An Englishman in the Balkans is a weekly podcast about the people, places and everyday life of Bosnia and Herzegovina, told by David Bailey, who has lived here for more than 25 years. New episodes arrive every Tuesday.

Bosnia and Herzegovina flag: you see it everywhere, a blue field, a yellow triangle and a line of white stars. But its story is anything but straightforward.

The flag wasn't chosen through a national competition or inherited from some distant moment in Bosnia's history. In fact, the flag Bosnia and Herzegovina flies today exists largely because, after the war, the country's political representatives couldn't agree on what should replace the previous fleur-de-lis flag.

In this episode of An Englishman in the Balkans, I go back to the years immediately after the Dayton Peace Agreement and tell the story of how Bosnia and Herzegovina got its present flag.

It's a story involving medieval Bosnian symbols, post-war politics, an international High Representative, three proposed designs, and an unexpected deadline created by the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.

I also look at what the yellow triangle, blue background and white stars were intended to represent, why the original design used a different shade of blue, and why Carlos Westendorp ended up making the final decision.

There's a personal connection too.

I arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina later in 1998, just months after the new flag first appeared. For almost all the time I've known this country, this is the flag I've known.

Nearly three decades later, something originally created as a deliberately neutral symbol has acquired a history of its own.

This is the story of the flag nobody could agree on.

Before I go, I'd love to hear from you.

If this episode brought back a memory, made you curious about Bosnia and Herzegovina, or simply gave you something to think about, why not send me an Email or WhatsApp voice note?

Got a question, thought or story? Send me a WhatsApp voice note or message on +38766219417.

Voice messages may be included in a future episode.

The Email address is: david@anenglishmaninthebalkans.com