Welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service. Today I am taking you

back to Christmas 1950, when the so-called Stone of Destiny was taken from Westminster

Abbey in London by a bunch of daring young Scottish nationalists. For centuries the

Stone had sat under the chair on which Britain's kings and queens were crowned, but before

that, it had played a huge role in Scotland's royal history. In 2018, Ann Yodra Deco

spoke to Ian Hamilton, a student activist who took the Stone of Destiny back to Scotland.

Westminster Abbey, which since William the Conqueror has seen the coronation of all

but one British sovereign, is without the coronation stone. For missing from its setting

behind the Abbey's high altar, is the Stone of School. On Christmas Eve 1950, there was

an evening service at Westminster Abbey in London. This ancient Gothic church is one of England's

most important landmarks. After the service finished and the lights were switched off, a group

of Scottish students got inside. Their leader was an ex-serviceman and law student, Ian Hamilton.

It seemed to me a way back in 1950 that it would be a reasonable thing to break into Westminster

Abbey because after all, you shouldn't keep stolen property in your church.

Ian supported Home Rule for Scotland, a Scottish Parliament which would decide on Scottish affairs

separately from the UK Parliament in London. And to reinvigorate the feeling of national identity

among fellow Scots, he came up with this idea. To bring home the Stone of Destiny as Scottish

relic since ancient, some said even biblical times. We've got to go back a long time when England kept

and vading Scotland. We had a stone that our kings were crowned on around about 1296.

Edward, first of England, invaded Scotland and stole the stone of Destiny. We have all was

owned and still do. But naturally, Ian's plan of breaking into Westminster Abbey seemed pretty

crazy, even to fellow nationalists. Indeed, the greatest difficulty was getting people to help me

...