Annie Powell a CPGB delegate at a major conference of Communist parties in Moscow, where she claimed to have impressed Nikita Khrushchev with her rendition of "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau", the national anthem of Wales. Perhaps as a result of this meeting, she became a supporter of Khrushchev's ideas within the CPGB. In 1955, after thirteen attempts, Powell was elected as a Communist councillor for Penygraig, losing in 1957. In 1961, Powell was re-elected as a councillor in Rhondda. She served on the council for the next twenty years, and in 1979 was appointed mayor. As such, she is often said to
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau was embarrassingly videotaped opening and closing his mouth during a communal singing of the national anthem, clearly ignorant of the words but unable to mime convincingly; the pictures were frequently cited as evidence of his unsuitability for the post. According to John Major's autobiography, the first thing Redwood's successor William Hague said, on being appointed, was that he had better find someone to teach him the words. He found Ffion Jenkins, and later married her. The tune of "Hen Wlad fy Nhadau" has been used for the anthems of Cornwall ("Bro Goth Agan Tasow"), Brittany ("Bro Gozh ma Zadoù"), and