Blenkinsop later accompanied Hull’s three Labour MPs to Parliament to mark the 50th anniversary of the campaign. She was met by Jeremy Corbyn — and former Labour deputy prime minister and Hull East MP John Prescott, who had fought alongside her in 1968.

Ten seconds after this radio message in the early hours of 4 February, 1968, the Ross Cleveland disappeared. This was the first of three tragedies to strike the Hull fishing industry in the coming weeks. The Kingston Peridot and the Ross Cleveland would soon follow in the disastrous footsteps of the previous tragedy. The women met with the ministers after which they learned that Eddom had been found alive. His survival became worldwide news. The Headscarf Revolutionaries is an enthralling read, a fitting tribute to an extraordinary woman, and an important addition to working class history. I remember sitting in a semi-circle with the MP JPW Mallalieu of the Board of Trade and he laughed when I called him petal,” Blenkinsop told me during one of our many chats while researching my book, the Headscarf Revolutionaries.

Blenkinsop’s private legacy is four children, 10 grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren. Her beloved husband John predeceased her in 2004.

Lillian told reporters she would march on Downing Street or ‘that Harold Wilson’s private house’ if she was ignored. Peart and Mallalieu were told by prime minister Wilson, who was in America, that the women were to be helped as much as possible. One ordinary fisheries worker decided to take things into her own hands. Losing a son herself in the tragedy she saw a need for change. While the government claim that climate activists are terrorist groups, they simply cannot label huge swathes of the population as “extremists”. The story of Billocca proves this. Described as an extremist at first by the opposition, they eventually had to listen to her and the 10,000 people behind her. Lavery largely resists analysis, describing events with impassioned objectivity. The book is meticulously researched and his admiration for Lil and the campaign is most revealed by his commitment to understanding the community he’s writing about and describing events as fully and accurately as he can. He saves his analysis for the afterword: But at the exit, there were thousands waiting and cheering. A newspaper billboard read: ‘Big Lil Hits Town’.These four women took on trawler bosses and the establishment and won, making the world’s most dangerous profession — deep sea trawling — safer by far. Upon their return to Hull, Lillian told the press and the crowds it was the ‘happiest day of her life’. “We’ve done it!” she said. The four women fought for tougher laws after the Triple Trawler Tragedy in 1968 that claimed the lives of 58 fishermen. The march, which fell on International Women's Day, was led by Ian Cuthbert and David Burns of BBC Radio Humberside.