Vidal Sassoon CBE is the most recognisable name in hairdressing with his respected hair products being used in professional hair salons right across the world. But Vidal has lived a life far removed from the clean-cut image that you would expect a hairdressing icon to have.

The 43 Group was an English anti-fascist group set up by 43 Jewish ex-servicemen – including war heroes including Gerry Flamberg, who won the Military Medal at Arnhem, and Tommy Gould, a submariner who won the Victoria Cross - after World War II. They did this when, upon returning to London, they encountered British fascist organisations such as Jeffrey Hamm's "British League of Ex-Servicemen" and later Oswald Mosley's reformed British Union of Fascists, or BUF.

The group virtually wiped the far-Right off the streets of Britain for 20 years due to violence according to a BBC documentary on Radio 4. Vidal Sassoon became a member when he was 17 years old and was a trainee at a London salon when he joined up. He became a "foot-soldier" for the group and was involved in successfully "out fascism-ing fascism" on London's streets. So, not only is the man responsible for eliminating frizz, but also Adolf –supporting groups in the nation's capital.

The activities of these fascist groups they opposed included anti-Semitic speeches in public places, inciting racial hatred, and from some of the fascists there were violent unprovoked attacks on London Jews and Jewish property.Sassoon and other 43 Group members bravely (or foolishly) broke up far-right meetings, infiltrated fascist groups, and even attacked the fascists in street fighting.

The group, despite fighting for a good cause, often resorted to tactics that would shock many – as Knuckledusters, coshes, steel-capped boots and knives were used by both sides. Oswald Mosley's Blackshirts even threw potatoes studded with razor blades. Alas, Vidal often turned up to work with the battle scars.

However, once the threat of Fascism has subsided, 43 Group disbanded victorious and Vidal Sassoon went onto become the hairdresser of almost every hip, hot and happening celeb in the sixties! Vidal's name has since adorned professional hair dressing products (shampoo, conditioners, treatment, heat protection) in every hair salon and homes throughout the world, including the classic Sassoon Shampoo product range.