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With the Moon in the seventh house and Jupiter aligned with Mars, it was the dawning of the age of Aquarius, as the song goes. An era of hippies, kaftans, flower-power, peace, love-ins, spliffs, afros and letting the sun shine in. Everyone under the age of 25 was anti-war, anti-Government, anti-materialism, antipollution, and pro-sex, drugs and anarchy.

And if they could best make their point by defiantly stripping off in public, well, who cared if people were shocked? When the Broadway rock musical Hair first opened in London’s West End in 1968, it was to a background of protest against the Vietnam war and authority, whether parents or governments.

It made stars of young unknowns like Elaine Paige, Paul Nicholas and Oliver Tobias. Elaine even gave a helping hand - literally - to another cast member, Gary Hamilton.

‘I had to strip off, along with the rest of the cast, for the show’s big nude scene,’ she recalls. ‘I was only 18, very middle class and terrified. Gary said he’d help me through it by holding my hand for moral support.

‘When it came to the big moment, where we all had to emerge naked from under a canvas, I reached out for him, only to find that because he’s very tall and I am very short, it wasn’t his hand I grabbed!

‘In the spirit of the show - free love and all that - my mistake worked well. I was horrified, but Gary wasn’t complaining.’

Now Hair is about to be re-staged here,complete with its infamous nude scene, and although the central theme - and the war - is resolutely unchanged in the show, a spookily similar set of modern events make it just as relevant today as it was 42 years ago.

‘There is a worldwide protest against the war in Afghanistan, just as there was against Vietnam,’ says impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who is importing the show from Broadway, where it has been enjoying an award-winning renaissance.

‘But Hair is more than an anti-war show. There is genuine worry about the future and our survival, whether it’s endangered by conflict, greedy bankers or climate change.

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