Helen Morgan on a Rocking Horse

Look! It's Helen Morgan wearing traditional Welsh costume whilst riding on a rocking horse. The rocking horse had been manufactured at Tri-ang's Merthyr factory and was being promoted at the 1974 Welsh Toy Fair in Cardiff. This picture was taken just a few months before the Barry beauty was crowned Miss World. Sadly, as we all know, Helen was forced to abdicate a few days after her triumph when organisers discovered she was an unmarried mother. Surely alarm bells ought to have been ringing when they heard she was from Barry? Helen may have had the Miss World title cruelly snatched from her grasp, but she became an instant icon for single mothers across the land.

Little-known Miss World fact: keep it under your hat but one of the judges at the 1974 competition was Wales's own Shirley Bassey.