News International's head Rupert Murdoch attacked with shaving-cream pie during hacking testimony; wife Wendi jumps to his rescue
News International's head Rupert Murdoch attacked with shaving-cream pie during hacking testimony; wife Wendi jumps to his rescue
Rupert Murdoch was yesterday attacked by a protester as he gave evidence to a Parliamentary select committee examining phone hacking.
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Wendi, seen in the pink jacket, appeared to hit the attacker before he was hauled away by police.
On his Twitter page, Jonnie Marbles describes himself as an 'activist, comedian, father figure and all-round nonsense'.
His final tweet, made just minutes before the incident, read: 'It is a far better thing that I do now than I have ever done before #splat'.
He had been tweeting throughout the hearing and had apparently been sitting quietly waiting for proceedings to draw to a conclusion.
Unaffected
Murdoch was unhurt. After a five-minute pause, the hearing resumed with the 80-year-old mogul appearing coatless but otherwise unaffected.
"Mr. Murdoch, your wife has a very good left hook," Labour Party MP Tom Watson told him.
Much as he dodged the pie, Murdoch appeared somewhat unscathed by the previous two hours of much-anticipated MP questioning.
He repeatedly denied that he knew anything about bribery, blackmail and phone hacking at his newspapers and insisted he was the right man to lead the cleanup.
Shortly after the foam attack, police were seen leading Marbles through the glass lobby of Portcullis House towards the underpass which leads to the Houses of Parliament.
An unmarked police car with flashing blue lights was seen arriving at the main entrance to the Palace of Westminster.
"I would like to say one sentence," Murdoch opened, after being denied an opening statement. "This is the most humble day of my life."
But his show of abject contrition didn't last long.
'Ashamed'
Asked about the admission from a previous editor of News of the World that cops were bribed for information, Murdoch said he was not aware of her confession.
"I didn't know of it," Murdoch said. Murdoch said he was "absolutely shocked, appalled and ashamed" when he heard that murdered teenager Milly Dowler's phone had been targeted by the News of the World.
Sun Hacked
The Sun website was yesterday targeted by hacker group LulzSec. Visitors to the News International site were redirected to a hoax story about Murdoch's suicide.
Hit in the face
>> In 2011, Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard of Brussels was hit in the face with custard pies by homosexual activists who oppose what the head of the Belgian Catholic Church has said about homosexuality.
>> Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi had to undergo face surgery after he was hit by a protester with a statuette.
>> In 2009, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had a grey sneaker thrown at him as he gave a speech at Cambridge University
>> Former US President George W Bush was on the receiving end of a shoe hurl carried out by an Iraqi journalist during a press conference in Baghdad in 2008.
>> P Chidamabaram was also a victim of a shoe attack when a Sikh journalist hurled a shoe toward him.
>> Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari was pelted with shoes during a rally at Birmingham in August 2010
New Tabloid?
At one point during the questioning, the MPs asked the Murdochs about opening a new Sunday tabloid. Rupert began to answer 'no' when James interjected and said 'no immediate plans'.
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