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Witness History

Scotland's Stone of Destiny

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.41.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2018

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On Christmas Eve 1950 four young Scottish students took the 'Stone of Destiny' from Westminster Abbey. The symbolic stone had been taken from Scotland to England centuries earlier and had sat beneath the Coronation Chair in the Abbey ever since. Anya Dorodeyko has been speaking to Ian Hamilton who took part in the daring escapade in order to draw attention to demands for Scottish Home Rule.

Photo: Ian Hamilton. Credit: BBC

Transcript

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0:00.0

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:04.7

My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.

0:08.5

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

0:18.0

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

0:24.6

poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.

0:29.7

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC

0:35.4

Sounds.

0:36.4

Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.

0:40.9

My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned

0:43.0

podcast for BBC Sounds.

0:45.0

As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,

0:49.0

featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.

0:54.4

What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,

1:00.9

poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, Cricket, and Conspiracy Theories.

1:04.3

And that's just a few examples.

1:06.2

If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected,

1:09.4

find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. You're listening to the Witness History podcast from the BBC World Service with me

1:16.8

Ani Drodeko. Today we are going back to Christmas 1950 when the so-called Stone of Destiny was taken from Westminster Abbey in London

1:26.8

by a group of daring young Scottish nationalists.

1:30.8

For centuries the Stone has sat under the chair on which Britain's kings and queens were crowned,

1:36.5

but before that it had played a huge role in Scotland's royal history.

1:41.5

I've been speaking to Ian Hamilton, a student activist who took the stone

...

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