ELEPHANTS OVER THE BORDER
NO STONE UNTURNED, by Ian Hamution: Victor Gollancz. English price, 12/6. HIS is the inside story of the reiving ‘ of the Stone of Destiny from Westminster Abbey on Christmas morning, 1950, as told by the ringleader of the young Scottish Nationalists (three youths and a girl) who carried out the coup. Sir Compton Mackenzie, who traces the origins of the affair in an enthusiastic foreword (he gets as far back as the 8th Century) defies the reader not to be carried away by the sheer excitement of the narrative. This is a slight overstatement. The story is smildly exciting in parts, but what is most likely to impress the reader is the narrator’s portentous and comical solemnity. Only through Divine inter- | vention at one or two critical moments, he believes, was their adventure crowned with success. If the old saying is true, and a special Providence looks after fools and bairns, perhaps he is right. Of course, it is difficult at this distance, and with the perfidious Southerners in charge of cable services, to know how far Scotland stands in need of Constitutional reform. Scotland may be stiff with moss-troopers massed under the blue banners of the Covenant, but all we hear is the crash of broken glass in Sauchiehall Street. Of one thing only can one be certain, after reading Mr. Hamilton’s narrative. Elephants (who never forget) still thrive and multiply
north of the Border.
J.
M.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19530501.2.24.5
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 720, 1 May 1953, Page 11
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242ELEPHANTS OVER THE BORDER New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 720, 1 May 1953, Page 11
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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