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THE town of Keswick has never been known as very ‘rock ‘n’ roll’, but somewhere in the sleepy backstreets lives a man who has his own very special place in music history.
Ben Challis worked for more than 25 years as the lawyer for one of music’s most iconic events and a staple of the British festival season – Glastonbury.
After leaving Kings College University, Ben was called to the bar in 1985, with all the intentions of becoming a barrister.
However, having been a full time entertainments officer at university, and building those connections, Ben was offered a job with music promoter Harvey Goldsmith as a lawyer.
Ben said: “I started with Harvey, I had to ring up my pupil master who was so nice about it… he said you’ll never get offered a job like that again, it’s a dream job for you.”
After working for in the industry alongside Harvey and on other projects for eight years Ben first became a part of the festival in the early 90s after a rather quirky interview with festival owner Michael Eavis up at Worthy Farm.
On his meeting Ben said: “I got a phone call from Michael Eavis saying I’d like to meet you, you’ve been recommended to me… because I’ve got this opportunity to put Glastonbury on TV.
“So I went down to meet him at Worthy Farm. He claims we met at a burger bar in Leicester Square, which we may have done as well, but I definitely did meet him at Worthy Farm; he drove me around the farm in this old Land Rover just chatting away.
“We finished it and I thought it went quite well actually. At one point he got out of the car and went water divining. That is no word of a lie.
FRIENDS: Ben Challis with Michael Eavis at the 1998 Festival. Picture: Sean Preston
“I was thinking, ‘what is going on?’ I’m in this marvellous mad place and after we had drove around for a while he said next time you come down you bring me some of your eggs and I’ll give you some of my milk.
“I remember getting in my car ad thinking… next time I come down? Wait, next time I come down! That’s quite good isn’t it.
“So when I think about how I got the job it was through someone I knew, and luck, but I have always said it’s funny – the harder you work the luckier you get.”
Ben was then employed by Michael to negotiate and see through a TV deal, as well as be the lawyer for the deal going onto Channel 4, initially in 1994.
The BBC then came knocking in 1997 and the rest, as they say, is history, with Glastonbury being broadcast through the institution ever since.
“I don’t regret for one minute what I did because for me it’s been the perfect career. I have friends who are lawyers who say to me you have got the best job in the world.”
Ben lived his dream working as part of the festival team for many years, going to Glastonbury every year he worked. When asked about what it was like to be part of the Glastonbury family, Ben said he has had some ‘magical’ moments throughout his time.
ALIVE: Glastonbury is home to 200,000 visitors, staff, performers and crew over the Festival weekend. Picture: Ben Challis
He said: “It’s just this vast amazing sort of spread of tents, just being on the site – it’s just enormous, it never seems to end, so there is always something to do, something to see.
“There is almost anything you want will be going on. Whatever you want to see, whatever you want to listen to, whatever you want to do, somewhere you will be able to do it.
“I’ve done all sorts of daft things. I went to a wedding there, I gave away one of my friends so she could get married in the chapel of hate and love wearing a pink fedora hat and furry coat.
“You have all sorts of these things going on it’s just magical… it’s literally mind-blowing. There’s great music, obviously the music is unbelievable, but it’s corny to say a lot of people don’t go for the music, they just go because it’s Glastonbury.
“When you’ve got that dynamic, when you’ve got a crowd together, you’re all on the same side, you all just want it to work and you have bands that just pull out all the stops and just give the classic performance of their lives, which they do at Glastonbury – people turn up and they’re just so much better than any other performance of their lives I think because they know it’s Glastonbury.”
WINNER: Ben Challis at the Live Music Awards 2017
Ben has now retired from the festival. However he said the festival will always be a part of him.
He said: “I think I will eventually become more distant as time goes on because I’ll know I’m not involved in running it, but 27 years is a big chunk… I don’t think you can not think that such a huge part of my life has been Glastonbury.
“I still say ‘we’ about the festival – and I should stop doing that at some point.”
