bold plan
In May 1951, students from the University of Glasgow (Ian Hamilton, Kay Matheson, Gavin Vernon and Alan Stuart) confessed all about what happened that night in an interview with BBC Radio. It all started late on Christmas Eve when three men broke into the convent while Mr Matheson waited outside in one of his two getaway cars.
“The first thing we did was remove the barriers that kept the public away from the stones,” Vernon recalls. They carefully removed the stone from under the coronation chair and placed it on the floor. Ian Hamilton’s coat became an improvised drag mat. Vernon added: “Alan and I each took an arm of the coat and Ian took one of the stone chains. And as soon as he pulled, the stone fell away.”
AlamyHowever, the victory did not last long. As he was dragging a heavy stone, it broke in two. “I remember being very scared,” Hamilton admitted. “We came 400 miles and we were dragging the stone and it fell apart.” Unbeknownst to them, the stone may have been weakened by a bomb attack by suffragettes some 40 years earlier. In the chaos, Hamilton grabbed the small piece, which still weighed about 150 pounds, and ran through the monastery, carrying it like a rugby ball.
Outside, Matheson moved his car forward, warning police officers were approaching. Soon he was right in front of them. Hamilton jumps in next to her, covers the broken stone with an old coat, and improvises a story about two young lovers who have nowhere to go on Christmas Eve. Far from being suspicious, the policeman took off his helmet, lit a cigarette, chatted amiably, and let them go.
Source: BBC Culture – www.bbc.com
