The 1975 ref question mentioned nothing about cold or starvation, or indeed even made any argument either way, rather odd you imply it did. Both official campaigns got 7 sides of leaflet space to set out arguments which were delivered to every household. Quite a few of the arguments are rather similar to 2016. You realise all this stuff is archived and easily accessible on the internet right?
My own view on referendums has long been in agreement with Thatcher's (a tool of dictators and demagogues) but I'm not seeing much difference between the two.