Birth Place
John Minto is known for his involvement in the protest group, HART (Halt All Racist Tours) in which he became the National Chairman of the organisation in 1980. During the 1981 Springbok Tour, he was largely involved in the protest against the tour and as the leader of the protest group he was thus largely targeted by the rugby fans at the games and at the protests. Therefore he was led to wear a protective helmet in order to protect himself. Before the tour even occurred, Minto some how managed to access documents in which stated that police were in 'baton training'. He then wrote a letter to the police commissioner John Walton to confirm that these rumours were true. Overall his determination led to the cancellation of the first test game at Hamilton. However this led to further police action being employed to stop these protestors.