We had to beat a hasty retreat from his noisy, enthusiastic supporters to conduct an interview in the back of my car.

BBC: Sierra Leone faces huge election test

However, he was forced to make a hasty retreat at the end of the ceremony when some fans tried to invade the stage.

BBC: Ronaldo welcomed by 80,000 fans

Oil prices beat a hasty retreat Monday, as the dollar firmed up and the prospect of diplomatic talks with Iran soothed fears of a military strike.

FORBES: Dollar Beats Back Oil

It flared up over plans to mark the battle's 250th anniversary with a re-enactment, and ended with Quebec separatists crying victory and Canada's federal government beating a hasty retreat.

ECONOMIST: A 250-year-old defeat still rankles

"Downing Street suddenly knew that it faced a choice between the story coming out, though in a far more technicolour and dramatic way than anyone had up to that stage realised, or beating a hasty retreat, " he writes in the latest edition of the magazine, edited by Tory MP Boris Johnson.

BBC: Blair 'feared' Black Rod's evidence

But this week Vodacom beat a hasty and not very dignified retreat.

ECONOMIST: A surprise exit from Africa's most promising market