Welcome to Litsy!

On Christmas Eve 1950 four young Scottish students broke into Westminster Abbey and stole the Stone of Destiny, for centuries the symbol of English authority over Scotland, from its place beneath the Coronation Chair. The event sparked off a nationwide manhunt, captured news headlines for weeks and made the leader of the group, Ian Hamilton, a national hero in his homeland. Though the four escaped detection for more than three months, in the end, the Stone was given up and no charges brought.
The Stone is now back in its place in Westminster Abbey, but the day that four young Scots led the English authorities a merry dance has gone down in legend. Exactly how the escapade was planned and how it nearly went disastrously, sometimes hilariously wrong, is as gripping to read as the best adventure fiction. But The Taking of the Stone of Destiny is the truth, and a truth told with all the spirit, frankness, humour and warmth of a man who is as defiant and unapologetic today as he was that night, more than forty years ago, when he and his friends set out to right an ancient wrong.