How Erica Roe 'lifted a nation'
“She has uplifted a nation. Reflated a country. With her mountains she has melted our miseries to molehills.”
In November 2014, the country’s most famous streaker, Erica Roe, returned to Twickenham, 33 years after her last appearance.
Erica was, at the time in 2014, promoting a nude calendar of her aged 56. It was raising funds for a breast cancer charity, after the death of her sister Jessie at the age of 43.
Whether the calendar was more tasteful than all the pictures in the Sunday papers after that 1982 England v Australia match is a matter of opinion.
Back then, Erica was supposed to be working in a bookshop. She had, however, claimed sickness and sloped off to the rugby with her sister and friends.
At half time, with England leading 6-3, and captain Bill Beaumont giving a team talk on the pitch, Erica threw caution to the winds, her bra and packet of fags to a spectator, and, cigarette in mouth, treated the crowd and TV audience to a bouncy performance, starring her 40-inch cleavage.
Bill was unaware of what was happening and distracting his team, who were “preoccupied with something going on over my shoulder.”
There are various claims as to who enlightened him with the immortal words that someone had invaded the pitch “with your arse on her chest!” Some say it was Peter Wheeler, but the likeliest suspect is scrum half, Steve Smith.
Dressed as John Bull, Bill Bailey, used his Union flag to cover an unrepentant Erica, while policemen added their helmets as modesty shields. One - Phil Parker - later became a security manager at the stadium and was there to shake hands on Erica’s return in 2014.
Removed from the hallowed turf, Erica was taken to the local police station and cautioned. The Sunday papers, then the dailies, chronicled her streaking appearance, with the pictures raising miles of smiles.
Jean Rook of the Express wrote: “She has uplifted a nation. Reflated a country. With her mountains she has melted our miseries to molehills.”
The Mirror flew her by helicopter to a Welsh hotel for the Baa-Baas v Australia game and she later spent the night drinking with the Wallabies squad. Erica later moved to Portugal with her family and grew tropical flowers.
She lost her father and then her sister to cancer and said she was herself screened each year. Her calendar featured pictures taken by her daughter Imogen.
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