Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
FLOUR POWER
rotten veg. The cleaner must have found it the next morning.” Sarah was kept there until midnight before being allowed to go home, while Sally – one of the protest organisers who until 1968 had been married to Inspector Morse actor John Thaw – was taken away and charged with assault.
There had been demonstrations outside Miss World before, but this was the first time the women got inside the actual contest.
They had bought tickets to the event and up to 100 WLM supporters were inside the auditorium.young mother Sally led the protest and together with WLM members Hazel Twort and Jan Williams, who had the original idea, they took direct action plan to showcase their feelings.
“We thought it would be a good way of putting the issues on the table because we knew TV viewing figures would be high,” Sally said. “We thought this was a way of getting ourselves a direct line to people’s TV screens.”
Fellow protester Jo Robinson, who is played by Jessie Buckley, remembers the chaotic scenes: “Flour bounced up from the stage and it looked like snow caught in the lights.
“Leaflets were thrown from the balcony and floated down. I got a lot of rotten veg from my bag and hurled it at the male press taking pictures. Then it went really quiet and I realised I was the only protester left. My heart was beating really hard. A security guard came towards me, so I pulled out my water pistol, sprayed blue ink all over his tuxedo and ran out of the door.”
Jo – who was single and four months pregnant at the time – was later caught, put in the cells overnight, charged and convicted of breaching the peace and discharging a missile.
She was sent to Holloway Prison for a day – an experience she welcomed.
Jo says: “There were women in there for stealing food for their families, others who had been used as drug mules. The unfairness of their plight just strengthened our resolve.”
The following day, newspaper headlines around the world highlighted women’s issues.
In the film, Julia Morley remarks: “Clever girls. They’re on every front
WHO SPARKED 1970 PROTEST