Orla Hyllested

From a young age Hyllested had to work to supplement the income in his family by delivering milk and later as the assistant in a barber shop. In his adult life he was trained as a mason and worked as such for a few years before he became involved in union work. Between 1935 and 1961 he was member of the board of the Aarhus Mason's Union (Murersvendenes Fagforening), from 1942 to 1946 he sat on the board of Faglig Ungdom and from 1945 he served on the board of the Arbejderens Fællesorganisation. In 1944 he became manager Fagorganisationernes Boligselskab and from 1954 he was hired permanently there as he had to give up the physically demanding mason job. In 1958 he was elected to the Aarhus City Council for the Social Democratic Party. In 1970 he became Councillor for social affairs and deputy mayor during the tenure of mayor Bernhardt Jensen. When Bernhard Jensen resigned his post in 1971 Orla Hyllested became mayor in his stead and remained on that post for 10 years.[2][3]

In 1981, Aarhus suffered from unemployment and the aftermath of the 1979 energy crisis, and Hyllested decided not to run for mayor again. However, an anonymous person signed him up as an independent in an effort to split the Social Democratic vote. Orla Hyllested was forced to run newspaper ads asking people to vote for the Social Democratic Party.[2]