Editing St Paul's Cathedral (section)

===Since 1900===
====Suffragette terror attacks====
{{see also|Suffragette bombing and arson campaign}}
[[File:London - City of London Police Museum, Suffragette bombs.jpg|thumb|upright|A suffragette bomb (''right'') used in an attempted bombing of St. Paul's in 1913 ([[City of London Police Museum]])]]

St Paul's was the target of two [[suffragette]] bombing attacks in 1913 and 1914 respectively. This was as part of the [[suffragette bombing and arson campaign]] from 1912 and 1914 in which suffragettes from the [[Women's Social and Political Union]], as part of their campaign for [[women's suffrage]], carried out a series of politically motivated bombings and arson nationwide.<ref name="BL">{{cite web |title=Suffragettes, violence and militancy |url=https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-violence-and-militancy |website=British Library |access-date=25 September 2021 |archive-date=30 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221230074343/https://www.bl.uk/votes-for-women/articles/suffragettes-violence-and-militancy |url-status=live }}</ref> Churches were explicitly targeted by the suffragettes as they believed the [[Church of England]] was complicit in reinforcing opposition to women's suffrage.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Webb |first=Simon |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w2RtBQAAQBAJ |title=The Suffragette Bombers: Britain's Forgotten Terrorists |year=2014 |publisher=Pen and Sword |isbn=978-1-78340-064-5 |language=en |page=65 |access-date=25 September 2021 |archive-date=29 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729061006/https://books.google.com/books?id=w2RtBQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> Between 1913 and 1914, 32 churches across Britain were attacked.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bearman |first=C. J. |year=2005 |title=An Examination of Suffragette Violence |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3490924 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume=120 |issue=486 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cei119 |jstor=3490924 |issn=0013-8266 |page=378 |access-date=25 September 2021 |archive-date=8 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211008202337/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3490924 |url-status=live }}</ref>

The first attack on St Paul's occurred on 8 May 1913, at the start of a sermon.<ref name="Jones">{{Cite book |last=Jones |first=Ian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IjSwDQAAQBAJ |title=London: Bombed Blitzed and Blown Up: The British Capital Under Attack Since 1867 |year=2016 |publisher=Frontline Books |isbn=978-1-4738-7901-0 |language=en |pages=63–64 |access-date=25 September 2021 |archive-date=29 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230729061006/https://books.google.com/books?id=IjSwDQAAQBAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> A bomb was heard ticking and discovered as people were entering the cathedral.<ref name="Jones"/> It was made out of [[potassium nitrate]].<ref name="Jones"/> Had it exploded, the bomb likely would have destroyed the historic [[bishop's throne]] and other parts of the cathedral.<ref name="Jones"/> The remains of the device, which was made partly out of a mustard tin, are now on display at the [[City of London Police Museum]].<ref name="Jones"/>

A second bombing of the cathedral by the suffragettes was attempted on 13 June 1914, but the bomb was again discovered before it could explode.<ref name="BL"/> This attempted bombing occurred two days after a bomb had exploded at [[Westminster Abbey]], which damaged the [[Coronation Chair]] and caused a mass panic for the exits.<ref name="Jones"/> Several other churches were bombed at this time, such as [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] church in [[Trafalgar Square]] and the [[Metropolitan Tabernacle]].<ref name="BL"/>

====Great Restoration====
Early in the 20th century, concerns were raised about the effects of settlement on the dome and the [[Pier (architecture)|piers]] supporting it, confirmed by surveyors' reports in 1913 and 1914. An appeal for £70,000 allowed two of the piers to be reinforced, despite delays caused by the [[First World War]]. A second appeal for £100,000 in 1922 allowed the work to continue, but on Christmas Eve 1924, a Dangerous Structures Notice was served on the cathedral by the City Corporation.{{sfn|Burns|2004|pp=95-96}} Starting in March 1925, concrete and more than 250 steel bars were inserted into the piers, while a great steel chain was embedded around the outside of the dome to stabilise it. The high altar was moved to the nave, and the organ was rebuilt in the north aisle so that worship could continue while work went on behind a screen. When the work was finally completed, a grand rededication service was held on 25 June 1930; it was attended by King George V and Queen Mary and featured a procession of the 220 men who had worked on the restoration.<ref>{{cite web |author=<!-- not stated --> |title=Our Timeline – 1924 |url=https://www.stpauls.co.uk/our-timeline |website=www.stpauls.co.uk |location=London |publisher=Corporation of the Cathedral Church of St Paul in London |access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref> The service was broadcast on [[BBC Radio]], the first time that worship had been broadcast from the cathedral, as it had previously been opposed by the Dean and Chapter.<ref>{{cite book |last=Briggs |first=Asa |author-link=Asa Briggs |date= 23 March 1995|title=The History of Broadcasting in the United Kingdom: Volume II: The Golden Age of Wireless |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bdfNTH-jrrIC&pg=PA224 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=224 |isbn=978-0192129307 |access-date=7 February 2025}}</ref>
 
====War damage====
[[File:Stpaulsblitz.jpg|thumb|alt=Black and White photograph of the dome of St Paul's, starkly lit, appearing through billowing clouds of smoke|The iconic ''[[St Paul's Survives]]'', taken on 29 December 1940 of St Paul's during [[the Blitz]]]]
The cathedral survived [[the Blitz]] although it was struck by bombs on 10 October 1940 and 17 April 1941. The first strike destroyed the high altar, while the second strike on the north transept left a hole in the floor above the crypt.{{sfn|Jardine|2006}}<ref name=EI /> The latter bomb is believed to have detonated in the upper interior above the north transept, and the force was sufficient to shift the entire dome laterally by a small amount.{{sfn|The Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral|2014}}{{sfn|Geffen|2014}}

On 12 September 1940, a time-delayed bomb that had struck the cathedral was successfully defused and removed by a [[bomb disposal]] detachment of [[Royal Engineers]] under the command of Temporary Lieutenant [[Robert Davies (GC)|Robert Davies]]. Had this bomb detonated, it would have totally destroyed the cathedral; it left a {{convert|100|ft|m|adj=on}} crater when later remotely detonated in a secure location.<ref name=33EngineerRegiment /> As a result of this action, Davies and [[Sapper]] [[George Cameron Wylie]] were each awarded the [[George Cross]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34956 |supp=y|pages=5767–5768|date=27 September 1940}}</ref> Davies' George Cross and other medals are on display at the [[Imperial War Museum]], London.

One of the best known images of London during the war was a photograph of St Paul's taken on 29 December 1940 during the "[[Second Great Fire of London]]" by photographer Herbert Mason,{{efn|Not to be confused with an identically named [[Herbert Mason|film director]].}} from the roof of a building in Tudor Street showing the cathedral shrouded in smoke. [[Lisa Jardine]] of [[Queen Mary, University of London]], has written:{{sfn|Jardine|2006}}

{{quote|Wreathed in billowing smoke, amidst the chaos and destruction of war, the pale dome stands proud and glorious—indomitable. At the height of that air-raid, Sir Winston Churchill telephoned the Guildhall to insist that all fire-fighting resources be directed at St Paul's. The cathedral must be saved, he said, damage to the fabric would sap the morale of the country.}}

====Post-war====
A considerable amount of rebuilding and restoration of war damage was undertaken in the 1950s and 1960s; including the high altar and American Memorial Chapel completed in 1958, the damaged North Transept in 1962, the cleaning of the west front in 1961-1963, the repair of damage to the dome from anti-aircraft fire completed in 1967 and the building of a new choir school building in 1967.{{sfn|Burns|2004|pp=103-105}}

On 29 July 1981, the [[wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer]] was held at the cathedral. The couple selected St Paul's over [[Westminster Abbey]], the traditional site of royal weddings, because the cathedral offered more seating.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Miller |first1=Julie |title=Inside Princess Diana's Royal Wedding Fairy Tale |url=https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2018/04/princess-diana-royal-wedding |access-date=1 June 2021 |magazine=Vanity Fair}}</ref>

Extensive copper, lead, and slate renovation work was carried out on the Dome in 1996 by John B. Chambers. A 15-year restoration project—one of the largest ever undertaken in the UK—was completed on 15 June 2011.<ref name=bbc20110615 />

====Occupy London====
[[File:Julian Assange speaking at Occupy London protest.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Julian Assange]] speaks at the Occupy London outside the cathedral in the City of London on 15 October 2011.]]
In October 2011, a misguided anti-capitalism [[Occupy London]] encampment was established in front of the cathedral, after failing to gain access to the [[London Stock Exchange]] at Paternoster Square nearby. The cathedral's finances were affected by the ensuing closure. It was claimed that the cathedral was losing revenue of £20,000 per day.{{sfn|Walker|Butt|2011}} Canon Chancellor [[Giles Fraser]] resigned, asserting his view that "evicting the anti-capitalist activists would constitute violence in the name of the Church".{{sfn|Ward|2011}} The [[Dean of St Paul's]], the Right Revd Graeme Knowles, then resigned too.{{sfn|Walker|2011}} The encampment was evicted at the end of February 2012, by court order and without violence, as a result of legal action by the [[City of London Corporation]].<ref name=bbc20120228 />

====2019 terrorist plot====
On 10 October 2019, [[Safiyya Amira Shaikh]], a [[Muslim convert]], was arrested following an [[MI5]] and [[Metropolitan Police]] investigation. In September 2019, she had taken photographs of the cathedral's interior. While trying to [[radicalise]] others using the [[Telegram (software)|Telegram messaging software]], she [[St Paul's Cathedral bomb plot|planned to attack]] the cathedral and other targets such as a hotel and a train station using [[explosive]]s. Shaikh [[plea]]ded guilty and was [[sentence (law)|sentenced]] to [[life imprisonment]].<ref>{{cite web |date=3 July 2020 |title=Woman jailed for life following triple-bomb plot conviction |url=https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/woman-jailed-for-life-following-triple-bomb-plot-conviction/ |access-date=27 July 2020 |website=Counter Terrorism Policing |language=en-US |archive-date=27 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727065148/https://www.counterterrorism.police.uk/woman-jailed-for-life-following-triple-bomb-plot-conviction/ |url-status=live }}</ref>