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2024 sees the 50th anniversary of the year of two elections. In 1974 the country was in deep trouble - the three day week had crippled the economy, the miners had just gone on strike, and Ted Heath decided to ask the country who governed it.
It made the February '74 election the most politically charged since the war.
In Merthyr, the pot was stirred even more vigorously when the Workers' Revolutionary Party moved in to fight the election. It gave the contest a sudden explosion of showbiz glamour. Vanessa and Corin Redgrave were the the WRP's star attractions - Corin's partner Kika Markham was also heavily involved. They put on a political cabaret at the working men's club in Rhydycar which draw a huge crowd.
It included a striptease whose purpose was to expose the exploitation of the workers by the ruling classes. It wasn't certain that message got across but she was warmly applauded.
In their campaigning, the WRP - being Trots - were particularly aggressive towards Arthur Jones, Merthyr's long standing communist candidate and former councillor, and he was victim of a nasty campaign.
The candidate they put up was Roy Battersby, a TV director who went on to do shows like Between The Lines, Inspector Morse, Cracker and a Touch of Frost - but who had been blacklisted by the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ because of his WRP credentials.
All in all, the WRP made a huge stir - and came away with just 160 votes. By the time of the October election they were just a fading memory. It had marked a bit of a high water mark for the WRP.