Dubbed as the 'mighty atom' as she only stood four foot ten, Ellen Wilkinson was a surefire force to be reckoned with.
She was elected to parliament to be Middlesbrough's Labour MP in 1924, going to to lead a charge for the better world - bringing free school meals across the region and leading the famous Jarrow March to London.
Nicknamed Red Ellen because of her distinctive hair colour and uncompromising politics, she served as a crucial member of Winston Churchill's cabinet during World War II, where she took sole charge of air and raid shelters - Teesside Live reports.
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Ellen was also the only female minister in Attlee’s government.
And despite the aforementioned achievements, she has largely been forgotten by history, says the playwright behind a new stage show dedicated to telling her story,
Now, Caroline Bird has set about bringing Ellen's story to life in a show that will premiere later this month, March.
Ellen's legacy, she says, has given her back a glimmer of faith in politics.
“Ellen was a complex person by anyone’s standards and she never stopped, but despite her herculean efforts, she is largely forgotten by history," said Caroline.
She added: "The irony, of course, about ‘forgotten women of history’ is invariably the facts of their lives turn out to be acutely memorable: they’re not forgotten because they’re forgettable.
"I’ve been living with Ellen Wilkinson in my head for about six years now and I can honestly say, after writing this play, Ellen has done the impossible: she has given me back a glimmer of faith in politics.
"We need politicians like Ellen... and we also need to look after them, and support them. She failed at so many things, and yet she was a total, stonking, miraculous, life-affirming, bloody wonderful triumph. A bright and particular star.
"I hope that some of Ellen’s light can still reach us all the way down here, and that this play might reignite a spark or two.”
Her play, titled Red Ellen, opens at Northern Stage in Newcastle on March 25 before touring to Nottingham, Edinburgh and York. Bettrys Jones will play Ellen in a script that promises to take the audience on 'quite a ride.'
Ellen was Middlesbrough’s first woman MP, she held the Middlesbrough seat until 1931 and four years later she was elected MP for Jarrow. In 1936 she was one of the leaders of the Jarrow March.
She became chairman of the Labour Party in 1944 and education minister in the post war Labour Government.
Born into a poor though ambitious family in Manchester, she embraced socialism at an early age and after graduating from university, worked for a women's suffrage organisation and as a trade union officer.
Her arrival in the House of Commons after being elected to represent Middlesbrough attracted comment to which she is reported to have replied: "I happen to represent in this House one of the heaviest iron and steel producing areas in the world—I know I do not look like it, but I do."
Further afield, she campaigned for Britain to aid the fight against Franco’s fascists in Spain, battled to save Jewish refugees in Nazi Germany and published some of the first anti-fascist literature in the UK.
Running (often quite literally) into the likes of Albert Einstein and Ernest Hemingway, she had affairs with communist spies and government ministers.
Ellen died in 1947, 18 months after taking office.
Caroline added: "What’s made me sad and reflective in terms of writing the play, is just how pertinent it is today.
"There’s a feeling that Ellen spent her whole life walking, marching down a moving walkway that was going in the opposite direction.
"She had the wind in her face. Sometimes she was having to fight just to stay still, and sometimes it feels like that now.
"We have to fight to keep what we’ve got before we can even move further along. And there was so much further to go on this march, so much further to go."
Red Ellen is a Northern Stage, Nottingham Playhouse and Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh co-production.
For more information or to book tickets visit northernstage.co.uk
