants for its investigations. But now he's home, he has to decide. Will he comply? I realised this isn't an ordinary matter. It wasn't just about me now. It was a problem for all Hong Kong people.

37:47I thought, why should I hand this data over to you? You want me to betray all these people. I can't do that. I took three puffs of my cigarette before thinking about this again.

38:00Devi Sridhar:What he would decide to do took incredible courage. We'll get to that later. How did Lan Wing Ke come to be in this situation? He opened Causeway Bay Books in Hong Kong in 1994, an independent bookshop which you reached via stairs from street level. You could also buy books through mail order. He says it was the Tiananmen Square massacre that made him want to sell political books.

38:31What influenced me most was the June 4th incident in 1989 in China. I wondered why the June 4th incident didn't happen in the US, the UK, France or Canada, but in China. The Chinese military opened fire and massacred students. Opening a bookstore was very important for two reasons. First, I could access different books to analyze and judge this event. Second, I could discuss this situation with other friends. What were the reasons? Is it possible that understanding the June 4th incident could change China in the future? This was actually the most important reason for me in opening the bookstore.

39:15Back then, Britain was in control. You could read, sell and write any book. So at that time, there was freedom of expression. They used democratic methods to govern Hong Kong. When the Communist Party came to power, everything was different. They wanted to control everything.

39:32Devi Sridhar:When Britain handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, a principle of one country, two systems was agreed, whereby Hong Kong would keep a high degree of autonomy. This preserved the freedoms it was used to. In 2003, when individual visitors from mainland China were allowed to visit without needing to be on business or in a tour group for the first time, they found a prized commodity was on offer. Hong Kong became a very important consumer hub for books. It was because books were unavailable in mainland China, even if you had the money. So many business people weren't buying watches or mobile phones.

40:10They already had those. They came to Hong Kong to buy books.

40:14Devi Sridhar:Lan Wing-Ki visited the city of Shenzhen two or three times a week to see his girlfriend. It borders Hong Kong, but it's part of the Chinese mainland. At the border crossing on the 24th of October 2015, things went differently.

40:33When you go through customs, there are two checkpoints. The first one opens when you scan your ID and you go in. After you go in, it closes again. And the first one doesn't reopen. I was standing in the middle. It started to continuously beep. Then two people came over. One was an official from Shenzhen, followed by the highest-ranking official at the Shenzhen Immigration There. He told me to come out and go to a corner on the left. 31 people surrounded me.

41:04Devi Sridhar:He was taken, handcuffed and blindfolded, by train to the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo, where he was kept in a small room.

41:20There was a bed, a place to sleep, a table, a chair, a bathroom, a screen. A very tall window. They sent people 24 hours a day. They took shifts. Even two people watched you when you sleep. When you sleep, they make you stick your hands out. They force you to do that. Do you know why you can't tuck your hands inside? They're afraid you'll kill yourself. They would interrogate me whenever they felt they needed to. At first, it was about three or four days a week.

41:58The worst part was when I found out that my computer had been opened, exposing data. They showed me the emails I'd sent books to. It showed what books were ordered, when they were sent, how many copies, their last names, first names, and their destination addresses. This kind of thing definitely shouldn't be made public, right? Because I help send people books. I keep their data confidential. I was terrified when they showed it to me. I was in shock as how they were able to get hold of it.

42:30Devi Sridhar:By the end of December, Mr Lam's business and the general manager, business manager, co-owner and a shareholder were at the centre of an international story. Since October, one by one, five men who worked at a small bookshop and publisher have disappeared. The topics covered in the bookstore include political corruption, power struggles, even the love affairs of China's top leaders, all of which are banned from being published in mainland China. In January, a crowd of 6 ,000 people marched to the office of Beijing's representative in Hong Kong. I would say there is a turning point for suppression of our freedom because how can a person in Hong Kong exercising our rights be now, you know, kidnapped to China to be detained for investigation.

43:22This is a milestone for suppression.

43:25Devi Sridhar:After eight months in detention, Mr Lam was released. While the four other men connected to the bookshop had gone silent once they could go, Mr Lam had other ideas. What did I have to be afraid of? I just believed I haven't done anything wrong. He was going to go public. He contacted Albert Ho, a legislator for the Democratic Party, and he organised a press conference.

43:54I went to the restroom and splashed myself with cold water, and then I slowly waited for the meeting to start. I was so tired, I hadn't slept for two days. I realised that this wasn't just a bookstore issue anymore. It's a problem for Hong Kong as a whole.

44:16Devi Sridhar:He sits in front of a dozen microphones, describing what happened to him in detail. At one point, a journalist asks, what do you think would be the effect on Hong Kong's freedoms if you hadn't come out to speak today? It shows there are still people who speak out in Hong Kong. If I didn't speak out, Hong Kong's freedoms of speech and press would suffer in silence. That's something I don't want.

44:48Devi Sridhar:After the press conference, China's foreign ministry said Lam Wing-Ki is a Chinese citizen and he has violated China's laws on the mainland. Relevant authorities in China are authorised to handle the case in accordance with the law. Following massive anti-government protests, China imposed a national security law in June 2020, saying it was necessary for stability. Under the law, Albert Ho, who hosted the press conference, was arrested and he remains in custody. Lam Wing-Ki left Hong Kong in 2019, fearing new extradition rules. Now in Taiwan, he reopened Causeway Bay Bookstore with the help of fundraisers.

45:26Josephine McDermott. Next, this week's sporting witness, and we're back in the world of international football. In the year 2000, one of the world's best players suffered a knee injury that threatened to end his career at the age of just 24. Two years later, he would go on to score eight goals in seven games and help Brazil win a record fifth World Cup. His name was Ronaldo Nazário, or just Ronaldo o Fenomeno. Tim McCulloughan has been speaking to his physio.

46:02My name is Nilton Petrone Villar de Junior. I am a physiotherapist. And that is the man who helped to bring him back from a potential career-ending injury to score the winning goals in a World Cup final. I think Ronaldo is like a phoenix. When everyone thought he was finished, he was able to come back. We'll get back to what that injury was in just a moment. Ronaldo began his career at the Brazilian club Cruzeiro in 1993 scoring 34 goals in 34 games He had explosive power, lightning quick speed and an abundance of skills He moved to Europe in 1994 when he was just 18 years old and moved through three clubs in quick succession Dutch side PSV Eindhoven, Spanish giants Barcelona and Italian side Inter Milan Nilton first met him when he was playing at PSV, when he first showed signs of knee issues and was recovering from surgery.

47:04He'd had surgery for a growth disease called Osgut Slater. And then he called Romário, who was in Flamengo at the time. I was with Romário at Flamengo Football Club. Romário being Brazil's 1994 World Cup winner and World Player of the Year. So he talked to Romário and talked to the president of Flamengo to ask the permission for him to go to Brazil to be treated with me during this period, because he was not going to be able to play during the Olympics of that year. After rehabilitation with Nilton, Ronaldo was able to play for Brazil at the 1996 Olympics. But because of the speed at which he played football, Nilton believes that more knee problems were always inevitable.

47:54As an athlete, Ronaldo is among the greatest in terms of his physical ability. But the tendon suffers a lot when you have a sudden change of direction, changing direction at high speed. Which was a trademark move for Ronaldo. In 1998, he was named the best player in the world. And at that summer's World Cup in France, he scored four goals as part of a Brazil side who looked destined to retain the trophy they had won four years earlier. But when the team sheet for the final against France was presented to the world's media, he wasn't playing. And then 45 minutes later, he was. The BBC's Jon Motson was in his element in the pre-match build-up.

48:36The scenes in the commentary boxes for the last 45 minutes have been absolute mayhem and chaos because the first sheet which you showed, which allegedly now is wrong, which said that Ronaldo would not play, came up into the commentary boxes about 40 minutes ago and the response was incredible. There were journalists and commentators racing around trying to find out the truth behind it. First of all, they thought it was a knee injury. Then somebody said Zagallo had dropped him. Then it was all a mistake. And then we were told it was definitely true. And then suddenly, here's the new team sheet.

49:05This came up about 10 minutes ago. My colleague Ray Stubbs raced across to ask Pele, of all people, what the news was. He was absolutely bewildered by the whole experience. And here's the second team sheet which says Ronaldo plays and Edmundo is a substitute. It was revealed years later that Ronaldo had suffered a convulsive fit hours before the final, and after tests had said he felt fine to play, but he looked a shadow of himself in the match, and France beat Brazil 3-0. Fast forward a year and Ronaldo had suffered another knee injury playing for Inter Milan, a partial rupture of his patella tendon, which is the connective tissue that runs in front of your kneecap.

49:42He had surgery in France with a specialist to repair it. Every month we would go through a review of him and we would have a new consultation. Then, when he arrived in the fifth month, with all the exams ready, he didn't have any muscle imbalance. He was already training at top speed and Dr. Sealand allowed him to play. Ronaldo made his comeback as a substitute in the Italian Cup final against Lazio on the 12th of April, 2000. And then he gets into Lazio game, the famous game that the whole world saw. And then he makes a move and the tendon can't stand it. Then it explodes and the knee goes into the middle of the leg, in the centre of the thigh.

50:35Were you there in the stadium, Nilton, when he suffered the injury? Did you know straight away how bad it was? I knew it because when I went into the field with the doctor from Inter, Dr Volpi we quickly saw that the patella, the kneecap, had gone up in the middle of the thigh This time it's a full rupture of his patella tendon More surgery follows and Nilton is in charge of Ronaldo's recovery It was the biggest challenge I've ever had in my career There was no one who had ever played football again at a high level with that injury.

51:17And we didn't have a parameter, because when you have a parameter, you say, look, there is that case there that came back to play. Then you try to align to that case there, but there was none. So everything was very new and challenging in a very complex injury. One of the priorities was to regain flexibility in Ronaldo's knee, as the injury had stopped him from being able to bend it properly. So the focus was aimed at biomechanics and regeneration of the area of tendon that was restored in surgery. And there was a variety of methods that we used, from electrotherapy to thermotherapy to hydrotherapy.

52:03It's like we're making a suit, right? You put the exact measurement, the sewing, correct it when there is something wrong. And our main goal was for him to return to football again, to football at a high level, because he made it very clear that he wanted to return. And that if he were to return, it was to a high level. It was eight or nine hours of treatment per day. Ronaldo described this time as the biggest torture he has ever been through The injury forced him to miss the entire 2000-2001 season for Inter Milan He started pre-season training at the club but struggled with muscle injuries after so long without playing He made his return to the team in December 2001 against Brescia

52:56He scored the goal, turned around and came to hug me And when he hugged me, we hadn't noticed the whole stadium They were clapping, even Brescia's fans It was really moving When we got home at night, when we went back to Milan He called me and said, have you seen the TV? When he scored, it was broadcast in all the other stadiums and all the fans of all the teams clapped and applauded his return. Ronaldo achieved his ultimate goal that season of being selected for Brazil's squad at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea. What he did there was nothing short of remarkable. He scored eight goals in seven games as Brazil lifted their fifth World Cup.

53:45Milton didn't work with the Brazilian Football Federation, so he stayed at home for the tournament. But he was there when Ronaldo returned to Brazil to celebrate the title. We cried a lot. It's like we were having our own baby because it was nine months of rehabilitation and nine hours a day. It was like this was inside us and then it came to fruition. So it was really emotional. Nilton Petroni worked with Ronaldo until 2003. He was speaking to Tim O 'Callaghan. I don't know about you, but the image of a knee exploding made me wince. Finally this week, the story behind one of Mexico's most recognisable songs.

54:26It has echoed across stages, bars and living rooms for the past 25 years. And it was almost never recorded. It's called Rata de los Patas. Helen Ledwick has been speaking to its composer.

54:48Devi Sridhar:We're going back to the year 2000, to the Auditorio Nacional, a huge concert venue in Mexico City. An audience of thousands sits mesmerised by the woman on stage. She's the famous Mexican singer Paquita La del Barrio. And when I say famous, I mean legendary. In her 50s, with cropped blonde hair and red lips, Paquita's wearing a black floor-length gown covered in crystals, microphone in hand, dark eyebrows furrowed as she sings. The auditorium was absolutely packed. Paquita had this gift. Wherever she appeared, people came. Manuel Eduardo Toscano is sitting in the audience. He's a composer and he's already writing songs for Paquita.

55:40Devi Sridhar:But tonight, he spots something. I heard her sing and I noticed that every time she sang a sweet song, people applauded. But... But Paquita is really famous for singing about heartbreak and betrayal, bold, unapologetic songs that call out macho culture and unfaithful men. And when she sings those songs, the reaction is very different.

56:17Devi Sridhar:When she sang Me Saludas a la Tuya, the people shouted and screamed. Me Saludas a la Tuya. In English, say hi to yours for me. It sounds polite, but it isn't. Let's say it's more of a sarcastic goodbye. The crowd loves it. It's a lightbulb moment for Manuel. People were shouting and I wondered what would happen if Paquita La del Barrio recorded Rata de Dos Patas for me. Rata de Dos Patas, two-legged rat. Manuel has written a song where the lyrics are made up entirely of insults. Filthy rat. Crawling animal. Scum of life. Badly made monstrosity. It's punch after punch without apology. Vermin, poisonous serpent, waste of life.

57:12Devi Sridhar:If the audience is screaming now, what if Paquita recorded that? Manuel decides to offer her the song. But what do you think? The next time I saw her, she said, Son, the song is nice, but I'm not going to record it because it's too strong.

57:33Devi Sridhar:Even for Paquita, Rata de Dos Patas is too much. With its leeches, cockroaches and hyena from hell, Manuel thinks it's destined to stay in a drawer forever. But Paquita owns a restaurant in Mexico City. It's where she tries out new material. And it turns out she hasn't quite given up on Rata.

58:00Devi Sridhar:One day, there was an event with a lot of people in her restaurant, and she sang it. And the applause was massive. Someone told her, Paquita, you have to record this song. And that's when she decided she was going to do it. And whatever happens, happens. The next time Manuel sees Paquita is at a palenque, one of Mexico's big traditional concert venues. She walks straight over and delivers the news. She said, son, it's so good to see you. Yes, I'm going to record the song about the little animals.

58:39Devi Sridhar:She told me not to give it to anyone else. She took it, kept it, recorded it. The song about the little animals, Rata de dos Patas, is released in 2001 and has its first play on radio. They told me, your song started playing this morning, and before long, all the other radio stations were asking the record company for it. I don't think it even took four or five days. Maybe I'm exaggerating, say eight, for the song to win over the public. It was already a hit. So, what does Manuel do? At home, we are very fond of celebrating, for the smallest reason. We're celebrating. So we celebrated. But we celebrated even more when the first royalties arrived.

59:32Devi Sridhar:Because I expected, for example, I don't know, maybe$10 ,000. And they went over$100 ,000. So I said, wow, this really is a success. Rata de dos patas, a relentless string of insults, becomes Paquita's signature tune. and one of Manuel's biggest successes as a composer. It's the ultimate revenge song, and Manuel's instinct was right. It was exactly what audiences wanted. The other songs were sweet in parts. First I hit you, then I suit you. First I make the wound, then I apply the medicine. But here, no. Here it was blow after blow after blow. and women loved that more than anything. With that song, women turned Paquita into something else.

1:00:28Devi Sridhar:They called her the defender of women. And it doesn't stop at Mexico. The song finds fans across Latin America and beyond. This is Paquita speaking to TV Azteca in 2014. She's talking about her first visit to Spain. She says women in the audience would ask her where she gets her lyrics and she'd tell them, from the composer. People were captivating. But there's something else, something Manuel didn't share publicly until years later. Despite becoming an anthem of female empowerment, the true inspiration for the song was not men exactly, but one man, a former president. In those years here in Mexico, we had a president of the republic.

1:01:19Devi Sridhar:The man who was the president at that time was named Salinas de Gortari. People said he wasn't doing things well. That's where the song came from, the idea of the two-legged rat. I had, and still have, a lot of respect for politicians. But I said, well, I'm going to write a song, and that's how it began. Former president Carla Salinas de Gotari has always defended the record of his administration. Over the years, Manuel and Paquita end up recording more than 80 songs together, their creative partnership becoming a close friendship. Paquita La del Barrio died in 2025, but the song she made famous is still everywhere.

1:02:07Devi Sridhar:a karaoke favourite and loved on social media. Rata de dos Patas has been streamed more than 50 million times on Spotify. And Manuel, well, he's still singing it too. When I perform it at events, that's where I really act it out. When I get to the insults, filthy rat, crawling animal, scum of life, badly made monstrosity. And when I said cockroach, I pretend to crush one under my foot. I love this song like a daughter. That's what I call my songs. And this one has given me enormous satisfaction.

1:02:58Manuel Eduardo Toscano is still writing music. He was speaking to Helen Ledwick. And that stirring string of insults brings us to the end of this edition of the History Hour. Join us again next week for more personal stories from the past. For now, though, this is Max Pearson. From all of us here, thanks for listening. Goodbye.

1:03:16Devi Sridhar:Sporting Witness takes you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. We weren't going to ask permission. We were just going to do it. It was such an amazing feeling. It was incredible. He started to write a story about how he came up with the idea for the red and yellow cars. I got to go. We cried a bit. We laughed a bit. It was wonderful. There's a magic during those moments that carries your soul. We were truly blessed to be a part of history. Supporting Witness. Subscribe wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

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